Speaker 1: Now it's time for our daily Bloomberg labbreef exploring legal
Speaker 1: issues in the news and the Bloomberg Labry, brought to
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Speaker 1: c d R dot Org. Today Bloomberg, lahstoom Grosso and
Speaker 1: Greg Stewart discuss the insider trading trial of professional gambler
Speaker 1: Billy Walter. So they speak with John Coffee, a professor
Speaker 1: at Columbia University Law School, and Adam Pritchard, a professor
Speaker 1: at the University of Michigan Law School. John Tom Javis
Speaker 1: has pleaded guilty and is expected to be the prosecution
Speaker 1: star witness. And this is a pretty straight case, tipper
Speaker 1: to tippy with no middleman. How strong is the prosecution's case, Oh,
Speaker 1: I think comparatively, it's very strong, for for three reasons.
Speaker 1: First of all, you've got the direct testimony of the
Speaker 1: tipper implicating the tippy. In many of these cases the
Speaker 1: government only has circumstantial evidence. Here, you got the second
Speaker 1: point that the tipper didn't trade himself he's pled guilty
Speaker 1: to a failing me. The only reason he would have
Speaker 1: to do that is that there was Illie Galvy surrounding
Speaker 1: his tip to Mr Waller. Um if he didn't think
Speaker 1: that was guilty. This is not like a case where
Speaker 1: he's committed a half dozen defenses offenses and is trying
Speaker 1: to find one to settle on. Finally, Mr Waller is
Speaker 1: a professional gambler. If the jury learns that, I think
Speaker 1: the jury is likely to believe this guy is very
Speaker 1: comfortable taking risk, and here, at this time, he took
Speaker 1: a legal risk. Adam, do you agree that the prosecution
Speaker 1: has an especially strong case here, and if so, does
Speaker 1: that mean that Billy Walter's probably has to testify in
Speaker 1: his own defense in order to have a fighting chance.
Speaker 1: So this is a classic insider trading scenario. Davis and
Speaker 1: Walter's are golfing buddies, and Davis was passing on the information.
Speaker 1: I agree with Jack that having the testimony of the
Speaker 1: the tipper makes the government's case very strong. I expect
Speaker 1: that the defense lawyers are going to try and uh
Speaker 1: muddy the waters, try and beat up Davis on the
Speaker 1: stand for having taken a plea uh in exchange for
Speaker 1: his testimony, and they're going to make an assessment of
Speaker 1: how credible Davis is on the stand before making the
Speaker 1: decision about whether or not they're going to let their
Speaker 1: client testify. Uh, he has a history of running a
Speaker 1: foul the law on occasion, and the history of being
Speaker 1: a gambler suggests that he is a risk taker. Maybe
Speaker 1: the defense would prefer to keep him off the stand
Speaker 1: if they can, but they may have to throw a
Speaker 1: hail Mary if Davis comes off as a credible witness.
Speaker 1: As Adam Pritchard, a professor at the University of Michigan
Speaker 1: Law School, and John Coffee, a professor at Columbia University
Speaker 1: Law School, speaking with the Bloomberg Law host joom Grosso
Speaker 1: and Greg's store. You can listen to Bloomberg Law weekdays
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Speaker 1: and that's this morning's Bloomberg Law Brief. You can find
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