By
Sean Silcoff
It would be an understatement to say
Yank Barry has had a colourful business
career. In his 20s, the Montreal native
ran a record company and was convicted
for helping the Mafia extort $82.000
from his partner. He later toured with
the Kinsgmen, famous for their hit ”Louie
Louie”, became a music producer
and sports agent, and befriended boxing
legend Muhammad All. Fifteen years ago
he got into the business of selling meal
substitutes by the tub to North American
jails through his firm, VitaPro Foods
Inc. – with Mr. Ali acting as his
pitchman.
Then in 2001 he was convicted by a jury
in Houston on bribery, money laundering
and conspiracy charges after allegedly
bribing former Texas prisons chief James
A. Collins with US$20.000 to push through
a five-year US$33.7 million deal to supply
the prison system with VitaPro’s
soy-based product.
Mr. Barry, now 57 and living in the Bahamas
(after making most of his US$40 million
fortune trading commodities and currency
futures), has always maintained his innocence
and claimed to he the subject of a conspiracy
by the FBI, U.S. Justice Department and
former Texas governor, and now U.S. President,
George W. Bush.
"I'm not a saint, but I definitely wasn't
a sinner on this deal” said Mr. Barry,
born Gerald Barry Falovitch, in an interview
this week. “They literally destroyed
us"
As it turns out, the judge in the case
largely agrees with them. Two weeks ago,
U.S. Judge Lynn Hughes with the South ern
District of Texas overturned the jury 's
verdict and acquitted Mr. Barry and Mr.
Collins with a blistering, 49-page ruling
that upholds many of Mr. Barry's claims.
Furthermore, Oliver "Buck" Revell, a former
associate deputy director for investigations
and counterintelligence at the U.S. Federal
Bureau of Investigation who testified for
the accused, says the whole case "does
n ' t pass the smell-good test. Mr. Revell,
now a Dallas-based consultant, said in
an interview “there are seriousindications
of misconduct on the part of several justice
department officials. It's a matter that
needs to be scrutinized. " |
Judge
Hughes' ruling is almost as colourful as
Mr. Barry past. For starters, he notes
the appeal was del ayed by a year after
the court reporter had a nervous breakdown
and turned in a transcript riddled with
errors. Hours of tape also vanished, she
was later con victed of contempt of court.
Mr. Barry' initially sued when the Texas
government cancelled the 1995 contract
a year later - at the urging of Mr. Bush
following his election as governor
Mr. Barry testified after he pressed
on with his case, but Allen Polunsky,
chairman of the Texas Board of Criminal
Justice, warned him to "drop the civil
case, or your troubles are going to start".
Two weeks later he and Mr. Collins were
indicted.
Then charges stemmed from the fact Mr.
Collins, who had negotiated the contract,
ordered his staff to finalize the deal
with VitaPro two days before he was forced
to quit as head of the Texas prison system
for an unrelated matter. He was then hired
by VitaPro on a $1,000 a day consulting
contract to sell its products outside Texas
.
In fact, the court heard it was Mr. Collins'
successor who approved the deal and signed
the contract, which led to complaints from
the beef industry, a major supporter of
Mr. Bush's campaign - the judge said. Both
accused testified they acted appropriately
and no bribes were involved in the deal,
which aimed to save money on food costs
for Texas prisons (the product, produced
for VitaPro by outside contractors, cost
the prison system 59% less than beef and
76% less than chicken).
Meanwhile, the prosecution’s star
witness was Patrick Graham a convicted
swindler and tax cheat who had worked for
VitaPro selling the product to Louisiana
prisons. He told authorities the deal
was a bribe scheme when he was arrested
in January, 1996, for taking US$150.000
from a woman on a false promise to break
her boyfriend out of prison.
Mr. Graham was offered immunity from prosecution
or reduced sentences on a number of illegal
deals by a senior U.S. attorney for the
eastern district of Louisiana, Jim Letten,
for his testimony in the VitaPro case. |
In
the ruling, the judge attacked Mr Letten's
conduct regarding his dealings with the
witness, saying the prosecutor has an "inability
to shoot straight”.
Furthermore, he reduced Mr. Graham's
testimony - the only incriminat ing
evidence offered by the government – to
ash, calling him a "totally unbelievable" witness
who "simply knew nothi ng" about dealings
between the two ac cused
"The government knew or should have known
that Graham was lying, his deceit was manifest.
But for Graham's perjured testimony, it
is unlikely that the jury would have convicted
the defendants."
Nancy Berrera, a spokeswoman for the U.S.
Attorney's office for the southern district
of Texas, said it has filed a notice of
appeal and is considering its options. "Beyond
that, there 's nothing more I can say,
she said.
But the loquacious and flamboyant Mr.
Barry has plenty to say. His name has been
besmirched and his business – it
had close to $100 . million in annual revenue
before he was charged – ruined after
his customers backed out. He was dropped
as a client by two banks, asked to resign
from three charity boards, and couldn't
get home or life in surance, he says.
Adding to his woes, his daughter, a heavy
drug user in her 20s, died of heart failure
at age 35 last year.
Mr. Barry intends to have the last word.
He is writing a book called Bush whacked,
in which he plans to vilify those involved
in his case, including the President. And
he is preparing to launch a malicious prosecution
lawsuit against U.S. authorities.
"It's not for people to do this and not
be held accountable, and I'm going to hold
them accountable,” he says. I've
said this for six years, and I have some
pretty powerful friends. And this is not
going to go away. I ’ m not going
to be vindictive. I'm not going after money.
If my legacy can be that I stopped them
from doing this to someone else, that enough.”
Financial Post ssilcoff@mon.nationalpost.com |
