Tuesday, April 17, 2001 | 10:52 a.m.
SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
TRENTON, N.J. -- A federal judge today denied bail for convicted financier and Las Vegas casino figure Robert Brennan, ordering him to instead go to jail while he awaits sentencing.
Prosecutors argued during a morning hearing that Brennan was a flight risk due to assets he holds overseas.
The former penny-stock tycoon was convicted Monday of bankruptcy fraud. The jury found Brennan innocent of hoarding casino chips before he filed for bankruptcy in 1995.
The charges carry a total penalty of six to 10 years in federal prison. Sentencing is scheduled for July 16.
Brennan's lawyer, Michael Critchley, can reapply for bail once he compiles financial information based on property that Brennan's friends and relatives said they're willing to put up.
It took jurors seven full days of deliberations to find Brennan guilty of hiding $4.5 million in assets from the federal government but innocent of hoarding the casino chips before he filed for bankruptcy in 1995.
The legal proceedings spanned six weeks, including 19 days of testimony and arguments that exposed federal jurors to high-stakes action at the Mirage hotel-casino in Las Vegas and the complexities of international finance.
The case alleged Brennan continued to live a lavish lifestyle despite being millions in debt. There was testimony from or references to a soap-opera star Brennan dated; a Catholic cardinal Brennan knew; international arms trading; and former football coach Bill Parcells, who posted assets for Brennan's bond.
Brennan, 57, was convicted on seven of the 13 counts.
The poker-faced Brennan did not speak to reporters before he drove off alone Monday in his Toyota sports utility vehicle, but Critchley handed out copies of a statement.
"I am greatly disappointed by the verdict and I will now begin to prepare for the next step in the proceeding," the statement said. "I also would like to thank all my family and friends for their prayers and support during this trying period in my life."
Brennan was convicted of hiding millions of dollars from creditors in his 1995 bankruptcy filing by manipulating ill-gotten gains in an offshore trust and concealing $525,000 in chips from the Mirage.
Brennan is also known in Las Vegas because of his ties to the now-imploded El Rancho hotel-casino on the Strip. A Brennan company, International Thoroughbred Breeders, at one point proposed to redevelop the dilapidated property into a new casino resort, but those plans fell through.
The jury was convinced he hid money offshore and that he cashed in the casino chips without reporting them just three weeks after he filed for bankruptcy protection.
But prosecutors were not able to prove that Brennan had hoarded the casino chips despite testimony that he did not win them during a Labor Day weekend excursion with an entourage that included Wanda Acuna, the soap opera actress he was dating.
The charges related to the offshore trusts relied on testimony from Peter Bond, an Isle of Man businessman and bond adviser. Defense lawyers spent a large part of closing arguments trying to discredit Bond with references to the immunity he received in exchange for his testimony and claims that Bond was involved in Rwandan arms deals and Russian money laundering.
"They could not have convicted unless they accepted the testimony of Peter Bond," U.S. Assistant Attorney Paul A. Weissman said, "Because Peter Bond is the only person who said Bob Brennan gave him $4 million in bearer bonds."
Brennan was acquitted on charges that cash was delivered to him in a handoff in a London hotel. He was found guilty of spending $100,000 on private flights around the world, but innocent of illegally spending $60,000 on a yacht cruise.
The verdict is the latest legal milestone in a litigation-filled career that led the Newark native to name his Colts Neck horse farm Due Process Stables.
The longtime Monmouth County resident now claims Juno Beach, Fla., as his official residence.
Brennan became publicly known in the 1980s through his television commercials for his former flagship brokerage, First Jersey Securities Inc., stepping off a helicopter and urging viewers to "come grow with us."
He filed for bankruptcy protection in 1995 just before he was due to pay millions to compensate First Jersey investors who U.S. District Judge Richard Owen in Manhattan determined were cheated. That judgment, won by the Securities and Exchange Commission, is now more than $78 million.
That ruling led to a series of legal setbacks for Brennan, who is now barred from the securities industry after regulators found he continued to use the high-pressure "boiler room" tactics of his First Jersey days.
In 1999, he settled a stock fraud lawsuit brought by New Jersey authorities, but has paid almost nothing of the $45 million earmarked for aggrieved investors.
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