Attacked Credibility
Walters’s lawyers have attacked Davis’s credibility, depicting him as a man willing to say anything to stay out of jail. Davis has admitted lying to FBI agents and stealing money from a charity.
While Mickelson is unlikely to be called, his lawyers are watching the trial closely. Throughout the testimony, one of his attorneys, Samidh Guha, has been sitting in the gallery listening to the witnesses. Guha declined to comment.
“I’m not part of that," Mickelson told a reporter for the Associated Press on March 22, after winning his first-round match at the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play in Austin, Texas. "I’m out. I won’t be called. ”
“I haven’t even thought about it,” he added. “I don’t think I’m going to say any more.” Mickelson lost in the quarterfinals on March 25th to Bill Haas.
The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides that witnesses can’t be forced to incriminate themselves. Invoking the amendment generally means a witness fears his or her words might implicate them in a crime but isn’t evidence of guilt, said Jennifer G. Rodgers, a former federal prosecutor who heads the Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity at Columbia Law School.
In its lawsuit against Walters last year, the SEC alleged that Walters in 2012 urged Mickelson to buy shares in Dean Foods days before its spinoff of a lucrative unit. At the time, Mickelson owed Walters money for a gambling debt, the SEC said.
Mickelson took a $2.4 million position in the company, the SEC said, without claiming that Mickelson knew where Walters got his information. The investment netted Mickelson $931,000, the agency said.
The case is U.S. v. Walters, 16-cr-00338, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.