Kidan Pleads Guilty in Fraud
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel December 16, 2005
Kidan pleads guilty in fraud
BY SEAN GARDINER
STAFF WRITER
ARRIVING AT COURT: Adam Kidan, center, and his lawyers enter the federal courthouse in Miami on Thursday. Kidan hurt his arm in a fall on ice in New York City. Getty Images photo/Carlo Akin
Depending upon what Adam Kidan knows and the willingness of prosecutors to use him, the 41-year-old New York businessman may in the coming months find himself testifying in a variety of venues, from a fraudulent loan case in Miami, to a murder trial in Fort Lauderdale, to corruption investigations on Capitol Hill.
With his left arm in a sling as the result of a slip on ice in New York City 10 days ago, Kidan raised his right hand and pleaded guilty to conspiracy and wire fraud Thursday in Miami federal court. In the case before U.S. District Judge Paul Huck, he was accused of participating in fraudulently obtaining $60 million worth of loans to buy the SunCruz gambling ships from the late Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis.
Kidan faces a maximum of 10 years in jail, though the federal sentencing guidelines recommend a 70-month sentence, Kidan's lawyer Joseph Conway said. The plea agreement also calls for Kidan to become a cooperating witness.
Huck set Kidan's sentencing date for March 1. By then the government mast likely will have started making Kidan hold up his end of the bargain.
Kidan is expected to testify against his former co-defendant, powerful Washington, D.C., lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Abramoff and Kidan were friends dating back two decades to a D.C.-area college Republicans group, though Conway said the two "no longer talk to each other."
The fraud case, being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lawrence LaVecchio and Paul Schwartz, is scheduled for trial Jan. 9 in Miami.
Kidan also is willing to tell all he knows about and testify, if needed, in the influence peddling probe of U.S. Rep. Robert Ney, R-Ohio, and as a witness in the Boulis murder case, Conway said.
"Obviously it's a difficult decision for Adam," Conway said. 'But he's at the point in his life where he's willing to admit his wrongdoing and try to correct his mistakes by assisting the government in any way he can."
In August, Kidan and Abramoff were indicted on six counts charging conspiracy to commit fraud and wire and mail fraud in connection with the September 2000 purchase of SunCruz from Boulis for $147.5 million.
In court on Thursday, LaVecchio said that Kidan and Abramoff lied about their net worth and other information in applying for $60 million in loans.
As part of obtaining the loan, the financing companies also made Abramoff and Kidan pay Boulis $23 million of their own money up front. On Sept, 26, 2000, Kidan, Abramoff and Boulis sent by fax a certified document to Foothill Capital in New York City attesting to the fact that the upfront payment had been made when in fact no money had changed hands.
Instead, Boulis and the men struck a secret deal in which he received promissory notes for the money and a 10 percent share of SunCruz, in violation of his agreement to sell the company.
Conway has spoken with prosecutors from the Broward State Attorney's Office about the possibility of Kidan testifying against three men arrested in September and charged with Boulis' 2001 murder. One of those men, Anthony "Big Tony" Moscatiello, told authorities that a few weeks after Boulis was murdered, James Pudgy Fiorillo drove to Moscatiello's home in Queens to deliver a Cadillac. Moscatiello said at dinner, Fiorillo told him that he and Anthony Little Tony Ferrari killed Boulis on Kidan's orders.
When asked about Moscatiello's comment after the court hearing Thursday, Conway replied, "consider the source." The lawyer said that Kidan had "no knowledge of the murder" prior to it and "no participation in the murder."
However, Kidan "is willing to assist the authorities in their investigation in anyway possible," said Conway, who mentioned that Kidan could be useful to the prosecution because of statements made to him after the slaying.
Abramoff's attorney. Neal Sonnett, declined to comment Thursday.
