| Leech of Franklin WAMCO
Pled Not Guilty to Cherry Picking
Now Trial Set for April 2026
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE,
May 19 – On November 25
then-US Attorney for the
Southern District of New York
Damian Williams announced an
indictment "charging S.
KENNETH LEECH II, the former
Chief Investment Officer of
Franklin's Western Asset
Management Company with
securities fraud, investment
adviser fraud, commodity
trading adviser fraud,
commodities fraud, and making
false statements." Franklin
bought WAMCO along with Legg
Mason; it has not been
working.
On
December 16, Leech and his
four lawyers appeared for the
first time before SDNY
District Judge Gregory H.
Woods. Inner City Press was
there, thread:
All rise!
AUSA Peter Davis:
He is charged in 5 counts...
Judge Gregory H.
Woods: Mr. Leech, please
stand. How do you plead?
Leech: Not
guilty.
AUSA: We have
500,000 documents from 3rd
parties including WAMCO. We'll
produce them in 6weeks.
Defense: Let's
meet again in 5 months, in
May. We'd like Mr. Leech to
appear by phone.
Judge Woods: May
19, 4 pm, to talk about
motions and trial schedule.
On May 15 the
defense wrote in that
discovery is not complete,
with 40-45,000 documents sued
by the end of July. The
defense will resist setting a
motion schedule or trial date
until September.
But on May 19,
with Inner City Press in the
courtroom, Judge Woods set
trial for April 6, 2026, with
a further scheduling letter
due next week.
The case is
USA v. Leech, 1:24-cr-658
(Woods)
***
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