| Former CEO Of Iconix Filed
Baked by Melissa CEO Subpoena & FOIAed SEC
Now Ex Parte
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Jan 4 – Neil Cole, the brand
manager charged with financial
chicanery was freed on $1
million bond on December 5,
2019 and allowed to travel
throughout the United States
by agreement of the US
Attorney's Office, contrary to
the "SDNY and EDNY only"
restrictions they routinely
place on less affluent
defendants.
SDNY Magistrate
Judge Barbara Moses accepted
the agreed bail conditions,
and said that they can be
appealed or asked to be
modified before SDNY Judge
Edgardo Ramos to whom the case
is assigned.
On December 29,
the US Attorney's Office
opposed Cole's subpoena served
on Baked by Melissa, where
Seth Horowitz, a Government
cooperating witness, was the
CEO. The US Attorney's Office
says the information sought is
not relevant, but rather a
fishing expedition.
Now on January 4
Cole's lawyers at Paul Weiss
wrote to Judge Ramos, "We
understand that Seth Horowitz,
now a cooperating witness for
the government, also was
scheduled to provide SEC
testimony in late 2018, but
that at or around the same
time that Mr. Cole's testimony
was rescheduled, Mr.
Horowitz's testimony was
canceled, likely at the
request of the U.S. Attorney's
Office, to prevent Mr.
Horowitz from testifying and
avoid creating a record that
could be helpful to Mr.
Cole... In July 2020, counsel
for Mr. Cole submission a FOIA
request to the SEC."
Later on January
4, the US Attorney's Office
responded, saying its
communication with the SEC
"related to this matter did
not occur until after the
SEC's September 13, 2018
request to advance Cole's
testimony" -- but it left its
exhibit ex parte and withheld
from the public. We'll have
more on this.
From the
announcement by the US
Attorney's Office "charging
NEIL COLE, the former chief
executive officer of Iconix
Brand Group, Inc. (“Iconix”),
a publicly traded brand
management company, with
engaging in a scheme to
fraudulently inflate Iconix’s
revenue and earnings per share
and obstruct justice.
The case is assigned to U.S.
District Judge Edgardo
Ramos.
Mr. Berman also announced
today the unsealing of charges
against Seth Horowitz, the
former chief operating officer
of Iconix, who pled guilty on
December 2, 2019, and is
cooperating with the
Government.
United States
Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman
said: “As alleged, Neil
Cole entered into illegal
secret agreements with joint
venture partners to
artificially inflate the value
to his company. Further,
as alleged, Cole lied to
outside auditors and to the
SEC, and took steps to destroy
evidence. Now Neil Cole
is in custody and facing
serious criminal charges for
his alleged conduct.
This is the third accounting
fraud case brought by our
Office in the last four
months, which illustrates both
the pervasiveness of this
crime and my Office’s
commitment to policing
it.”
According to the
allegations contained in the
Indictment unsealed today in
Manhattan federal court:
COLE and Horowitz engaged in a
scheme to falsely inflate
Iconix’s reported revenue and
EPS by orchestrating a series
of “round trip” transactions
in which COLE and Horowitz
induced a JV partner, a Hong
Kong-based international
apparel licensing company
(“Company-1”), to pay
artificially inflated buy-in
purchase prices for JV
interests, with the
understanding that Iconix
would then reimburse Company-1
for the overpayments.
The case is US
v. Cole, 19-cr-869
(Ramos).
***
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