Prosecutors want Marian Morgan evidence readmitted
Posted on July 4th, 2011
The exclusion of the documents appears to have been a key factor in Morgan’s decision to go to trial, despite the fact that her husband, John, and another defendant have both decided to plead guilty.
The documents were confiscated by the U.S. government when the Morgans were brought back from Sri Lanka — where they were being held on a charge unrelated to the Ponzi scheme — in late 2009.
The question that led to the magistrate judge’s ruling was whether federal law enforcement officials were merely inventorying a host of materials that the Morgans brought back from Sri Lanka or whether the agents’ work was a warrantless examination of the materials for their investigation.
Judge Thomas B. McCoun III ruled late last month that some of the items obtained during a border search by customs agents in Washington, D.C., — where the Morgans returned from Sri Lanka — were lawfully seized.
But the judge excluded the 5,000 documents obtained by “so-called inventory searches conducted by the FBI” in Tampa.
In a filing on Friday, federal prosecutors argued that Judge McCoun erred in his ruling because all of the materials, including a suitcase containing the documents, were obtained legally during the border search in Washington.
The other materials were placed in plastic bags, while the suitcase was too large for that and was instead wrapped in customs agency tape to “segregate” it from the Morgans’ other personal items.
In late May, the government filed a broader indictment against Marian and John Morgan and added two defendants. They said all four defendants conspired together. Prosecutors also raised the alleged amount stolen to $27 million from $10 million.
Simultaneously, prosecutors obtained the cooperation of newly named defendant Stephen Bowman, an Omaha promoter known mostly for oil and gas deals, who admitted to funneling about $13 million to the Morgan’s so-called investment vehicle, Morgan European Holdings.
Within days of Bowman’s plea, John Morgan entered his own, admitting he was part of the same conspiracy to defraud investors and that he illegally laundered money. Under the terms of his plea agreement, John Morgan will not have to testify against his wife.
Bowman’s deal, already published, calls for him to cooperate fully, with no exceptions.
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