Upcoming Events & Annoucements

 

Progressive Prison Project

Innocent Spouse & Children Project

Greenwich, Connecticut

Upcoming Events &

 Announcements

Every once in awhile it's a good thing

 to move the sidebar front and center 

First Congregational Church of Danbury, Sun., Mar. 16th

Please join us as Jeff and Lynn will be Guest Preaching and giving a seminar after the service relating to their work at the Innocent Spouse & Children Project. Danbury is the only city in Connecticut that hosts a Federal Prison. The Federal Correctional Institution, Danbury is a low-security United States federal prison for female inmates - a major controversy has arisen recently since a plan has been approved to move these female inmates to other locations far away from their families. First Congregational Church of Danbury, 164 Deer Hill Ave., Danbury, CT, Click image for details.

Faith Beyond Bars & Beyond Conference, Sat., April 5th, 9 am

Please join us as Jeff will be a Panelist at the Faith Beyond Bars & Beyond Conference, Christ Church Cathedral, 45 Church St., Hartford, CT

Bridgeport Reentry Roundtable, White-Collar Panel, Parole Office, Bridgeport, CT, Thurs., Apr. 17th

Please join us as Jeff will be moderating a panel of white-collar experts and persons affected by white collar crime. Our special guest panelist will be Forbes white-collar reporter/columnist Walt Pavlo. Click image for details.

Wheaton College, Illinois, IMPACT 2014, May 30th, 10 am

Please join us at the CMCA Correctional Ministry Summit, Wheaton College, IL., May 29th - 31st. Click image for full list of workshops & presenters, and to register.

First Church of Christ, Congregational, Middletown, CT, Sun., June 22nd

Many thanks to our friend and Jeff's classmate at Union Theological Seminary, Rev. Julia Burkey, for the kind invitation to Guest Preach on this Sunday in June. Please join us. Click image for

 

Jan. '14: George Hritz, Esq. Joins Our Ministries As Counsel

We are honored to announce that George F. Hritz, Esq. has joined our Ministries as Counsel/Liaison to the Legal Community. George will, among other things, be seeking relationships with attorneys, firms, law schools, and other affiliates with whom we can partner in ministering to and advocating for the rights of families of people accused or convicted of white-collar and other nonviolent crimes. George has been serving as lead-attorney on our "innocent spouse lead case" in the Federal Courts, along with a brilliant team of lawyers, advocates and ministers. Thank you George for all of your service to those suffering in silence in our communities. George continues his distinguished 40+ year career in NYC-based litigation, general counsel representation and justice work as he joins us in our calling. Click photo for George's bio.

Jan. '14: Jesus Saves Ministries of Bridgeport, CT Becomes Our Next "Affiliate Church"!

We are proud to announce that Bishop Shane Gaskins and Pastor Angela Gaskins have agreed that Jesus Saves Ministries has become our next "Affilate Church." We are blessed to now be providing prison ministry services to their church, as it joins our community along with our Home and Affiliate Churches, Christ Church Greenwich and First Baptist Church of Bridgeport. Click image for more info on Jesus Saves Ministries.

Feb '14: Cathedral of Praise C.O.G.I.C. of Bridgeport Becomes Our Newest Affiliate Church!

We are pleased to announce that Bishop J.C. White has agreed that Cathedral of Praise will become our newest Affiliate Church. We are blessed to now be providing prison ministry services to their church, as it joins our community along with our Home and Affiliate Churches, Christ Church Greenwich, First Baptist Church of Bridgeport & Jesus Saves Ministries. Click image for more info on Cathedral of Praise.

Feb. ’14: The Bridgeport Pardons Assistance Project now at pardonsproject.org!

The Bridgeport Pardons Assistance Project has joined our larger pardons advocacy network, pardonsproject.org. It is now an even more vital resource for Fairfield County in combating poverty - from the first day of an ex-offender’s release from prison through a Culture of Pardons: public service, volunteerism, goodness, dedication, forgiveness, grace, discipline, faith, and family. Thanks to ABCUSA and Pastor Hopeton Scott, we have a grant of $4000 to reimburse client pardon expenses. For more information: jgrant@pardonsproject.org.

