Now it's time for our daily Bloomberg labbreef exploring legal issues in the news and the Bloomberg Labry, brought to you by American Arbitration Association, International Trade or Business Dispute Resolve Faster with the International Center for a Dispute Resolution, the leader in alternative dispute resolution around the world, i c d R dot Org. Today Bloomberg, lahstoom Grosso and Greg Stewart discuss the insider trading trial of professional gambler
Billy Walter. So they speak with John Coffee, a professor at Columbia University Law School, and Adam Pritchard, a professor at the University of Michigan Law School. John Tom Javis has pleaded guilty and is expected to be the prosecution star witness. And this is a pretty straight case, tipper to tippy with no middleman. How strong is the prosecution's case, Oh, I think comparatively, it's very strong, for for three reasons. First of all, you've got the direct testimony of the
tipper implicating the tippy. In many of these cases the government only has circumstantial evidence. Here, you got the second point that the tipper didn't trade himself he's pled guilty to a failing me. The only reason he would have to do that is that there was Illie Galvy surrounding his tip to Mr Waller. Um if he didn't think that was guilty. This is not like a case where he's committed a half dozen defenses offenses and is trying to find one to settle on. Finally, Mr Waller is
a professional gambler. If the jury learns that, I think the jury is likely to believe this guy is very comfortable taking risk, and here, at this time, he took a legal risk. Adam, do you agree that the prosecution has an especially strong case here, and if so, does that mean that Billy Walter's probably has to testify in his own defense in order to have a fighting chance.
So this is a classic insider trading scenario. Davis and Walter's are golfing buddies, and Davis was passing on the information. I agree with Jack that having the testimony of the
the tipper makes the government's case very strong. I expect that the defense lawyers are going to try and uh muddy the waters, try and beat up Davis on the stand for having taken a plea uh in exchange for his testimony, and they're going to make an assessment of how credible Davis is on the stand before making the decision about whether or not they're going to let their client testify. Uh, he has a history of running a foul the law on occasion, and the history of being
a gambler suggests that he is a risk taker. Maybe the defense would prefer to keep him off the stand if they can, but they may have to throw a hail Mary if Davis comes off as a credible witness. As Adam Pritchard, a professor at the University of Michigan Law School, and John Coffee, a professor at Columbia University Law School, speaking with the Bloomberg Law host joom Grosso and Greg's store. You can listen to Bloomberg Law weekdays at one pm Wall Street Time here on Bloomberg Radio,
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