United Development Funding appeals allege government failed to prove intent to misappropriate funds - Dallas Business Journal

The securities fraud and related convictions of the former CEO and three other imprisoned former executives of North Texas-based United Development Funding should be thrown out, and the officials should get a new trial, according to appeals briefs filed in the case.Hollis Greenlaw, the now-former CEO of United Development Funding, and three of Greenlaw’s former colleagues at the Grapevine-based REIT.

The briefings alone in the four-defendant appeal exceed 450 pages on at least 10 issues, while the record on appeal contains more than 130,000 pages of material. The issues include the sufficiency of the evidence, the wording of instructions given to the jury in the trial, and the exclusion of evidence that UDF officials claim could have exonerated them.

The investigation into UDF was triggered by a short-sell strategy conceived by Hayman Capital Management and its founder, Kyle Bass, according to the appeals briefs. Hayman borrowed publicly traded shares of UDF IV and sold them, planning to buy them back later for a profit after causing UDF IV’s stock price to fall, according to the briefs.

To implement that scheme, Bass invited the government to his offices in April 2015, where a Hayman employee falsely described UDF as a “Ponzi-like cascading scheme,” the appeals briefs say. O’Connor wrongly barred evidence related to Hayman’s alleged involvement in the government investigation from being presented at trial, according to the filings by lawyers for the former UDF executives. Barring the evidence prevented jurors from getting the full picture of what precipitated the charges, the executives' appeals claim.

Obert was chief financial officer of UDF, treasurer and CFO of UDF IV, and held other positions, including CFO of UMTH Land Development LP, an entity that operates under the United Development Funding conglomeration of companies and serves in an asset management capacity for UDF IV and select other UDF entities.

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