Forbes Article About Our Ministries

"Starting a Discussion on White Collar Crime & Recovery," by Walt Pavlo. Walt is one of the few reporter/commentators on the national white-collar beat who has been evenhanded, fair and not sensationalized. Click Image for Link.

The Nantcket Project Video

So proud of Elizabeth Vargas of ABC News and her courage to admit: 'I am an alcoholic' on Good Morning America. At The Nantucket Project 2013, Jeff revealed his own journey of addiction to prescription painkillers, prison for a white-collar crime, and redemption through faith and service before a group of 600+ eminent and accomplished visionaries, thinkers, innovators and performers. Thank you Elizabeth for taking this giant step for yourself and our great community.Click Image to view Video.

"1 Corinthians 1:18-31: Forgiveness and The Innocent Spouse & Children Project."

NEW! Jeff & Lynn Testify at Christ Church Greenwich, CT, Feb. 2, 2014. Click image for the audio recording of our sermon at Christ Church Greenwich. People in attendance have told us that it was one of the most surprising moments in church they have ever witnessed. Please tell us what you think!

Greenwich Leadership Forum Video

David Miller, Director of the Princeton University Faith & Work Initiative, interviewed Jeff before a gathering of 200+ leaders dedicated to ethical business practices. Dec. '13. Click image to view Video.

Absolute Return/Hedgefund Intelligence Interview

"Helping hedge Funders Cope With Prison: A Q&A with the Director of Greenwich-based Progressive Prison Project," by Lawrence Delevingine. This is the interview that brought our new form of prison ministry to national attention! Click image to view.

OSCARS ALERT: The Wolf of Wall Street On Christmas Day: The Wolf, Sheep & Goats: Matt 25:31-46

There has been a lot of controversy over this movie, its depiction of white-collar criminals, and its failure to compassionately speak to families and other victims. Forbes reviewer Mark Hughes did an excellent job of discussing all the issues evenhandedly. Click image for our comments and Mark's replies.

 

The Art of Surviving Prison Workshops

The Art of Surviving Prison Workshops offer hope and inspiration to anyone in need of a second chance in life. They are a cautionary tale to fast-paced professionals and families of what happens when we put our drive to make money before ethics and compassion. They also provide lessons in how anyone can survive and succeed the prison journey and come out the other side with a happier, more faithful life. Blended with specific and graphic details about living conditions, survival skills and spirituality learned inside modern day prisons, these lessons can and should be applied to everybody's life. Please contact us to discuss these workshops for your organization or group.

Some Comments from Linked In: 

After serving 15+ years inside some of America's bloodiest prisons in America, in 2006 I emerged on fire with the HOLY SPIRIT and blessed to be driven to use every bit of my REAL LIFE experience to HELP youth, families and communities.
GOD has blessed me beyond measure, you can GOOGLE my name and read some of what GOD is doing and has done and how He can use even the least of us.
I am nothing without Him and now He is using me as I strive to reach out to those impacted, effected and involved in gang and criminal lifestyles.
GOD ordained me while still in prison but recently I was blessed to receive my ordination credentials, and in 2009 FIERCE YOUTH OUTREACH was established. A gang Intervention outreach ministry.
Communities all over the U.S. are impacted and hurting and yet much of our society is not willing to SUPPORT such a ministry as one that is for reaching those getting out of prison or heading that way or TROUBLED YOUTH.
FIERCE YOUTH OUTREACH is SELF-SUPPORTING we don't want donations but we are PRAYERFUL AND TRUSTING we are making divine connections with PRAYER WARRIORS....
By Brandon Duncan

What is the Christian Sponsorship Program?

With over 10 strong corporate business men and women, 350 dedicated volunteers and over 8000 + Churches, Ministers and Missionaries and Orphanage’s now connected to the CSP program, CSP is experiencing tremendous worldwide success. We at CSP provide a unique funding program for Pastors, Missionaries, Ministries, Bible School students and more .

Using the PMeBook business plan, in conjunction with Pinoy Recruiters (our sales team), an individual or ministry is sponsored into the PMeBOOK business. The business then begins to grow through the selling of memberships into the PMeBook Club, (through Pinoy recruiters) and the sponsored individual will over time begin to collect a residual monthly income. The Membership fees are $7.00 which are paid by a donor supporting the recipient until the recipient’s business income reaches the $10.00 mark where PMeBooks will then issue monthly commission checks. Sign up is free; people are waiting now to help you and your ministry.

