Opinion ID: 167108
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Mr. Wittig's Defense

Text: 22 At trial, Mr. Wittig did not contest making the loan to Mr. Weidner. However, he argued that he reasonably assumed that the Capital City Bank officials knew about the loan and that he in no way authorized Mr. Weidner's false statements. 23 In support of his defense, Mr. Wittig noted that he was not involved in the preparation of the April 27, 2001 loan proposal requesting the $1.5 million increase in his line of credit, and he contended that he did not even see the document before the increase was approved. Similarly, Mr. Wittig pointed to Mr. Weidner's testimony that Mr. Wittig was not involved in any way in the submission of the May 14, 2001 questionnaire responses and the May 31, 2001 financial statement. Additionally, Mr. Wittig invoked the testimony of Michael Earl, the man who had informed Mr. Weidner about the Arizona real estate opportunity. Mr. Earl stated that he believed that Capital City Bank officials knew about Mr. Weidner's Arizona real estate investment because Mr. Weidner was the head of the bank and, if Mr. Weidner knew about the investment, Mr. Earl assumed the bank knew too. According to Mr. Wittig, he made the same assumption about the $1.5 million loan to Mr. Weidner—that Mr. Weidner would inform the bank. 24 As to his own financial statement, which also did not disclose a $1.5 million loan to Mr. Weidner, Mr. Wittig argued to the jury that the document was submitted after Mr. Weidner had confided in Ms. Gurney about the loan and after Ms. Gurney had informed Mr. Kobberman, the bank's chief loan officer, about the transaction. Thus, he contended that the omission of the loan from the financial statement was not intended to injure or defraud the bank. Moreover, Mr. Wittig observed, like other financial statements he had submitted to the bank, this one omitted other assets and liabilities, such as a $1 million mortgage from Capital City Bank on his home. According to Mr. Wittig, all of the omitted items were linked to transactions with Capital City Bank or other information that the bank, through Mr. Weidner, already knew. Mr. Wittig further contended that the omission was not material: the financial statement listed $38 million in assets, which far exceeded Mr. Wittig's outstanding debt to Capital City Bank. 25 Mr. Wittig also challenged the government's contention that his depositing loan payments from Mr. Weidner into a money market account outside of Capital City Bank demonstrated his intent to conceal the loan. He noted that he did not have a money market account at Capital City Bank and that the government's own witnesses acknowledged that money market accounts typically pay higher interest rates than checking accounts. Moreover, he added, he had used the money market account for years, and he submitted records of deposits into the account for more than a year before the deposits of Mr. Weidner's interest payments on the $1.5 million loan. 26 Finally, Mr. Wittig attacked the government's quid pro quo theory—that Mr. Wittig had made the loan to Mr. Weidner in order to obtain financing for a new utility company. He argued that there was no need for the alleged quid pro quo because the board of directors of Capital City Bank had openly discussed lending money to the utility company executives, including Mr. Wittig, and because this transaction was widely regarded as an outstanding business opportunity for the bank. Additionally, under the bank's lending rules, the proposed financing of the utility exceeded the amount that Mr. Weidner could personally approve.