| Leech of Franklin WAMCO
Pled Not Guilty to Cherry Picking
now Gets Trial Delay to June 16
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE,
Feb 25 – 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." Inner City Press will
continue on the case.
The case is
USA v. Leech, 1:24-cr-658
(Woods)
***
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