(Reuters) Lawyers defending Platinum Partners founder Mark Nordlicht in a $1 billion fraud case on Thursday said they would no longer pursue their appeal of a federal judge’s order restricting the attorneys’ contact with potential government witnesses. In a motion in the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Nordlicht’s lawyers said they were satisfied with U.S. District Judge Dora Irizarry’s statement at a court hearing on Monday that she had not intended to “preclude you from speaking to an attorney for a prospective witness or even a prospective witness,” as long as they did not intimidate witnesses.
Prosecutors in December charged Nordlicht and six other executives at the hedge fund firm with running a $1 billion “Ponzi-like” fraud in which they overvalued assets and selectively paid some investors ahead of others. All pleaded not guilty.
