Veteran organized crime reporter George Anastasia is covering the federal racketeering fraud trial of Nicodemo Scarfo and Salvatore Pelullo for Bigtrial.net.
The judge didn't think it was funny.
But apparently some of the defendants did.
As a result, one of them has ended up in jail. John Maxwell, the former CEO of FirstPlus Financial and a defendant in an ongoing racketeering fraud trial, was cited for contempt of court, had his bail revoked and was carted off to the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia Thursday. He's been a "guest" at the federal facility ever since, joining co-defendants Nicodemo S. Scarfo and Salvatore Pelullo who have been denied bail and have been jailed since their arrests in November 2011.
Maxwell was apparently laughing during the cross-examination of Cory Leshner, a former top business associate of Pelullo's who has emerged as a key prosecution witness in the now two-month old trial. Leshner will be back on the stand when the trial resumes Monday.
Maxwell will be back at the defense table along with Scarfo, Pelullo and four other co-defendants, including Maxwell's brother William, a lawyer who was special counsel to FirstPlus while the alleged $12 million fraud took place. The other four defendants are free on bail.
You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:
http://www.bigtrial.net/2014/03/defendant-jailed-for-contempt-in-fraud.html#more
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