The trial of three defendants in Massachusetts accused of colluding in order to defraud Wynn Resorts and the Massachusetts Gaming Commission about the partial ownership of one of their number in land that was purchased by Wynn in Everett for the Wynn Boston Harbor ended last week with not guilty verdicts for all three.
Federal prosecutors had a harder than anticipated time in conclusively proving that the three doctored documents in order to hide the fact that convicted felon Charles Lightbody was part owner in the Everett land, which overlooks the Mystic River with the city of Boston on the other side.
State law forbids a convicted felon from profiting in any way from a casino, including from selling land for a casino. The prosecution seeks to show that Lightbody and his two partners faked documents to show that he sold his interest before the 17 acres changed hands in early 2015.
Later the commission awarded Wynn the license for the Boston metro casino resort. The original owners of the land, and the current defendants include Dustin DeNunzio, Anthony Gattineri and Charles Lightbody.
In order to nail down their case prosecutors tried to prevent the defense from introducing a key witness to the stand.
The defense had countered the prosecution by trying to show that the partners were entirely transparent in their actions and that Lightbody in fact sold his interest in the land to Gattineri before Wynn indicated an interest in by it. The defense also alleged that Wynn knew about Lightbody’s association with the process long before the December 2012 date it purchased the property supposedly without the knowledge of Lightbody’s involvement.
Later the government short-circuited efforts by the defense to call a government witnesses, attorney Paul Feldman, who was granted immunity in return for his cooperation and Grand Jury testimony. He was never called although the prosecution wanted him on its list of potential witnesses, apparently to keep the defense from calling him to the stand.
The prosecution said that it would withdraw its offer of immunity if Feldman testifies. Defense attorneys filed documents with the court showing that they believe Feldman would testify that the agreements to transfer Lightbody’s ownership were legitimate and had been discussed with Wynn’s attorney prior to the developer being awarded the bid.
Without his immunity, Feldman would probably be forced to plead the Fifth Amendment and not answer questions.
The defense was forced to play recordings of Feldman’s testimony before the Grand Jury in which he says much the same thing they hoped he would say in person.
The verdict may have other repercussions, however. It has already given ammunition to a suit filed against the Massachusetts Gaming Commission by the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority over the license approval for Wynn Resorts in Everett. Ken Leonetti, a partner with Boston’s Foley Hoag, says it calls into question that entire procedure.
“The testimony in this trial and the verdict delivered today raise immediate and important questions about the Gaming Commission’s process, and whether the MGC’s suitability review of Wynn was thorough and its findings accurate,” he said.
