Buying Geronimo's bow & arrows: The Frazier court case

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbc ... 008/NEWS01

It's free, as the rag should be.

I'm curious, Deb, what your opinion is now since you already had some background knowledge of this case. From where I sit, unless the Salisbury lawyer was just excellent at muddying the waters, Frazier had no case to begin with and likely wouldn't have gotten this to trial if not for his money and leverage. All I know, though, is from the CJ. At the very least, the publicity for Frazier has been unflattering and ugly. Curious if you feel he's been unfairly maligned.

Michael,

I haven't been following things closely after the holidays. And all I know of the trial is what's in the paper (no inside info). I will say, I've not heard anything that makes me disbelieve that the Salisbury's and Wilson did defraud Owsley and most importantly the Museum (which was my original "inside" view). There were commissions/kickbacks paid to Karen, over-inflated valuations, undocumented commissions, and didn't report a couple of MILLION in commissions (didn't think he needed to ).

Don't get me wrong: OBF has come off very badly and I'm not suggesting that I believe that he hasn't played fast and loose with the tax laws. But him being wrong, doesn't make the Salisbury's right. I really do believe that Owsley didn't know the magnitude of the commission/kickbacks Mike was taking for himself and that Mike was over-valuing the collection for his personal gain (hence the fraud). There are even rumors that there maybe problems with the authenticity of several key pieces (which was done by Mike), but OBF didn't push on this issue for fear of hurting the museum.

DEb

Verdicts Returned In Arms Fraud Trial
Not guilty on all counts for all three defendants, except for Michael Salisbury,
who was found guilty on two misdemeanor counts of willful failure to pay taxes.

from my limited knowledge of the case, sounds like justice was done.
I wonder how much $$$ was spent by the USA to convict a guy of two misdemeanors?

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbc ... 1/80122038

I wish I were worth a billion.

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080122/NEWS01/80122038

I wish I were worth a billion.

But Doogy you ARE worth a billion, at least to us!

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080122/NEWS01/80122038

I wish I were worth a billion.

But Doogy you ARE worth a billion, at least to us!

Awwwww, you so sweet.