For $4M Spritual Leaders Pray for Body Armor CEO release

[flashl]

Body armor CEO seeks release from jail

The former head of the leading supplier of body armor to the U.S. military, facing federal charges in an alleged fraud scheme, may be freed after two months in jail but only under house arrest, a judge has ruled.

And instead of the usual bail posting, David H. Brooks must convince prosecutors that they have full control of his millions in assets so he cannot use them to flee, U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert said Friday.

Prosecutors have accused the founder and former chief executive of DHB Industries Inc. of refusing to disclose the location of millions of dollars held overseas, including $4 million recently sent to spiritual leaders in the African nation of Senegal.

The spiritual leaders were paid to pray for Brooks' acquittal, according to testimony at a hearing Friday, but Assistant U.S. Attorney John Martin characterized the expenditures as "quasi-religious."

Brooks' attorney, Paul Shechtman, would say only that "no money was sent to Senegal to hide assets."

If an agreement can be finalized, Brooks could be released within two weeks, Martin said.

Brooks, 53, has pleaded not guilty to charges of insider trading, fraud and tax evasion.

No trial date has been set.

Prosecutors say he garnered more than $185 million by falsely inflating the value of the inventory of DHB's top product, a vest designed to withstand rifle fire and shrapnel, and then selling company stock after the doctored accounting boosted its price. He is also accused of failing to report bonus payments and using company money for lavish personal expenses.

He resigned from DHB in July 2006.

MiamiHerald - Read Full Text

This story is a perfect example of how money can determine your fate in the criminal justice system. There are strong reasons to believe that Brooks sold bulletproof vests that were not 'bulletproof' to the government.

[malaise]

1. Brooks caused the deaths of innocent soldiers

Throw away the key. These fundies really confuse praying with preying.

[Richard Steele]

2. No way he should be out. No way he spent 4mil to buy Senegalese prayers.

He's stashing cash to make a run for it. Any judge
that lets him out is a fool.

[flashl]

3. Bulletproof-less vests

January 7, 2006
New York Times
Pentagon Study Links Fatalities To Body Armor

“A secret Pentagon study has found that as many as 80 percent of the marines who have been killed in Iraq from wounds to the upper body could have survived if they had had extra body armor.

“The ceramic plates in vests now worn by the majority of troops in Iraq cover only some of the chest and back. In at least 74 of the 93 fatal wounds that were analyzed in the Pentagon study of marines from March 2003 through June 2005, bullets and shrapnel struck the marines' shoulders, sides or areas of the torso where the plates do not reach.

“The shortages come down to money and priorities. In 1998, Interceptors (state of the art vests) were available and issued to armies around the world."