Bill Mastro's upcoming sentencing

[Leon]

Originally Posted by calvindog

Of course I'm writing a letter. And no one has ever said that writing a letter will change their plea deals. Where did you get that from? The judge has discretion at sentencing and many factors come into play including character letters about the defendant. You can be sure Bill will have dozens if not hundreds of letter supporting him and not discussing his fraud.

Lastly, of course people can change their minds. I've always appreciated how you changed your mind about Mike O'Keeffe, the NY Daily News reporter who you and others blasted for his purportedly unfair coverage of the Mastro fraud. And how you changed your mind about me after we bickered constantly out here years ago when I was loudly critical of Mastro and Allen -- and I was being roundly criticized for it.

And lastly, I'm not Bill Mastro's worst friend -- I was never his friend at all. Just his victim.

and I always appreciate how half your clients are card doctors...but then that is how you make your money. The more bad people in the hobby the more you make. Do you give out business cards after these threads? Since I haven't done anything wrong in the hobby I guess I don't need a business card.

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by Leon

and I always appreciate how half your clients are card doctors...but then that is how you make your money. The more bad people in the hobby the more you make. Do you give out business cards after these threads? Since I haven't done anything wrong in the hobby I guess I don't need a business card.

How do you know that my clients haven't all cooperated with law enforcement in their investigation of fraud in the hobby? Certainly it's public record that I have represented people who have actually formally cooperated against fraudsters in the hobby.

As for me representing people in the hobby, it's a tiny fraction of my income. Half my clients? You're dreaming. And maybe you shouldn't be critical of what I do for a living because when you were shitting your pants last year you managed to pick up the phone and call me for free advice.

[autograf]

[Joshchisox08]

Originally Posted by autograf

+1

What did I walk into ???

[Leon]

Maybe they all cooperated, I don't know.....great if they did. Half might have been too big of a number as you are right, I don't know all of your clients, only some of them. You are a good lawyer, I will give you that.

Originally Posted by calvindog

How do you know that my clients haven't all cooperated with law enforcement in their investigation of fraud in the hobby? Certainly it's public record that I have represented people who have actually formally cooperated against fraudsters in the hobby.

As for me representing people in the hobby, it's a tiny fraction of my income. Half my clients? You're dreaming. And maybe you shouldn't be critical of what I do for a living because when you were shitting your pants last year you managed to pick up the phone and call me for advice.

[Peter_Spaeth]

That people may have cooperated does not mean they themselves did not commit fraud, does it?

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

That people may have cooperated does not mean they themselves did not commit fraud, does it?

Of course not. But are you suggesting that if I represented someone who committed a prior fraud but then cooperated with the government that I'm enabling their past fraud? Or am I in fact doing quite the opposite, helping to put an end to fraud?

Here's what I never did: shill bid on my friends' Mastro lots and then communicated with the Mastro folks about sending the lots I won back to the consignor.

[Peter_Spaeth]

You protest too much, who suggested anything about enablement of past fraud? I was merely pointing out that cooperating with the government doesn't mean people are necessarily honorable, which seemed implicit in your response to Leon.

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

You protest too much, who suggested anything about enablement of past fraud? I was merely pointing out that cooperating with the government doesn't mean people are necessarily honorable, which seemed implicit in your response to Leon.

I'm not protesting too much at all. He clearly claimed that I represent card doctors as half my practice (false -- hobby fraud is about 1 percent of my practice) and that the more bad people in the hobby, the more money I make, suggesting that I'm an enabler of fraud. Maybe I'm not quite the right guy to go after as being a fraud profiteer in this hobby. Just a thought.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

That people may have cooperated does not mean they themselves did not commit fraud, does it?

Cooperation is what I hate worst about our legal system. If someone is a complete piece of garbage they can get a plea deal for screwing over others(usually friends). Yes the others did something wrong also and should be punished but the piece of garbage that turned them in to get the plea deal should get the pleasure of being the play toy in prison.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by bnorth

Cooperation is what I hate worst about our legal system. If someone is a complete piece of garbage they can get a plea deal for screwing over others(usually friends). Yes the others did something wrong also and should be punished but the piece of garbage that turned them in to get the plea deal should get the pleasure of being the play toy in prison.

They might also get immunity. But that is, for better or worse, a judgment call prosecutors sometimes need to make. I don't have a quarrel with that, in the abstract.