NYC Radio: Jury Deliberates Craig Carton's Fate

Craig Carton

UPDATE 3:15 pm 11/7/18:  Craig Carton has been found guilty. Click Here for more.

Earlier Posting....

A defense lawyer for former WFAN-radio sports-talk star Craig Carton urged Manhattan federal court jurors during closing arguments Tuesday to acquit Carton of fraud charges in an alleged ticket-resale Ponzi scheme because he never intended to hurt anyone. reports Newsday.

“He never intended to steal anyone’s money,” said the attorney, Robert Gottlieb. “He never thought it would cause any harm.”

Carton, 49, is accused of using misstatements to get investors to put more than $4 million into purchasing event tickets that would be resold at a profit in 2016 and 2017, and then diverting the money for personal expenses, gambling debts and paying off earlier investors.

Closing arguments on charges of conspiracy and securities and wire fraud followed Carton’s decision Tuesday morning not to testify. The jury was received instructions in the afternoon and began deliberating at 4:40 p.m. but didn’t reach a verdict.

In testimony at the six-day trial, an official from Carton’s biggest investor, the hedge fund Brigade Capital, testified its money was intended only for ticket purchases — including a purported deal to buy $2 million in tickets to 2017 Barbra Streisand and Metallica concerts at Nassau Coliseum.

Executives from the company that operates the Coliseum and Barclays Center testified that an agreement and emails from them that Carton provided to Brigade had been fabricated, and they said Carton also had a wire transfer from Brigade moved to his account.

Records and multicolored flow charts introduced at trial by prosecutors showed money from Brigade and other investors moving to casinos, a landscaper who worked on Carton’s house, earlier investors and Carton’s alleged co-conspirators.

Gottlieb admitted Carton lied repeatedly — “he should be ashamed of himself” — but attributed it to his client’s hyper personality and “anxiety” about making his business succeed, and insisted Carton was free to do what he wanted with investors’ money as long as his intentions were pure.

Prosecutors disagreed, telling jurors the use of deceit to separate investors from their money on false pretenses was proof of Carton's guilt.

He resigned from his high-profile gig as co-host of the “Boomer and Carton” radio show with former Jets quarterback Boomer Esiason on WFAN after being arrested last year.

Jury deliberations are scheduled to resume Wednesday.