Leech of Franklin WAMCO Pled Not Guilty to Cherry Picking now Unsealing Kastigar Memo

Leech of Franklin WAMCO Pled Not Guilty to Cherry Picking now Unsealing Kastigar Memo by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack SDNY COURTHOUSE, March 31 – On November 25 then-US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams announced an indictment "charging S. KENNETH LEECH II, the former Chief Investment Officer of Franklin's Western Asset Management Company with securities fraud, investment adviser fraud, commodity trading adviser fraud, commodities fraud, and making false statements." Franklin bought WAMCO along with Legg Mason; it has not been working.    On December 16, Leech and his four lawyers appeared for the first time before SDNY District Judge Gregory H. Woods. Inner City Press was there, thread:  All rise! AUSA Peter Davis: He is charged in 5 counts... Judge Gregory H. Woods: Mr. Leech, please stand. How do you plead? Leech: Not guilty. AUSA: We have 500,000 documents from 3rd parties including WAMCO. We'll produce them in 6weeks. Defense: Let's meet again in 5 months, in May. We'd like Mr. Leech to appear by phone. Judge Woods: May 19, 4 pm, to talk about motions and trial schedule. On May 15 the defense wrote in that discovery is not complete, with 40-45,000 documents sued by the end of July. The defense will resist setting a motion schedule or trial date until September. But on May 19, with Inner City Press in the courtroom, Judge Woods set trial for April 6, 2026, with a further scheduling letter due next week. Inner City Press was back in the courtroom on November 7. The docket summarized: " The Court heard argument from both the defense and the Government on the defense motion pending at Dkt. No. 34, in which the defense is seeking .. a bill of particulars." Leech had a huge team of lawyers arguing to know which of his many trades the Government will present at trial. On February 25, the trial was pushed back: "Defense requested that the jury trial date be moved to accommodate for defense's ability to prepare for trial. After proposing a few new dates, the Court granted the request and set a new trial date. The jury trial in this case is adjourned to June 15, 2026." On March 31, "ORDER as to S. Kenneth Leech, II: The Court has scheduled an evidentiary hearing pursuant to Kastigar v. United States, 406 U.S. 441 (1972) to take place on April 8, 2026. Dkt. No. 105. On March 30, 2026, the Government, represented by attorneys who are not part of the prosecution team, made an in camera request to file a pre-hearing memorandum of law under seal because the submission "contains discussions of, and attaches as exhibits, documents defendant S. Kenneth Leech II has claimed are privileged." The request to file the entirety of the memorandum under seal is denied. The Court orders the parties to meet and confer to come to an agreement on proposed redactions. The Government must file its memorandum and any associated exhibits on the public docket of this case with the parties' agreed-upon redactions no later than April 6, 2026. SO ORDERED. (Signed by Judge Gregory H. Woods on 3/31/2026)." Inner City Press will continue on the case.  The case is USA v. Leech, 1:24-cr-658 (Woods) *** Your support means a lot. As little as $5 a month helps keep us going and grants you access to exclusive bonus material on our Patreon page. Click here to become a patron. Feedback: Editorial [at] innercitypress.com SDNY Press Room 500 Pearl Street, NY NY 10007 USA Mail: Box 130222, Chinatown Station, NY NY 10013 Reporter's mobile (and weekends): 718-716-3540 Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.  Copyright 2006-2025 Inner City Press, Inc. To request reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com