I wonder what the jury was thinking?
In his testimony, Mr. Blankfein at one point provoked laughter from the gallery when a prosecutor asked him why it was unusual that the company was losing money in the middle of the fourth quarter of 2008.
"We generally make money," he said, with a big grin.
- Wall Street Journal, March 24, 2011
Here is Lloyd Blankfein on the stand grinning about making money, to the approval of the gallery. I fear my comments yesterday, doubting the wisdom of using such a high-profile witness unnecessarily, may be proven correct. Sure, the jury was listening; he’s the CEO of the most successful bank on Wall Street. He reportedly received a $100 million dollar bonus this past year. But the prosecutors’ job is to keep the focus on convicting Raj Rajaratnam’s of insider trading, and not divert that attention with celebrity witnesses.
And who could blame the jury? Sure they have all those “secret tape recordings” to wade through, but in walks an all-star of Wall Street. One of the most influential—and apparently personable—CEOs of the financial world is mere feet away in the courtroom; it is hard to imagine focusing solely on the issues at hand. If Cal Ripken Jr. testifies at the Barry Bonds perjury trial, will the jury’s focus really be on what he says, rather than who he is and what he accomplished?
It is only natural for the jury to be distracted. Mr. Blankfein’s presence overshadows the courtroom dynamic of prosecution versus defense. Although I was not in the courtroom, it also seems as if the jury could take away the conclusion that this is all about making money and Raj, Lloyd and Mr. Gupta are all just trying to get their piece of the pie.
Assisted by David Martin