By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell Book
SDNY COURTHOUSE, Dec 14 – A scandal of Allianz that has been brewing since the collapse of its investment funds as COVID set has given rise to guilty pleas of two cooperators, and the indictment of Gregoire Tournant, by Southern District of New York prosecutors on May 17, 2022.
More than a year and a half later on December 14, 2023, this order: "as to Gregoire Tournant re: MOTION for Bill of Particulars and to direct the government to produce Brady material, dismiss the wire fraud object of the conspiracy charge, strike Count Three or Four as multiplicitous, and strike as surplusage paragraphs 7 and 69 of the Indictment filed by Gregoire Tournant. For the reasons explained above, the Motion is granted to the extent that the Government must provide a bill of particulars identifying the institutional and individual investors and prospective investors, as well as any consultants, that the Government will or may attempt to prove were victims of the scheme alleged in Count One of the Indictment. The bill of particulars must be provided by December 20, 2023. The Motion is denied in all other respects. (Signed by Judge Laura Taylor Swain on 12/13/23)."
At issue are Allianz Global Investors U.S. LLC's Structured Alpha Funds; the cooperators are Stephen Bond-Nelson, who along with Tournant was discharged in late 2021, and Trevor Taylor.
At 3 pm AGI pleaded guilty, and even got a sentencing date, in a peak of corporate personhood. Inner City Press live tweeted here and below.
Jump cut to June 2, when Gregoire Tournant was arraigned before SDNY Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain. Inner City Press live tweeted here
Earlier in the day, Inner City Press went to the SDNY press conference and asked if the US Attorney's Office anticipates seeking any jail time for Taylor and Bond-Nelson - who left his SEC interview, ostensibly for a bathroom break, and never came back.
Inner City Press has uploaded Bond-Nelson's cooperation deal to Patreon here.
US Attorney Damian Williams replied that it is early in the cooperation so too early to tell. To Inner City Press' question about whether his Office worked with BaFin or other German authorities, he declined to say, emphasizing the collaboration of DOJ, the Postal Inspectors and SEC.
The prosecutors' statement of facts goes out of its way to say "The misconduct occurred only within the small Structured Products Group at AGI US. The Government’s investigation has not revealed evidence that anyone at AGI US outside of the Structured Products Group was aware of the misconduct before March 2020. The investigation also has not revealed that anyone at any other organizations that fell within the broader umbrella of the parent company Allianz SE was aware of or participated in the misconduct."
Allianz has previously been fined by the US OFAC for sanctions violations, and for example hit with penalties by the Bermuda Monetary Authority.
Inner City Press will stay on the case - watch this site.
The case is US v. Tournant, 22-cr-276 (Swain)
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