Phone Messages for Gov't Lawyers Create New Trouble for Indicted Researcher Who Refused to Wear Wire
Held in a Portland, Ore., jail after being arrested last week in a Manhattan insider-trading case, a research analyst who previously made headlines by publicly refusing to wear a government wire while he was under investigation is in hot water again.
John Kinnucan, 54, is having trouble winning his release before trial because of a series of phone messages he left for government lawyers, FBI agents and a witness that prosecutors are calling threatening, according to the Oregonian and Reuters.
A federal magistrate judge in Oregon this week OK’d the release of Kinnucan without requiring him to post bail but imposed conditions putting him on virtual house arrest and advised him to “keep [his] mouth shut” in the future.
However, a federal judge in Manhattan then countermanded that decision, and Kinnucan remains in jail.
Bloomberg provides an example of one of the messages at issue, which the Oregonian describes as alcohol-fueled voice mail tirades.
Prosecutors said Kinnucan left the following message Dec. 6 for an unidentified prosecutor: “Remember me? The guy who you tried to destroy, you scummy piece of (expletive).” He allegedly went on to say: “Ah, too bad Hitler’s not around. He’d know what to do with scum like you.”
Kinnucan told the magistrate judge his “mean spirited and wrong” comments weren’t intended to be threatening.
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Research Analyst Who Publicly Refused to Wear FBI Wire Is Arrested in Insider Trading Case”
