Wall Street Whiz Out of Jail -- For Now
WALL STREET WHIZ
OUT OF JAIL — FOR NOW
Stephan Jay Lawrence, the fallen Wall Street star, was released from a Miami jail on Thursday — two days after he had been sent there by a federal bankruptcy judge for violating a contempt of court order.
U.S. District Judge Alan Gold freed Lawrence, 54, of Aventura, who had been put in the Federal Detention Center for failing to turn over a $7 million offshore trust to the bankruptcy court on Tuesday. He was found in violation of a civil contempt order.
Lawrence's attorney, Jon Rosenthal, argued that Chief Bankruptcy Judge A. Jay Cristol did not have the authority to order incarceration until the federal District Court heard his appeal of the contempt order.
Lawrence says he cannot turn over the trust because he lost his controlling interest in 1995.
"I'm very pleased that he has been released," Rosenthal said.
The district court hearing on Lawrence's appeal is planned for early November. In the meantime, he is free.
