Death merchant finally on trial

[Ombre Vivante]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/7912997/Body-armour-boss-looted-185m-to-pay-for-prostitutes-and-parties-court-hears.html

Prosecutors say David H Brooks used his company, DHB Industries, as his own private bank account, paying for his stable of race horses, pornography videos for his son, a $100,000 gem-encrusted US flag belt buckle, plastic surgery for his wife and prostitutes for his staff.

He hired the rock band Aerosmith and rapper 50 Cent to perform at his daughter's bat mitzvah and allowed her to use the company jet to fly to a Halloween party in Wisconsin, his trial in Long Island, New York, has heard. Tom Petty and the Eagles played at other parties for his children.

Prosecutors claim Mr Brooks forged a letter claiming the DHB board had approved some $6 million in disputed expenditures, which also included more than $350,000 on pens, some made of gold, and $40,000 on leather-bound bar mitzvah invitations.

However, the expenses are dwarfed by the $190 million that Mr Brooks, 55, and Sandra Hatfield, the company's former chief operating officer, allegedly made by lying about DHB's performance and stocks of its Interceptor bullet-proof vests so they could sell their shares at an inflated price. The pair deny the various fraud and insider dealing charges against them.

The court heard that the pair created companies to funnel money to a Swiss bank account and a bank in the tax haven of San Marino.

Prosecutors also said that Scotland Yard detectives had uncovered evidence of a Brooks family member hiding $3.6 million in a London safe deposit box in the same type of duffel bags given to guests at the daughter's bat mitzvah.

Prosecutors say the case boils down to "the naked greed of two people" and blamed them for the trial's six-month duration.

"It's testament to the amount they stole. It's about the depths they sunk to. It's about greed and lies," Christopher Ott, prosecuting, told the jury in a five-hour summing-up on Monday.

Kenneth Ravenell, defending, said: "We do not back down from any share he earned and every dollar he made." The defence said that the hiring of prostitutes for staff and board members was a legitimate business expense "if Mr Brooks thought such services could motivate his employees and make them more productive".

Much of the evidence against Mr Brooks has come from Dawn Schlegel, DHB's former chief financial officer.

A vet who looked after Mr Brooks's racehorses said his client had repeatedly asked him if he could supply a memory-erasing pill to use on Ms Schlegel.

Mr Brooks resigned from DHB Industries, which he founded and which supplied body armour to the US military in Afghanistan and Iraq, in 2005. The company changed its name and has now filed for bankruptcy.

He faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted as well as further trials over contempt of court and tax evasion charges.

The trial continues.

This is the same subhuman who got rich from selling defective body armour to US troops in the Middle East.