Please contact me for more information at copelins3@aol.com or visit our web site at
www.truevisionpr.com

Thank You,
Saretha Copelin, Managing Director,
By Saretha Copelin

______________

Progressive Prison Project/
Innocent Spouse & Children Project
Rev. Jeff Grant, JD, M Div, Director
Christ Church Greenwich
254 East Putnam Avenue
Greenwich, Connecticut, USA 06830
(o) +1203.769.1096
(m) +1203.339.5887
jgrant@pppx.org
jg3074@columbia.edu
Lynn Springer, Advocate
lspringer@innocentspousechildrenproject.org
(m) +1203.536.5508

Affiliates:

First Baptist Church of Bridgeport
126 Washington Avenue, 1st Floor
Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA 06604

Jesus Saves Ministries
784 Connecticut Avenue
Bridgeport. CT, 06607

Cathedral of Praise C.O.G.I.C. Int'l

45 Gregory Street

Bridgeport, CT 06604

Forgiveness and The Innocent Spouse & Children Project. A Sermon. 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 By, Jeff Grant & Lynn Springer

Progressive Prison Project

Innocent Spouse & Children Project

Greenwich, Connecticut

Forgiveness & The Innocent Spouse 

& Children Project.  1 Corinthians 1:18-31

A Sermon.

Rev. Jeff Grant & Lynn Springer

Christ Church Greenwich 

Feb. 2, 2014 

People in attendance have told us that this was one of the most surprising moments in church they have ever witnessed - as Jeff called Lynn up to the pulpit and apologized to her, and through her to his extended family and to the families of all men who have gone to prison and left their families behind.

Click image for the audio recording of our sermon.

 

 

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

 ¹⁸ For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹ For it is written:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
    the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”^[a]

²⁰ Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹ For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. ²² Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, ²³ but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, ²⁴ but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵ For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

²⁶ Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. ²⁷ But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. ²⁸ God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, ²⁹ so that no one may boast before him. ³⁰ It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. ³¹ Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

JEFF:
          

Please be seated.  Also from 1 Corinthians  – "If I speak in the tongues of men or angels but I don’t have love, I’m only a resounding gong or clanging cymbal. "  

My name is Jeff Grant, and I’m the Director of the Progressive Prison Project.  If you look on page three of your program, you’ll see some things about our ministries that are there - and some things that are missing from there.  You’ll see that I’m a Baptist preacher, which means I’m not going to give you a sermon this morning.  I’m going testify because that’s what Baptists do.  So this is going to be testimony this morning, and I promise you, whether you like it or not, that’s what’s going happen.  

There are some things that are not there - and that’s what I’m going to talk about this morning.  I’m going to talk about the other side of our project - the Innocent Spouse and Prison Project - which is very dear to our heart.  These two projects are the first ministries in the United States that are created to support the families of people who are accused or convicted of white-collar and other nonviolent crimes.  Christ Church Greenwich has been kind enough to give us a home.  And, so that’s the reason why I’m here this morning and also why we’ll be also doing a lecture here at the 10:10 between the services.  We are so, so grateful to be here.  

I want to start my testimony this morning by telling you that I was preparing for this sermon about ten days ago when my wife Lynn came to me, and she said to me, “When are you going to stop being a liar?”   

And I said, “Who, me?”  

And she explained to me that…I’ve told…   

I’m so sick of my story.  I have to tell you, because everyone who knows my story here...some of my friends from Family ReEntry are here.  Some of my friends from the ministry, some of my friends from…they know that I’ve been to prison.  They know I’m a drug addict and alcoholic, recovered now 11 years.  They know I’ve… 

I’ve told my story so many times, and in all those times I’ve told my story…I call it My Fall and My Redemption Story.  My wife pointed out to me, she said, “In all those times you’ve told that story, you’ve never once talked about hurting your family,” and I said to her, “How is that possible?”  Is that actually possible?   

Before every time I speak, I pray for vulnerability.  I pray.   

So I went and checked my notes.  I checked everything I’ve written, and it’s true.  I've  never actually talked about hurting my family.  I've never apologized to them.  So I’m going to make that up right now, and, Lynn, can you do me a favor?  Can you come join me up here?   

