Jay Cohen 'Wire Act' Internet Gaming Jury Released for Weekend

Mike Godfrey, Tax-news.com, Manhattan

28 February 2000

The trial of ex-market trader Jay Cohen in New York on 'wire act' charges relating to his Anguillan Internet gaming company has now gone an astonishing two weeks, and the jury, which retired on Friday morning was released for the weekend by Judge Griesa at 3.30 pm.

The Judge, who is due to retire shortly, has taken an increasingly anti-Cohen line during the trial, going so far as to instruct the jury in a way that left them almost no choice but to find Cohen guilty. This despite the fact that the Judge has told the defence attorney Ben Branfman that he has a good case, and will probably win on appeal! The Judge crowned what seemed to many a highly partisan week by providing the jury, who had requested a copy of Section 1084 of the Wire Act, under which Cohen is charged, with a version that left out the most important clauses from Cohen's point of view.

Based on the Judge's instructions, the jury should have been back in Court with a guilty verdict in less than an hour - but they didn't appear. Ben Branfman said: 'At least we made it to lunch-time', and then the jury made a number of requests to the Judge, suggesting that their verdict was far from cut-and-dried.

The Cohen case has probably been better theatre than the high-profile Diaillo case, taking place in the same building. Arguably, the Cohen case will also have more long-term impact, but the media has passed it by in favour of the more populist case.

There has to be a verdict on Monday? Watch this space!

 

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