Upon hearing the presiding Federal Judge Glenn Suddaby ruling last week stating, “The court finds John Babikian was not involved directly in the manipulation of stock, nor did he financially gain indirectly from the losses of others”, Mr. Babikian broke down in tears. After all, it had taken nearly a decade for the former online fintech marketer to finally clear his name of the false penny stock manipulation criminal charges waged against him.
Following the not-guilty verdict, his lawyer Michael Parsons stated, “Justice is one of the most important moral and political concepts in our society. The word ‘justice’ itself originates from the Latin word of jus, which means ‘law’ or ‘just’. We often say, ‘Justice has no boundaries’ or ‘Justice is not blind’”.
According to Mr. Parsons, “Unfortunately, in the case of John Babikian, there are no words or phrases to describe a person of good moral character who got put through an ugly divorce polluted with extortion, nearly a decade of securities and fraud investigations, a federal indictment sheet, and a lengthy trial – only to be fully acquitted and exonerated of all criminal charges.”
As witness testimony eventually proved, the case began under the auspices of an ugly divorce back in 2012 when Mr. Babikian’s wife demanded to receive a $100 million dollars settlement. After John refused to pay, his now ex-wife hired lawyers, a PR agency, private investigators, and others to fabricate information with the purpose of damaging his personal name and business empire.
Christopher Neumann, a former Vice President at Weber Shandwick, testified on the witness stand that he didn’t knowingly spread lies, yet stated, “Soon after the divorce proceedings began, Mrs. Babikian hired us to brand John as “The Wolf of Montreal” and get authorities at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and other agencies involved to investigate him”.
According to Mr. Neumann, “The case involving the SEC eventually came to fruition based on a technicality of John not including a disclaimer at the end of financially related marketing emails he was sending on behalf of his clients. This information was known to Mrs. Babikian, and we were instructed to publicize it for the purpose of leverage in her divorce proceedings”.
In the SEC case, John Babikian wasn’t ever criminally indicted, nor required to admit guilt, rather instead he was fined over $3.7m in fees for his corporate mailing mistake. Nevertheless, Neumann did testify that Mrs. Babikian was happy to learn her ex-husband had been financially punished by the federal government for the error.
Throughout the lengthy proceedings, the judge found the prosecution turned a blind eye to contradictory forensic evidence and witness testimony submitted to the court.
Judge Glenn Suddaby wrote, “Almost every prosecution witness contradicted each other on key issues pertaining to Mr. Babikian’s alleged role. For example, several witnesses referenced a meeting they claimed took place in June of 2012 at the company office headquarters during a corporate party. The witnesses were not employees, rather friends of the ex-wife. They all claimed John was physically present at the party, and they witnessed him personally instructing his marketing team to send promotional emails to manipulate penny stock”.
According to Judge Suddaby’s ruling, “Mr. Babikian passport entry and exit stamps show he was not in the country at the annual corporate party. Furthermore, Mr. Babikian provided an official apostilled document signed by the Aussie Authorities confirming he had not exited the Australian continent throughout the period of the entry and exit stamps appearing in his passport. This has convinced the court it was impossible for Mr. Babikian to have attended the corporate summer party, and thus was not present to deliver instructions to his staff as alleged in the indictment.”
Judge Glenn elaborated on his decision to fully vindicate the accused by stating, “The court was not provided with a single shred of evidence proving Mr. Babikian was involved in the manipulation of penny stock prior to departing the country to Australia, nor during the period of his absence.”
In final words to exculpate the defendant and return nearly $118m in property seized by the government, the Judge wrote, “The forensic investigation into his personal and corporate finances reveal John Babikian never invested any money (nor profited) from the alleged crimes, all of which are important key factors when determining the guilt or innocence of the accused”.