 [Lynn leaves her seat in the front row and joins Jeff up in the pulpit]

This is really hard.  I’m sorry.  I’m doing the best I can.  She does not know I’m doing this.   

Lynn, I’m sorry.  I’m sorry.  I’m sorry I hurt you.  I’m sorry for the times I wasn’t there for you.  I’m sorry for taking your trust and misusing it.  I’m sorry for the times I was away from you.  I’m sorry that I misused your trust, and I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you when you needed me.  Will you please forgive me?  

LYNN:

Sure.

[Lynn & Jeff hug. Congregation applauds]

JEFF:

I think it’s important that they understand that we’re partners, and I didn’t always treat Lynn like a partner, and that’s the nature of this problem that happens when people go to prison.  And it’s mostly men that go to prison.  Some women go to prison, but statistically it’s mostly men in white-collar crimes that go to prison.  And so that’s what I want to talk about today. I’m going to do my best to relate it to the issue and try to hold it to the scripture at little bit if I can.   

Because the problem of the foolishness of the wise and the way I relate it to the scripture is really - the more I know, the less I know.  I became more and more imbedded in my story and my understandings of "the great me," the preacher, the helper, the minister.  And there’s no question that I was being helpful to people, and that was an understanding that I had, and that was guiding me through.  It guided me through seminary, and it guided me through becoming a director at Family ReEntry.  I see a couple of directors from Family ReEntry here.  And then into my seminary story. 

But that really wasn’t enough for me.  So, I just want you to hear the story a little bit and how…  And what happened here is how we started the Innocent Spouse and Child Project, and Lynn if you want to chime in at any point, that would be great.  Honestly…  Lynn did not know this was going to happen today.  This may be a first for Christ Church.  I’m not sure, but it’s certainly a first for us.  Because we do this, and we’re just doing the best we can here.   

I just wanted to let you know that what happened was is that we’ve kind of found that our search for our own authenticity is really the crux of our ministry, and that’s really, really hard because what happens is that we’re like open wounds.  We’re on the phone or we’re meeting with people who are really oppressed.  They’re on the margins, and they are people who there’s not a lot of empathy or sympathy for in the world, especially white-collar people.  People here in Greenwich or New Caanan or Darien or all over the Country where there are sensationalized headlines and people just…  

There's a kind of Schadenfreude - people want to see them kind of fail in this bizarre way - there are all these TV shows, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous and The Bachelor or whatever they are, for people who are really doing well in the world, but there’s this kind of seed in the back that somehow people want to see them fail, and we’re keyed into that because we’re people who went through it.   

So what happens is that we get phone calls, or emails, or Tweets - or whatever the social media is - and we hear from people whose voices are barely perceptible.  They've just proffered guilty pleas, or in the case of the wives - and that’s really what we want to talk about today - where their husbands have left them penniless and almost homeless, they’re on food stamps, and they can only heat their houses through Operation Fuel.  And they’re on HUSKY in order to get health insurance, and they have sophisticated legal problems because they haven’t been independently represented. And that’s where we come in.  

Lynn winds up ministering to them and counseling them. We put together legal teams for them to try and get them their assets back if they’ve been seized or they’ve been taken by the government in kind of kind of a failure of due process when these women have…  They’re entitled to property that was theirs but somehow got swept up into these government things... 

Lynn, do you want to say anything about it?

LYNN:

           

Well, I just want to say that in the meantime while Jeff is helping them and getting a team together to help these women...they’re cold.  They don’t have sufficient means to heat their homes, which in the case of many white-collar families they’re generally living in fairly large homes.  Operation Fuel is not sufficient to help them heat those homes.  All of their assets have been seized by the SEC.  So, if their husband was in the financial industry, they don’t have enough.  They don’t have enough to feed their children.  As I said, to heat their homes.  

They’re not getting by.   

And, in my case, there was a lot of, a lot of shame.  

I had never known anyone who had ever gone to prison.  It was difficult for me to talk about it.  My own family didn’t really want to hear about it and wasn’t interested in supporting me, and the only people that I did talk to about it advised me to leave Jeff.  There was really no support for me.  My daughter and I were really, really on our own.  And that doesn’t help.  So I have a great deal of compassion for the women that Jeff and I are helping now, who are in the same situation that I was in.  So that’s all I really have to say about that right now.   

