Tamine emailed Brockman suggesting he stop traveling to the U.S. with a computer or telephone. Instead, Tamine suggested he keep “all I need at Stuart Yudofsky’s office including a phone,” according to a filing by prosecutors. Prosecutors do not allege that Tamine actually stored a phone at Yudofsky’s office. A lawyer for Yudofsky declined to comment.
In May 2017, Brockman sent Yudofsky an email raising concerns about loss of memory and smell. Prosecutors allege that Brockman wrote the email to “create a paper trail’ that covered his tracks and that he has a “significant history of generating fraudulent correspondence” for future use. Brockman sought a medical evaluation the day after the 2018 raid on Tamine’s house.
Following the Bermuda raid but months before the indictment, Brockman’s lawyers at Jones Day sent a 17-page letter to prosecutors urging them to drop their case. They attached detailed medical reports, including one showing Brockman’s renderings of a clock face in which the numbers veered into the middle of a circle, indicating “fluctuating cognitive functioning.”
One expert put his IQ at 87, recommending that he use caution with household appliances and avoid driving.
The government has noted in court filings that, as he was being diagnosed with dementia in 2019, Brockman was running his company, gave two detailed depositions in antitrust cases and planned cruises with the captain of his yacht, traveling extensively overseas.
In a March 2020 email to the executive who would take over his role as CEO eight months later, Brockman sounded professorial, giving detailed instructions on how to navigate employees and decisions.
“Management of sales decision making is one of the most complex things that I have to teach you about,” Brockman wrote. “It cannot be done quickly -- as the education is focused on many, many situations.”
“The ‘Robert Brockman’ presented in these depositions, hearings, emails, and activities is in stark contrast to the ‘Robert Brockman”’ that appeared in defense medical reports, prosecutors wrote in January.
Mark Lytle, a former federal prosecutor not involved in the case, notes that the judge could hire his own expert if he can’t resolve the differences between those representing the government and defense.
If Brockman is declared incompetent, federal law requires that he be committed to a medical facility for further mental evaluation. Defense lawyers wrote Thursday that because his condition is degenerative and “no available treatments can restore Mr. Brockman to competence,’’ he shouldn’t be put in such a facility. Committing him would, they say, “violate Mr. Brockman’s Due Process rights.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.