By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
A fed jury in Brooklyn on Friday convicted Democratic fundraiser Courtney Dupree in a scheme to get $21 million in fraudulent loans.
Dupree, the CEO of the Long Island-based, GDC Acquisitions, a holding of company, was charged with grossly overstating the firm’s billings to fraudulently obtain a $21 million loan from Amalgamated Bank. The jury acquitted Thomas Foley, GDC’s former chief operating officer.
The case garnered some publicity for various reasons.
Ex-Green Bay Packer running back Dorsey Levens and Robert Holland, ex-CEO of Ben and Jerruy’s ice cream, testified as character witnesses for Dupree.
And defense attorney Roscoe C. Howard Jr, the former D.C. U.S. Attorney, accused the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office of illegally obtaining documents in the case, then lying about it.
Howard raised the issues in a Dec. 21 letter filed in court and addressed to presiding U.S. District Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto. He had asked the judge to suppress any illegally obtained materials.
The judge this past week rejected that request and the case went forward.
The government press release after the conviction stated:
“This case was brought in coordination with President Barack Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. President Obama established the interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. ”