And all I do want to say…  Now that I…  Yes, I do have one last thing to say…

[Congregation laughs]

JEFF:

She’s just warming up :).

LYNN: 

          

The one thing that I would like to say to all of you that you might want to take away with you today is... I’ve come to believe that the only way in so many issues that we have in life and in this particular issue, but in almost every issue is…the two things that I would love for you to take away are: compassion and love.  I believe they’re really the only, only way in raising our children, in dealing with white-collar crimes and every crime.  The thing that I’ve learned about Jeff and every criminal I come in contact with, crimes are committed by people who are sick and suffering.  

And compassion and love are really the only way to deal with these things.  That’s just my feeling about this.  

JEFF:

I’m just going to leave you with a quote because I think we’ve probably used up our time.  I just want to tell you we were at Martin Owen's baptism two weeks ago, and it’s just a wonderful thing to be a member of this community and to see children being born.  Dane [and Debbie Boston's] child was born a couple days ago.  Is that right?  And what a gift, to be having a message of salvation and birth and renewal and redemption and to have this all tie together.  

So I just want to leave you with this quote from today's scripture reading:   

“The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those of us who are being saved, it’s the power of God.”   

Thank you all for listening to our message this morning, and may God bless you and keep you always.  

Audio Version of Sermon. 

Lynn & I will next be preaching and speaking at: 

First Congregational Church of Danbury, Sun., Mar. 16th

Please join us as Jeff and Lynn will be Guest Preaching and giving a seminar after the service relating to their work at the Innocent Spouse & Children Project. Danbury is the only city in Connecticut that hosts a Federal Prison. The Federal Correctional Institution, Danbury is a low-security United States federal prison for female inmates - a major controversy has arisen recently since a plan has been approved to move these female inmates to other locations far away from their families. First Congregational Church of Danbury, 164 Deer Hill Ave., Danbury, CT, Click image for details.

 _____________________

Some Comments from Linked In:

I love this...so very powerful! Having been the mother of two sons who went to prison, I learned that families of the incarcerated are the "other victims." You feel so very helpless, judged and often are treated like you are committing a crime. Thank you very doing this!
By Lucy Smith, MEd

I think this ministry is absolutely awesome that Pastor Jeff and his wife, Lynn, are doing to help those innocent wives and children whose spouses are incarcerated. It is very true that very few think about the family of those in prison, but I believe they are left hurting with hardly anyone to come to their rescue; unless, they are fortunate to have family members who care. I'm sure that most of them are full of shame and pain for what their loved ones did to go to prison. It's almost like losing a loved one in death, but the person is still very much alive. The family members of those incarcerated need to know that they are loved regardless to what happened. We who are Christians need to show that love by reaching out to them in any way we can to help out. I never really thought much about the family members before, because I've always done ministry to those on the inside of prison. I am so thankful for the type of ministry that Pastor Jeff and Lynn are talking about, and I pray for more to catch this vision and run with it.
By Gwen Campbell 

I will be having a Town Hall Meeting in March. The agenda is the "Destroying the New Jim Crow" and Transitioning ex-offenders back into our communities effectively. I have prepared a survey to make sure I am presenting what the community is most interested in discussing. Please take time to complete the survey. I would also ask that you would pass it on to others. This is the link: http://lnkd.in/dUzi8Ka I look forward to hearing your opinions.
Thanks. Kimberly
By Kimberly Brown

______________________________

A Prayer for Forgiveness and Reconciliation, From the Thomas More Center, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2014:

Gracious and merciful God, the problems facing our human family are very grave and we are no longer isolated from one another.  We are confronted daily with our addiction to violence, our hatred and our greed.  We are heartbroken.  The media are relentless in their presentation and critique and we all long for some good news.  It is so easy to forget that your Son, Jesus, is always the good news and that he has given us the remedy for our brokenness.  “Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing.” He spoke so clearly. We ask your Holy Spirit to remind us of this again and again.  We ask you for the gift of hope in our lives and know that we need to turn to one another for the confidence and assurance that we will emerge from situations, that, in the short term seem hopeless.  Banish fear and anxiety from our hearts. 

