No crime shredding Stanford papers: defense lawyer

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (Reuters) - The security chief accused of illegally shredding documents at Stanford Financial Group was simply "taking out the garbage" and committed no crime, his lawyer said in a court filing.

Thomas Raffanello, 61, who before joining Stanford was chief of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's Miami office, was taken into a Fort Lauderdale federal courtroom in shackles on Friday to face charges of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and destroying records.

Raffanello served as the global security chief for Stanford Financial Group (SFG), the Texas-based banking company accused in an alleged $7 billion Ponzi scheme that bilked investors who bought certificates of deposit from Stanford's Caribbean bank.

Raffanello, of Coral Gables, Florida, and a deputy, Bruce Perraud, 42, of Weston, Florida, are accused of shredding documents at SFG's Fort Lauderdale offices after the court-appointed receiver for Stanford ordered company employees not to destroy any documents.

U.S. Magistrate Robin Rosenbaum granted Raffanello $100,000 bond at his brief hearing on Friday. Raffanello was set to be arraigned on September 18.

Perraud, who had been named in a previous indictment and is scheduled for trial on September 21, is already free on bond.

The indictment said the receiver emailed all Stanford employees on February 17 to instruct them to preserve all records.

Six days later, Raffanello ordered the immediate destruction of all documents at the Fort Lauderdale office and Perraud supervised the shredding of papers loaded into a 95-gallon bin, the indictment said.

In a motion filed with the court to demand a quick trial, Raffanello's lawyer, former Miami U.S. Attorney Kendall Coffey, said the government was alleging that the "routine practice" of shredding trash was an intentional attempt to obstruct a federal investigation.

"There is simply no crime when junk paper is eliminated because all the relevant documents are being stored electronically," the motion said.

"Both Mr. Perraud and Mr. Raffanello independently provided voluntary statements in which they readily explained their actions and answered all questions of the investigative agents, who well understood that what the Defendants did was, as the agents put it, 'taking out the garbage,'" the filing said.

Perraud's lawyer, Ira Loewy, said outside the court that he concurred with Coffey's motion.

"Our position is that nothing was destroyed," he said.

U.S. authorities alleged that Stanford Financial Group committed fraud by selling certificates of deposit issued by its Antigua-based offshore bank, Stanford International.

Texas billionaire Allen Stanford is currently in jail awaiting trail, charged in a 21-count indictment with leading the alleged Ponzi scheme. He also faces civil fraud charges filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

His former chief financial officer, James Davis, has pleaded guilty and has been cooperating with investigators.

Three other former Stanford employees also face charges, as does Leroy King, a former Antiguan bank regulator.

(Reporting by Jim Loney; Editing by Pascal Fletcher and Matthew Lewis)