DAILY BUSINESS REVIEW MONDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2011

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FINALISTS

Straight-shooter style helped seal conviction of father-son developers

Jeffrey Neiman Jeffrey Neiman P.A.
Before he went into private practice this year, Jeffrey Neiman played the point man for the Justice Departments war on big time tax cheats. He pressed the case against Swiss bank UBS for shielding taxable income for U.S. account holders and ended his government career with a home run: the conviction of father-and-son developers Mauricio Cohen Assor and Leon Cohen Levy. They were sentenced to 10 years each after a contentious trial that played more like a daytime soap opera than a tax-fraud case with family members testifying against each other and making accusations of infidelity. But Neimans straight-shooter style earned him points with defense attorneys. Attorney Mike Pasano, a partner at Carlton Fields in Miami who defended Cohen Assor, said he was impressed with how Neiman handled a case usually reserved for Justice Department specialists. He knew how to try the case. He knew the issues, Pasano said. Pasano said even as the witnesses sniped at each other, Neiman never made it personal between the attorneys. He was really focused on the issues in the case, Pasano said. Jeff showed special skill, and he showed terrific jury rapport. Despite all the dramatic testimony, Neiman said the case really was built on documents. He said he knew he had the jury on his side when he was questioning Cohen Assor about a conversation with his wife about moving assets. Neiman said he was using code words like bullet train, but Cohen Assor said he was talking about a ride at Disney World. I heard someone on the jury say, Yeah right, Neiman said. The hardest part of being a lawyer sometimes is knowing when to sit down. That was my cue to sit down.

The case was significant because it showed the U.S. was no longer going to allow the rich to find loopholes to avoid paying taxes on money made in the U.S. Even though the two had lived in America for years, Jeffrey Neiman they fled to Europe, where they fought civil litigation over a loan. They were nabbed in New York after arriving for a deposition for the civil lawsuit. At the time the case was tried, the IRS was making a big push to encourage Americans with billions of dollars of undeclared assets to come forward and report offshore income, Neiman said. The government and tax attorneys around the country were watching the trials outcome. The Cohens became the poster children for what could happen if the IRS got to you before you came clean to the IRS. Neiman noted two IRS amnesty programs coincidentally bracketed around the Cohens trial brought in more than 30,000 U.S. taxpayers who reported more than $2 billion in assets.

At one time, though, the Cohens were the toast of Miami, proposing the citys tallest skyscraper: a 93-story twintower office project that was shelved when the real estate market collapsed. In the meantime, they lived like kings in Miami Beach but paid little or no taxes. Neiman told the jury that Cohen Assors wife owned a $26,000 golf cart, while he owned a yacht and a Bentley. The Cohens landed in the sights of federal prosecutors when they sold a New York hotel for $33 million in 2000 and never paid any taxes. Neiman showed how money from the hotel sale went first to Switzerland, then to the British Virgin Islands. Neiman said the conversations showed how Cohen Assor was trying to hide assets for tax purposes. For the most part, he said the father and son juggled money through intermediaries, putting their assets in the names of co-workers, family members and shell companies. Criminal tax cases come in all shape and sizes usually the boring shape and size, Neiman jested. This was an exciting criminal tax case. You had family drama, an extravagant lifestyle and you had pretty blatant fraudulent tax returns.

FINALISTS

Defense lawyers work gives Spence-Jones back her life

Peter Raben Peter Raben P.A.
Much fanfare accompanied the state prosecution of Miami City Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones, her swift removal from office and the tarnishing of her reputation, but one man reversed it all. It took combing through more than half million emails, testimony from three dozen witnesses and a three-week trial for her defense attorney, Peter Raben, to prevail. But his victory at her bribery trial in March breathed new life into the womans political career and set in motion the collapse of the grand theft case. In one case, the commissioner was accused of pressuring influential developer Armando Codina to donate to a charitable fund under her control while a key commission vote was pending on a Codina project. The developer wanted the Brickell Avenue name extended north to the Met Miami project to heighten its prestige. The states second case alleged

Spence-Jones directed $50,000 in county grants to her family business. The state based its accusations on former Miami-Dade County Commissioner Barbara CareyShuler, who told investigators she nevPeter Raben er wrote an official letter asking for the public money to go to the Spence familys Karym Ventures. Veteran public corruption prosecutor Richard Scruggs relied largely on a single witness in each case, and both turned out to be unhelpful. With his reputation on the line, Codina

testified he did not think he was being solicited for a bribe when giving $12,500 to Friends of MLK Trust. Scruggs warned jurors that Codina was a reluctant witness, while Raben played up Codinas philanthropic efforts and told jurors he is responsible for building much of Miamis skyline. Raben challenged another state witness, developer Lloyd Baggio, who told jurors his name was on a billboard listing donors committed to a charity event he never attended. Details about the event were used to question the commissioners honesty, but Raben surprised jurors by showing them pictures of Baggio at the party. At that point the jury laughed him
SEE SPENCE JONES, PAGE AA23

FINALISTS

Discounting witnesses key to dropped case against executives

David O. Markus Markus & Markus Scott Srebnick Law Office of Scott A. Srebnick
Two defendants stood out in a criminal racketeering case against eight security company employees accused of overbilling Miami-Dade County for phantom work. Eduardo Esquivel and Rene Pedrayes were Wackenhut executives accused of overseeing a scheme to bilk the county out of millions of dollars by helping orchestrate it or turning a blind eye. But the state dropped its case against both Sept. 8. The decision came months after Scott Srebnick and associate Alex Arteaga-Gomez argued Esquivel was improperly charged because he and a key state witness had no interaction. The decision came weeks after a motion filed on behalf of Pedrayes by attorneys David O. Markus and associate A. Margot Moss detailed why another key state witness was anything but credible. The state was overly aggressive to implicate somebody in management at the company, and they misfired. By our presentation, we hopefully opened their eyes to the fact that they had no case, Srebnick said. Srebnick and Arteaga-Gomez put together a presentation for prosecutors April 18. The pair noted Esquivel was far removed from the companys administration of its Metrorail contract and cited statements to investigators by guard-turned-cop Juan Aviles about his
David O. Markus Scott Srebnick

lack of dealings with Esquivel. They also showed problems inherent in the order of events presented by another state witness, former guard Roberto Alvarado. Alvarado claimed Esquivel taught him in 2001 how to ghost post, logging hours not truly worked, Srebnick said. But Esquivel wasnt involved with the Metrorail contract until three years later, Srebnick told prosecutors. The defense effort cast doubt on prosecution theories. When Aviles and his sister were shot to death while vacationing in Puerto Rico,

Alvarado was left as the only other pivotal state witness. The next major step for the executives came Aug. 24 when his credibility came under fire. Markus and Moss demandedAlvarado submit to a polygraph test. They said their client, Pedrayes, had done nothing wrong and was being accused by a former cop whose checkered past included a sexual abuse case. The pair revealed Alvarado was arrested in 2008 in Georgia on charges of abusing his position of power as a patrol officer. He pulled over a 21-yearold woman, directed her to stop in dark spots and forced himself on her before she called police. Rene was innocent, and their case was built on the word of a person who could not be trusted. Setting all of that out in one place for all to see ... really exposed in public how weak their case was, Markus said. The defense teams two-pronged attack worked, and both executives are now out of the case, which continues against other employees.