National Century was a financier of last resort for health-care providers....Oh Really? Pay attention!

Defense attorneys portray government's chief witness as liar
Wednesday, February 27, 2008 - 2:39 PM EST
Business First of Columbus - by Kevin Kemper Business First

"MAIN ARCHITET" ?? Please!! Let's look at where this "Main Architect" came up with this FRAUD!

The testimony of a main architect of the largest alleged fraud ever to take place at a private company ended Wednesday morning, with defense attorneys suggesting the witness is a liar.

Sherry Gibson, the former executive vice president of compliance at National Century Financial Enterprises Inc., concluded her three-and-a-half days of testimony, but not before defense attorneys attempted to draw blood for the last time. Gibson testified earlier that she was at the center of a $2.84 billion fraud that led to National Century's 2002 bankruptcy. She also implicated the five executives standing trial in U.S. District Court in Columbus on criminal fraud, conspiracy and money laundering charges.

Standing trial are Rebecca S. Parrett, Donald H. Ayers, Roger S. Faulkenberry, Randolph H. Speer and James E. Dierker, all of whom have pleaded not guilty. If convicted, the defendants face 30 years to life in prison.

Gibson was indicted, too, but pleaded guilty in 2003 to conspiracy to commit securities fraud. She spent three years in a federal penitentiary in Kentucky, repaid $420,000 to the government and agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department's investigation into National Century.

Before she left the stand, defense attorneys attempted to discredit Gibson's testimony for the last time, while laying blame solely on her.

"Who was the No. 1 person falsifying investor reports?" asked Gregory Peterson, attorney for Parrett.

"I was," Gibson said.

"You had the option of telling the truth, did you not?" asked Frederick Benton, attorney for Speer.

"Yes," Gibson said.

"You lied as a matter of choice?" Benton asked.

"Yes," Gibson said.

Javier Armengau, attorney for Faulkenberry, asked Gibson about the people at the firm who knew about National Century making illegal advances to health-care clients. When Gibson named the defendants on trial, Armengau accused her of parroting the government's indictment, leaving out former National Century employees who testified before Gibson who knew about fraud at the company.

National Century was a financier of last resort for health-care providers. The firm specialized in buying receivables from medical businesses at a discount, giving them cash up front so they could pay their bills. It then packaged the receivables as asset-backed bonds and sold them to investors.