Tonight we gather to affirm one another and to remove the barriers that seem to sour our relationships and keep us at a distance.  Heal the short tempers, the crabbiness and the grudges we hold, against one another, against our political system, against our Church, against our financial institutions.  We could go on and on. Prompt us to be beacons in the present darkness, and especially beacons to one another.  We are all guilty of some selfishness, many of us have lived beyond our means and we become angry and irrational and embrace ideologies that protect our acquisitions.  We need your help to stop contributing to the larger greed that tears at our world.  We believe in the power of your grace to change our lives and we promise tonight to be once again open to that grace.  Bless us with a peaceful spirit and a desire to be reconciled with one another.

______________

Progressive Prison Project/
Innocent Spouse & Children Project
Rev. Jeff Grant, JD, M Div, Director
Christ Church Greenwich
254 East Putnam Avenue
Greenwich, Connecticut, USA 06830
(o) +1203.769.1096
(m) +1203.339.5887
jgrant@pppx.org
jg3074@columbia.edu

Lynn Springer, Advocate
lspringer@innocentspousechildrenproject.org
(m) +1203.536.5508

Affiliates:

First Baptist Church of Bridgeport
126 Washington Avenue, 1st Floor
Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA 06604

Jesus Saves Ministries
784 Connecticut Avenue
Bridgeport. CT, 06607

Cathedral of Praise C.O.G.I.C. Int'l

45 Gregory Street

Bridgeport, CT 06604

Me, Martoma and the Government’s Dirty Wins, By James Fleishman - Guest Blogger

Progressive Prison Project

Innocent Spouse & Children Project

Greenwich, Connecticut

Me, Martoma and the Government’s Dirty Wins

By James Fleishman - Guest Blogger

James Fleishman contacted us the day after he was "featured" on PBS's Frontline's, "To Catch a Trader."  He shared with us his compelling story - including being misled and misquoted on Frontline. We have since stayed in touch and invited him to write a guest blog. Our ministry's policy is to not comment on the tragedies of individuals - but we make no restrictions on guest bloggers. 

 

Earlier this month former SAC hedge fund manager Matthew Martoma walked out of a federal courthouse in Manhattan, freshly convicted on insider trading charges that will likely imprison him for ten years or longer. His wife Rosemary held his hand as they walked down the courthouse steps.  The press had followed the case closely and the attractive couple can be seen in hundreds of shots outside the courthouse I know so well. In nearly all of these pictures Mrs. Martoma is smiling widely and dressed very fashionably, clutching her husband’s hand. She appears to be arriving at the symphony or ballet, not a federal courthouse.  Her husband always looks much more somber.

Minutes after the jury’s verdict, Mrs. Martoma held her husband’s hand but looked miles away. You could tell she’d been crying. In one picture, her eyes seemed to plead for ‘HELP’ as she stared directly into the camera lens. She looked as if she was the one who’d just been convicted. Looking at her, I thought about my own wife. I was alone when I walked down those same steps after my conviction in September of 2011. My wife was home in California with our infant and toddler.  After seeing the candid, anguished shot of Mrs. Martoma I was grateful for that.

After the Martoma verdict, the press was quick to applaud US Attorney Preet Bharara for his perfect record (79-0) in his crusade against insider trading over the past few years. He’s been on the cover of Time Magazine and he was recently praised in Frontline’s completely one-sided piece, To Catch a Trader, applauding the government’s war on insider trading. Meanwhile, no one has gone to jail for the mortgage-backed securities fraud that crippled our economy, costing millions their jobs and homes. But we’re not supposed to spend too much time thinking about that. The Feds want us to know there’s a new sheriff in town busting the bad guys on Wall Street. Just as the government looked at SAC’s outsized returns over the years with suspicion, the public should understand what has fueled Bharara’s perfect record: cooperating witnesses doing and saying anything to save their own skins.

Cooperators are the bedrock of our justice system.  Sure, if someone is caught up in wrongdoing and looking for a way out I don’t blame them
for agreeing to testify to whatever “facts” the government feeds them. But what happens when the government asks for help from someone who has committed lesser crimes than the government theorizes, or worse, has done nothing wrong at all? These victims of the government must either lie to stay out of prison, or risk their freedom in a rigged game they can’t win.  This type of unjust government overreach isn't just occasional: it is the norm.  It was used to convict me and possibly also Martoma.

