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Estate planner Caramadre jailed after bid to withdraw guilty pleas rejected

Estate planner Caramadre jailed after bid to withdraw guilty pleas rejected

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May 20, 2013 4:26 pm

By Katie Mulvaney

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- U.S. District Judge William Smith Monday ordered estate planner Joseph Caramadre held as a flight risk after rejecting his bid to withdraw his guilty pleas as meritless, bizarre and a cynical attempt to manipulate the judicial process.
"It was amazing to watch a defendant perjure himself saying he perjured himself the first time," Smith said.
Smith surmised that Caramadre concocted his plan to try to withdraw his plea after watching the Rocco DeSimone case or perhaps after realizing the trial with his employee Raymour Radhakrishnan was going to be a disaster.
"The only way out was to do what he did here -- enter a plea and then exercise an escape hatch," Smith said. In doing so Caramadre demonstrated "an incredibly cynical" attempt to manipulate the judicial system.
Caramadre and Radhakrishnan pleaded guilty to fraud in November connected with a multimillion-dollar investment scheme that used the identities of terminally ill people to purchase investments. They were four days into what was expected to be a four-month trial.
Caramadre sought to withdraw his guilty pleas, arguing he was overcome by depression after his wife's mental collapse and that his lawyers Michael Lepizzera and Anthony Traini were incompetent.
Smith called Caramadre's lawyer's Robert Watt's attack on the lawyers "one of the most vicious hatchet jobs" he'd heard.
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