NEW YORK (Reuters) - A judge on Tuesday declared a mistrial in an insider trading case against a former Credit Suisse <CSGN.VX> <CS.N> investment banker after finding that two jurors had failed to follow instructions.
By Paritosh Bansal
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A judge on Tuesday declared a mistrial in an insider trading case against a former Credit Suisse <CSGN.VX> <CS.N> investment banker after finding that two jurors had failed to follow instructions.
District Judge Richard Berman in Manhattan set a hearing for Wednesday to determine a new trial date. He initially scheduled a new date for January, but prosecutors and the defense asked for more time to talk to their witnesses.
The trial of Hafiz Naseem, a Pakistani national who worked for Credit Suisse's Global Energy Group in New York, began on Monday with opening statements. The mistrial means the trial must start again with a fresh jury.
!ADVERTISEMENT!Naseem is accused of leaking inside tips about a string of pending merger deals to a co-defendant, Ajaz Rahim, who has an arrest warrant pending against him. Naseem has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges of conspiracy and securities fraud.
On Tuesday, the judge said one of the jurors had acknowledged that an associate or friend of the defendant had made some comments to her on Monday, and she in turn had spoken to another juror about it.
The incident was not reported to the court, violating instructions to the jury, Berman said.
The judge said he spoke to both jurors and confirmed that "inappropriate contact in fact occurred yesterday."
He said the jurors told him they still would be fair and impartial. He said he did not doubt their sincerity but wanted to avoid even the appearance of impropriety.
"I conclude that there is a manifest necessity to declare mistrial in this case," Berman ruled.
Faced with the prospect of postponing the trial, defense attorney Michael Bachner said his client was willing to go ahead with the current jury panel. But prosecutors said they were concerned whether the two jurors could be impartial.
Naseem, who joined Credit Suisse in 2006, was arrested by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents in May. Prosecutors contend that from April 2006 to February 2007, he provided inside tips about pending deals, including the $32 billion private equity buyout of Texas power company TXU Corp, to Rahim.
The alleged scheme generated profits of more than $7.5 million, according to prosecutors.
If convicted, Naseem could face at least 25 years in prison and deportation.
(Reporting by Paritosh Bansal and Martha Graybow; editing by John Wallace, Richard Chang)
