© 2008 Lewis Family Farm. All Photos © Barbara A Lewis, except where otherwise noted. All rights reserved.
Photo © 2008 Barbara A Lewis
Oct 23, 2000 Threatening criminal prosecution against the farm and Mr. Lewis, Assistant Attorney General Robert Rosenthal and Mr. Rocky Piaggione, Ass’t AG, Criminal Division, Criminal Prosecutions Bureau, acting “independently” - jointly implied that the actions of independent contractors in servicing a ditch somehow related to a Wall Street indictment and a subsequent pleading by Mr. Lewis, 10 years earlier. The fury of an Obey the Law Injunction filed in federal civil court – threatened – but this was not grasped at the time. Nonetheless, the Farm and the Lewises resisted, and Rosenthal and Piaggione filed a misrepresentation at year end. For the record of the Wall Street action of Rudy Giuliani and the SEC, see http://sblewis.net; summary attempted here:
Mr. Lewis was charged, pled, sentenced to probation and fined in 1989. The Wall Street Journal, on January 4th, 1990, declaring Mr. Lewis innocent, mistakenly added that he insisted on pleading over counsel’s advice. The last is wrong. Counsel pressured the pleading days before trial – with most knowing the pleading was untrue. The Street knew. Counsel suggested Mr. Lewis would not react well to court and could be in danger in prison. WSJ did not fact check: the editorial was written by L. Gordon Crovitz, urged on by counsel to Mr. Lewis without Mr. Lewis’s knowledge. Mr. Lewis accepted an Obey the Law Injunction in 1990. The SEC took no evidence. Left with a criminal conviction (by pleading), a lifetime ban and an Obey the Law injunction he did not resist – Mr. Lewis petitioned the president for an unconditional pardon – which came in 2001. Clearing at Merrill Lynch gave evidence that Mr. Lewis was framed by the government’s primary witness in a concealed trade that all but created a “wash sale”, this was confirmed by the short seller, suggesting that Giuliani knew Mr. Lewis was framed, and that the Southern District of New York misrepresented plain fact to the SEC, in any event. This was presented to the Court – and the Court acted to vacate its Obey the Law Injunction, firmly declaring vigilantism, not crime, was committed. The SEC vacated its life time ban and smothered this at week’s end June 28th, 2006, before a 10-day news hole with July 4th falling mid week following.
Government is not a graceful loser. The actions that restored Mr. Lewis’s ability to return to his business life are unique in Wall Street history, and they have been hidden. Journalists know. The Obey the Law injunction, imposed in 1990 by Hon. Wm. C. Conner, USDJ, Southern District of New York, was vacated by his Court March 29th, 2006, 16 years after the fact and went unreported - as the Court learned what appears on page 9 (12th page of PDF), in footnote 5, see Reply Memorandum of Law in Support of Salim B. Lewis’s Motion to Vacate Injunction, February 27, 2006. The SEC, instigated in 1990 by those associated with U. S. Attorney Rudy Giuliani in the Southern District of New York - see evidence of dishonesty implied on pages 2 (line 15) & 7 of Opposition Motion to Vacate, February 10th, 2006, and addressed in the Reply Memorandum in support of Motion to Vacate Injunction, noted above, reversed itself 16 years later in planned silence. These actions are without precedent, and are not explained anywhere. Note: invited to chambers, weeks after the Court issued its Opinion and Order, March 29th, 2006, Mr. Lewis met with Judge Wm. C. Conner who urged Mr. Lewis’s return to a sickened Wall Street. His Honor said finance could use what Mr. Lewis might bring and asked to be informed if, when and as the decision was formed. Smiling, he gently asked, “You did not go through all this trouble not to go back?” The step suggested by Judge Conner is under consideration. Wall Street is in the worst shape in history, threatening the national economy as never before, exactly as predicted by Mr. Lewis for many years. Note: the petition to the president as taken for investigation by the FBI in dialogue in Short Hills, NJ, conformed to none of three stated requirements of pardon. No remorse, no admission of guilt, no statement about repetition - nothing close. The FBI required 8 months, following which a president whom Mr. Lewis confronted about his most personal behavior on July 18th, 1994, who said he would not pardon Mr. Lewis, did so on his last day in office. As Judge Conner made clear in open court on March 10th, 2006, President Clinton’s pardon meant nothing positive to him; - as Mr. Lewis subsequently made clear to Judge Conner, the words and spirit of the Court’s Opinion and Order meant more to the Lewises than did the president’s pardon. The crime was the pleading. The Lewis family is grateful to Nicholas de B. Katzenbach, Douglas S. Eakeley, Jeffrey Lamken, Lawrence Lustberg, Valerie P. F. Jacob, and dozens of others who have maintained their support and expressed their love and confidence since 1987. When the government rogue acts, all are in jeopardy. When a wrong is righted, all are helped. We have been harmed, and we have been helped.
Dec 11, 2000 Ass’t. AG Robert Rosenthal misrepresents under penalty of perjury in his affidavit In the face of our letter of October 23rd, see above, AG Rosenthal claimed (see paragraph 5 of #626-00) in his affirmation to the court of Dec 11, 2000, “LFF has already contributed $50,000 to the Town of Keene for the purpose of assisting in funding... an environmental benefit project.” FACT: Neither we nor the farm gave to the Town of Keene. At the suggestion of Anita Deming, Cornell Cooperative Extension Agent, Sandy and Barbara Lewis (not LFF) made a tax - deductible gift to Trout Unlimited — Anita Deming solicited for Trout Unlimited, to “make the APA feel good” - and gave our gift to Glens Falls pediatrician John Braico MD for Trout Unlimited; fearing what government would do with this gesture, we sent the letter to Rosenthal of October 23rd: FACT - we refused to donate in settlement - were asked, declined, and sent the letter. Lewis Family Farm does not contribute to charity; neither we nor the farm gave a donation in settlement discussion with the APA. Rosenthal was wrong and knew it. Sandy & Barbara’s gift was not made as a result of a settlement discussion or a negotiation. Period.
North Country Shakedown, in which documents from 1999 and 2000 detail an APA - DEC - AG move on LFFI - in which two Ass’t. AG’s working in concert while denying this is so, lying in the process, threaten to criminalize service of a drainage ditch by a contractor working at minus 37 F, one month following the death of a Lewis son at 26 years of age. This government mess collapses with AG’s fabrication and PR with the press buying, and one last lie.
Mr. Lewis’ unique Wall Street history— involving Giuliani, The Southern District of NY, The Securities & Exchange Commission, USDJ Hon. Wm. C. Conner, President Bill Clinton, Hon. Nicholas de B. Katzenbach, former Attorney General, see sblewis.net for more.
Photo: © 2008 Barbara A Lewis
