The U.S. Court of Appeals has denied Frederic Bourke’s request for a new trial.
Bourke, convicted in 2009 of an FCPA conspiracy and sentenced to a year in jail, argued that prosecutors knowingly allowed a key witness to present false testimony to the jury.
A three-judge panel from the Second Circuit heard his appeal.
David Glovin of Bloomberg followed Bourke’s trial and reported the appeals court decision today.
Bourke had also appealed on other grounds last year, and lost that appeal.
The key witness against Bourke, who co-founded the Dooney & Bourke luxury handbag brand, was Hans Bodmer, a Swiss lawyer who once worked for Viktor Kozeny. Bourke was accused of joining Kozeny’s conspiracy to bribe officials in Azerbaijan.
Bodmer pleaded guilty in 2004 to a money laundering conspiracy in the scheme. He hasn’t been sentenced.
Bourke had argued that prosecutors allowed Bodmer to testify to important dates in the bribery plot while knowing some of his testimony would be wrong.
Kozeny was charged in the case but fled to the Bahamas. The United States fought for his extradition. But earlier this year, the U.K. Privy Council ruled that Kozeny couldn’t be extradited from the Bahamas for the FCPA and related offenses.
Bourke is free on bail pending the outcome of all of his appeals.
Bloomberg’s Glovin said Bourke’s lawyers will ask the appeals court to reconsider today’s ruling.
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