Chapter 9 - The SEC And Federal Indictments
Forty-eight hours after Vanessa Cole’s arrest, the federal grand jury returned a sweeping, eighteen-count criminal indictment against Daniel Mercer.
The formal surrender took place at the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building in lower Manhattan.
Daniel arrived accompanied by a low-cost, court-appointed criminal defense attorney; his high-powered corporate lawyers had withdrawn two weeks earlier after his personal accounts were frozen under federal asset forfeiture warrants.
Dozens of reporters, financial journalists, and former business associates packed the federal courthouse steps.
Daniel was wearing a wrinkled, oversized gray suit that hung loosely on his gaunt frame. His hair was messy, his eyes hollow with exhaustion, and he kept his head buried against his chest as cameras flashed continuously in his face.
Assistant United States Attorney Marcus Vance read the formal indictment before the federal magistrate:
Eight counts of Securities Fraud and Insider Trading.
Four counts of Corporate Embezzlement and Misappropriation of Trust Assets.
Six counts of Filing False Financial Disclosures with the SEC.
The federal judge set Daniel’s bail at two million dollars, requiring the surrender of his passport and the immediate installation of a mandatory GPS ankle monitor.
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Because Daniel had zero liquid capital remaining and all assets associated with Mercer Dynamics were under corporate freeze, his sixty-five-year-old mother, Beatrice Mercer, was forced to mortgage her suburban retirement home in New Jersey to post his bond.
As Daniel shuffled out of the courthouse, clutching his paper court documents with an ankle monitor strapped to his leg, the financial titan who had once graced the cover of Forbes was officially classified as a disgraced federal felon awaiting criminal trial.
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