Richard Altomare Jailhouse Vigil: Day Five

Fresh news today in the continuing saga of Richard A. Altomare, imprisoned ex-CEO of Universal Express and leader emeritus of the Baloney Brigade naked shorting nutcases.

There is an appeal! It was filed yesterday and entered in the court record today. Lawyers for Altomare filed their appeal with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Altomare is now in his fifth day of confinement in Metropolitan Correctional Center, where he was put for civil contempt for not paying back $1.7 million of the money he looted from the company.

Nothing especially interesting in the brief court filing today, except that they are appealing the contempt order because... well, because, that's why. No reason stated. That will come later. Maybe it's because the order is just plain mean. Here is an excerpt of the order, as it emerged from the word processor of U.S. District Court Judge Gerald Lynch:



Wasn't it mean of him to say that? Blame-shifting CEOs hate to be talked to that way. It isn't right. I'm surprised that Patrick Byrne, SEC-investigated CEO of Overstock.com and Altomare's successor as leader of the Baloney Brigade, hasn't spoken out publicly against the confinement of this upstanding citizen and comrade-in-baloney.

According to posts on message boards, Altomare is being kept in solitary confinement to keep him away from the other inmates who are, unlike Altomare, convicted and accused felons. An FBI investigation is underway, so hopefully that discrepancy can be corrected reasonably soon.

At one point Altomare was appointed to three committees of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has a soft spot in its stone-cold heart for CEOs who blame market conspiracies for their own crookedness. I wonder if Altomare, confined as he is, has considered opening a branch of the CofC at Metropolitan Correctional? Worth a try.

© 2008 Gary Weiss. All rights reserved.