Fabrice Tourre, the former Goldman Sachs trader, has asked a federal judge to give him a new trial – or throw out the charges against him.
Mr. Tourre was found liable in August on six counts of civil securities fraud after a three-week jury trial in Lower Manhattan. He was accused of misleading a small group of investors about the role of a big client in a 2007 trade he helped structure. That client, the hedge fund Paulson & Company, made about $1 billion on the trade while others lost big.
Late Monday, Mr. Tourre’s lawyers filed a motion in court saying that there was a lack of evidence to support the jury’s decision on some counts and that evidence was not presented to the jury in other instances. The jury’s findings, Mr. Tourre’s lawyers wrote, “are so contrary to the weight of the evidence that it would work a manifest injustice to Mr. Tourre if they were permitted to stand.”
The judgment against Mr. Tourre was important for the Securities and Exchange Commission, giving it its first big courtroom victory in a case stemming from the financial crisis.
Mr. Tourre’s lawyers raised several points in their motion. A main one is that Mr. Tourre did not receive money or property through an untrue statement, which his lawyers say is a crucial element required in a liable finding by the jury.
Mr. Tourre received an annual base salary and bonus during his years at Goldman. His lawyers said no evidence was presented to show his compensation was linked to the transaction at the heart of the case, and in fact “the only logical inference from the evidence was that his bonus was likely lower” at one point because Goldman had a piece of the trade that lost money.
The jury, during deliberations, asked about Mr. Tourre’s compensation and Mr. Tourre’s lawyers said the jury “incorrectly concluded” that the trader’s base salary was sufficient to fulfill the requirements needed to return a finding of liable.
Mr. Tourre’s legal team also argues that the S.E.C. failed to prove that the trade he helped structure was a “domestic offer” made to United States investors, another requirement needed to justify a liable finding.
Mr. Tourre no longer works at Goldman and is enrolled in the economics doctoral program at the University of Chicago.