Circle of Greed by Patrick Dillon

Author:Patrick Dillon [Dillon, Patrick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-58917-0
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2010-04-28T16:00:00+00:00

WITH THE STOLEN ART located, and with audio recordings of phone calls between Tierney and Cooperman, Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Robinson had evidence to take before a grand jury. Unlike many federal prosecutors, Robinson, lanky and taciturn, with thinning brown hair, a graduate of the University of California’s Boalt Hall Law School, harbored no ambitions to collect trial experience and then move on to a more lucrative job at a private law firm. He had already been in private practice, spending nearly seven years representing entertainers. Those unfamiliar with his background were also surprised to learn that he had been something of a musical prodigy as a kid, adept at various instruments ranging from the bass to bass guitar to keyboard. He’d even formed his own rock band, streaked his hair purple, worn fluorescent earrings, and played in clubs in West L.A. That stood in sharp contrast to the now understated and mostly apolitical Democrat who was content to work in the federal bureaucracy. He relished the ideal of fairness and justice and working in law enforcement.

With eighteen million residents, seven counties, and thirty-five cities within its jurisdiction, the Central District of California office was responsible for the most populous and diverse area in the nation. Its 250 assistant U.S. attorneys were second in number only to New York. Like New York, L.A. generated its fair share of white-collar scam artists. Robinson especially loved working in the major frauds division, but this was the first art-theft-turned-insurance-scam he’d encountered. On tape, with Tierney’s assistance, Cooperman could not have been a more cooperative, albeit unsuspecting, witness against himself. Wasn’t that how these things usually went down? With no honor among thieves, once you flipped one, the stampede was usually on.

Still, Robinson was reluctant to tip his hand, insisting that every piece of evidence be ironclad. Nine years earlier he had gone into a grand jury confident of securing an indictment, only to have the case thrown out. He vowed never to repeat that mistake. On the other hand, he had FBI agents on his team—one in particular—who didn’t brook any foot-dragging.

“I wasn’t going to let this case die,” Curry recalled later. “The clock was running and time for the grand jury to be empanelled was just about up. I called over to the U.S. attorney’s office and said, if they didn’t get this case going, I would take it to New York.”

Robinson presented the case to a Los Angeles grand jury in July 1998. Behind closed doors he furnished witnesses, including Tierney, Little, and Curry. Robinson presented evidence that included photographs of the stolen art and the fax inflating their value to the insurers, and when he walked out, he had a sealed indictment charging Steven Cooperman with eighteen felony counts of crimes ranging from insurance fraud to tax fraud. Even then, the extent of Cooperman’s larceny was greatly understated.

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