As we learned at Martoma’s trial, the only reason the Feds went after him was to get him to cooperate against his billionaire boss, Steven Cohen. When the FBI approached me in May of 2010 they made it clear that it was not me, but my superiors they were interested in. They wanted me to wear a wire to help incriminate the guys who ran my company and in exchange I could have gotten probation.  If I had been guilty or if I had had any reason whatsoever to suspect my bosses of wrongdoing, I would have been happy for this opportunity to stay with my family. The only problem was that I hadn’t seen any crimes at my company and decided I didn’t want to help the Feds ruin more innocent people’s lives. I chose not to lie about my involvement and others but was convicted largely due to the testimony of those who chose the other path.

If you don't believe me, simply check out the public trial transcripts for yourself.  At my trial, government cooperators lied repeatedly and my lawyer demonstrated this to the jury. A guy who worked with me actually “forgot” his cell phone number (even its area code) in order to keep us from proving his lie about a call that never took place. A consultant testifying against me said I recruited him even though he signed on before I even began at the company. Another consultant presenting detailed testimony of my wrongdoing actually didn’t even know who I was before his arrest, and we played a telephone call for the jury where he said just that. Despite the lies, the jury decided to convict me. And those who testified against me, even those who clearly broke the law in the worst of ways, were given probation or immunity.

I have a lot in common with Martoma but there are some considerable differences. Martoma made millions, while my salary never approached anything close to seven figures. I paid for my own defense, which wiped us out financially while Martoma’s team of high-priced lawyers was paid for by SAC. Martoma was found guilty of using inside information to make huge profits for himself and his firm. I was rung up on conspiracy charges. The government said that I helped connect investors with people at my company who fed them inside information but there were no profits directly linked to my involvement. Our clients did thousands of calls a year with consultants.  The FBI recorded all the calls for six months and found that inside information was being exchanged on less than 1% of these calls. I usually didn’t even set up these calls and never participated in them. However the Feds said I knew about these few calls where consultants were giving out inside information. I didn’t. I decided to fight, knowing it would be a difficult battle but one I now understand to be a dirty game that is impossible to win. No defendant has won a criminal insider trading case in New York in over twenty years.

The question everyone wants to know is why did Martoma go to trial? Why didn’t he turn on Cohen and accept the government’s help in maintaining his freedom? Why would a father of three young children take this enormous risk when he simply could have gotten a deal?

Martoma’s lawyers did a great job of discrediting the 80-year-old doctor who testified in exchange for a sweetheart, non-prosecutorial deal with the government. The doctor admitted to holes in his memory regarding his meetings with Martoma from eight years prior but remarkably was able to recall the most damning testimony in the weeks leading up to the trial. Martoma’s multi-million-dollar defense team not only discredited the government’s star witness but used a securities expert to prove the information provided by the doctor had been made publicly available months before. Why did Martoma go to trial? For the same reason I did. I think he believed he could win.

I consider myself lucky. I was sentenced to 30 months in prison. I met guys in prison serving five or ten years on similar conspiracy charges. The Fed’s war on insider trading is nothing but a publicity stunt to win public approval after their failure to catch the real crooks behind the crimes that brought about the Great Recession. Bharara will run for office. Several of the prosecutors have already left for lucrative jobs with marquee firms as criminal defense attorneys. These are the real “wins”. Meanwhile, the losses are piled much higher in broken marriages and homes without fathers. 

James Fleishman is an author, public speaker 

and advocate for criminal justice rights, especially 

as they relate to persons accused of 

white collar crimes and their families. 

His book, Inside Story, is compelling.

Kindle edition available on Amazon.

Walt Pavlo's Forbes column about

James Fleishman is worth reading. 

____________________

Progressive Prison Project/
Innocent Spouse & Children Project
Rev. Jeff Grant, JD, M Div, Director
Christ Church Greenwich
254 East Putnam Avenue
Greenwich, Connecticut, USA 06830
(o) +1203.769.1096
(m) +1203.339.5887
jgrant@pppx.org
jg3074@columbia.edu

Lynn Springer, Advocate
lspringer@innocentspousechildrenproject.org
(m) +1203.536.5508

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Bridgeport, CT 06604