NY Judge denies release request by co-conspirator of Ponzi scammer Renwick Haddow
Judge Richard M. Berman was not impressed with James Moore’s attempt to put the blame for his conviction on his defense lawyer.
Judge Richard M. Berman of the New York Southern District Court has earlier today denied an application by James Moore, one of the co-conspirators of Ponzi scammer Renwick Haddow, for immediate release. Earlier in June, Moore was convicted at trial of wire fraud and conspiracy for engaging in a scheme to defraud investors by making misrepresentations about the management and operations of Bar Works Inc.
Judge Berman was apparently not impressed with the attempt of the defendant to shift the blame for his conviction on the defense lawyer – David M. Garvin.
Below are a couple of excerpts from Moore’s request for his release:
“After seeing for yourself the charade presented by Mr. Garvin under the thinly veiled guise of a ‘criminal defense’ at my trial I am asking Your Honor to make an order for my immediate release…
Other than the obvious point of Mr. Garvin producing none of the 12-20 witnesses I had listed and requested he call in order to help exonerate me of the crimes I was charged with (and for whom I had prepared pages and pages of questions to be used by Mr. Garvin) Mr. Garvin surely failed to meet even the lowest standards of any junior defense lawyer, never mind that of a 37 year trial veteran…
He failed to refute even the most fundamental and pivotal factual statements presented by Mr. Vainberg and Mr. Bell on behalf of the Govt as Your Honor would have been able to see from the documents. His obvious and deliberate efforts to obscure or pervert the truth at every opportunity are surely inexcusable from a licensed professional and incapable of being interpreted as anything other than an obvious and deliberate effort to ensure that I was found guilty…”
Today, Judge Richard M. Berman told defense counsel to respond by July 1, 2019. Moore’s application for release was denied.
According to the Indictment, from 2015 to 2016, Moore and others partnered with Renwick Haddow, who is also a British citizen, in soliciting investments into workspace leases in a co-working business called Bar Works through material misrepresentations concerning, among other things, the identity of Bar Works’ management. Previously, Haddow had been disqualified as a director of any United Kingdom company for eight years, and was sued by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for operating investment schemes that lost investors substantially all of their money.
In order to conceal his role at Bar Works because of the negative publicity on the Internet related to past investment schemes and government sanctions in the UK, Haddow adopted the alias “Jonathan Black.” Notwithstanding Haddow’s control over Bar Works, Moore and others knowingly distributed the Bar Works offering materials listing Black as the Chief Executive Officer of Bar Works and claiming that Black had an extensive background in finance and past success with start-up companies. Moore also received in excess of $1.6 million in commissions for his participation in the scheme.
Moore, 58, of the United Kingdom and Miami, Florida, was convicted of one count of wire fraud and one count of wire fraud conspiracy. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
