In SDNY Neil Phillips Guilty of
Manipulating Rand Costing MS $20M Variance
Down Mulled
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Substack
SDNY COURTROOM,
June 20 - In the U.S.
District Court for the
Southern District of New York
on January 5, a detention or
bond proceeding was held by
Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn
on Neil Phillips, charged with
commodities fraud for
manipulating the exchange rate
of the South African rand and
US dollar.
Jump-cut to
October 18, 2023: Morgan
Stanley's head
of FX for the
Americas back
on that
fateful
Christmas
night was on
the stand,
calling MS'
barrier
proprietary.
Had he ever
met Phillips,
at Glenpoint
Capital? He
said he had...
On
October 19
while an
expert witness
told the jury
about delta,
letters flew
about a chat
and audio of
Rahul Kamath,
with Phillips
trying to keep it
out. His legal team
points to a phrase
from the 3500
material, "Ha[ve]
not been able
to figure out
way for
Nomura New
York employee
to authenticate
audio
without
running into
privilege
issue."
On
October 21,
Saturday, the
prosecutors
filed a 7 page
letter
seeking to
limit and
blunt the
Friday testimony
of Andrew
Newman, arguing
that "Mr.
Newman’s
testimony on
Friday
exceeded the
scope of his
expert
disclosure, as
well as the
scope
represented by
the defense in
their
opposition to
the
Government’s
motion in
limine, by
directly
opining on
Phillip’s
purpose on
December 26,
2017. For
example, early
in Mr.
Newman’s
testimony,
counsel asked
Newman,
“[B]ased on
that analysis
what, if any,
opinions did
you form about
trades on
December 26,
2017?” and
Newman
responded,
“Yes. So Glen
Point’s
trading on
that was part
of a delta
replacement
strategy for
the
anticipation
of the
expiration of
the 12.50
onetouch
option
expiring on
January 2."
On October
23, the
prosecution cross
examined
Newman about
his charts and
the
Archbishop's
midnight mass
speech....
On
October 25,
the jury found
him guilty of commodities
fraud - but
not guilty of
conspiracy...
On November
2, the US agreed
to, and Judge
Liman
approved, the
raising of
Phillips bond
from $15 million to
$20
million....
The US
Attorney's Office had agreed
to a bond package with
Phillips, as it had with
Bankman-Fried. In Phillips'
case it is a $15 million bond
with three publicly named
co-signers, two of whom are
putting up $250,000 cash.
By
contrast, Sam Bankman-Fried
tried to keep his two
co-signers secret. Inner City
Press first opposed, and they
were unsealed. Now defendant
Paduch is trying to do the
same thing.
On December 23,
Judge Liman denied Phillips'
bid to travel to South Africa:
"ORDER denying [98] LETTER
MOTION of Neil Phillips re:
request for leave to travel.
The motion for a modification
of the conditions of release
to permit Mr. Phillips to
travel to South Africa is
denied. Mr. Phillips has not
made a sufficient showing that
the modification would not
create a risk of flight.
(Signed by Judge Lewis J.
Liman on 12/23/2023)."
On March 27,
after a lengthy oral argument
that Inner City Press
attended, Judge Liman denied
Phillips' motions: "OPINION
AND ORDER as to Neil Phillips
re: [94] MOTION for Acquittal
or, in the Alternative, for a
New Trial filed by Neil
Phillips. For the foregoing
reasons, Phillips's motion for
a judgment of acquittal or, in
the alternative, a new trial,
Dkt. No. 94, is DENIED. The
Clerk of Court is respectfully
directed to close Dkt. No. 94.
(Signed by Judge Lewis J.
Liman on 3/27/24)." It's 62
pages, here
- expect it in the Second
Circuit.
On May 30, Judge
Liman pushed back sentencing.
Then, on June 20:
"ORDER as to Neil Phillips:
Sentencing in this case is
scheduled for Tuesday, June
25, 2024. The Court hereby
gives notice that (as
foreshadowed in the prior
conference and in the
submissions of both parties)
the Court is considering
granting a downward variance
from the Guidelines in this
case. The Court is further
considering imposing a fine in
this case. The parties should
be prepared to address both
issues. Finally, with respect
to the terms of supervised
release which the Court
currently intends to impose,
the Court intends to impose a
special condition that
notwithstanding the standard
condition that the defendant
be supervised by the district
of residence.... The
parties are directed to meet
and confer in advance of
sentencing to discuss the
residences in which Mr.
Phillips should be permitted
to reside during his period of
supervised release. SO
ORDERED. (Signed by Judge
Lewis J. Liman on 6/20/2024)
(lnl)."
More - analysis -
on Substack here
This case is US
v. Phillips, 22-cr-138 (Liman)
***
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