Which LIAR do you wish to BELIEVE?

Monday, April 7, 2008 - 3:50 PM EDT
Poulsen says informant against National Century execs is lyingBusiness First of Columbus - by Kevin Kemper Business First
An alleged plot hatched by convicted National Century Financial Enterprises Inc. executives to flee the country did not come from Lance Poulsen, the former CEO claims in a new court filing.

Attorneys for Randolph Speer, the former chief financial officer of the defunct, Dublin-based company, charged in a filing in U.S. District Court in Columbus Friday that a government informant made up the story of the escape plot to reduce his time in prison.

"First and foremost, Mr. Speer vehemently and unequivocally denies any knowledge or participation in any such plot," the filing says. "Yet, he has been forcibly removed from his family and deprived of his liberty with the false utterances of an informant who has a clear motive to lie."

Government prosecutors said April 2 that they heard from an informant, who they said heard the tale from Poulsen, that National Century executives were planning to flee to Aruba if they were ever convicted of fraud. That information led U.S. District Court Judge Algenon L. Marbley to issue arrest warrants for the 57-year-old Speer, Donald H. Ayers, 71; James Dierker, 40; and Roger Faulkenberry, 46. The four were out on bail after being convicted of conspiracy and securities fraud March 13. They were all taken into custody.

A letter included in Speer's filing from Peter Anderson, one of Poulsen's attorneys, argues the arrests were unfounded.

"Mr. Poulsen believes that (Robert Cihy) is the 'confidential informant' that the United States referenced in its motion," Anderson said.

Cihy, Anderson said, is an inmate in the Ross County Jail where Poulsen is incarcerated. Cihy allegedly told Poulsen that federal agents asked him to "get close" to Poulsen to find out information. The letter says Cihy was told that the government believes the National Century executives had a plan to flee the country, and the agents wanted Cihy to find out information about the plan.

The government indicted Cihy in March on charges of engaging in a nine-day robbery spree of Central Ohio retail stores. He reached a plea agreement with the government on April 3, a day after Speer, Ayers, Dierker and Faulkenberry were arrested.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Squires, who ran the prosecutions of all the executives, said he could not comment on Speer's filing because the government's source is confidential.

Attorneys for the convicted executives asked Marbley to compel the government to disclose its source, but Marbley denied the motion Monday.

An arrest warrant for a fifth National Century executive, 58-year-old Rebecca Parrett, remains outstanding. Police are searching for Parrett, the company's former treasurer and co-founder, after she failed to show up for an appointment with a court officer in Arizona where she was to await sentencing. Her whereabouts remain unknown.

A jury found the five executives guilty of running a multiyear fraud at National Century, which collapsed into bankruptcy six years ago, resulting in as much as $3 billion in investor funds going missing. They each face prison sentences of 20 to 55 years.

Marbley allowed the five executives to remain under house arrest until their sentencing on the condition they would be placed on electronic monitoring. Parrett never received a monitoring device.

Poulsen is scheduled to be tried on similar fraud charges this summer. He and a friend, Karl Demmler, were convicted March 26 on witness tampering charges stemming from claims they tried to bribe a key government witness scheduled to testify in Poulsen's trial. The two men are in custody awaiting sentencing.