The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in the case of Fayetteville lawyer Kenneth Vaughn Knight, but a date for the hearing hasn't been set.
Federal prosecutors in the Western District of Arkansas appealed the case to the 8th Circuit after a judge overturned a jury verdict against Knight.
After a nine-day trial in November 2013, a federal court jury in Fort Smith found Knight guilty on eight counts of bankruptcy fraud, conspiracy, money laundering and lying to investigators.
Knight was the attorney for Brandon Barber, a Fayetteville real estate developer who pleaded guilty to federal charges of bank fraud, bankruptcy fraud and money laundering involving millions of dollars and was sentenced in October to more than five years in prison.
On June 10, U.S. District Judge P.K. Holmes III acquitted Knight of one charge and ordered a new trial on the other seven.
Holmes wrote in his ruling that the government relied exclusively on circumstantial evidence to attempt to prove Knight's criminal intent and that the jury's verdict after six hours of deliberation didn't jibe with the complexity of the case.
Holmes ordered that Knight be retried on charges of conspiracy to commit bankruptcy fraud, bankruptcy fraud and five counts of money laundering. He acquitted Knight of aiding and abetting in making false statements but said a new trial would be granted on that charge, too, if the acquittal is overturned.
Federal prosecutors filed a 58-page brief Nov. 3 asking the appeals court to reinstate a jury's guilty verdict against Knight on all eight counts.
On Nov. 18, the appeals court gave Knight's lawyers until Dec. 15 to file their brief in the case. That was an extension from the previous deadline of Nov. 24.
Knight is represented by David Matthews, Kimberly Weber and Sarah Waddoups of the Rogers firm Matthews, Campbell, Rhoads, McClure & Thompson.
The government's brief in the case says Barber, a "celebrated entrepreneur" who had an "extravagant lifestyle," hired Knight to help him conceal assets before filing for personal bankruptcy.
"The main point of funneling money through Knight was to keep Barber from having to pay it to creditors if he later filed for bankruptcy," wrote U.S. Attorney Conner Eldridge.
Knight prepared bankruptcy schedules for Barber, reporting Barber's total income for 2008 as $3,426.95. That's less than 1 percent of the amount of money that Barber passed through Knight's attorney's trust account that year, wrote Eldridge.
Also, on Monday, a lawyer representing James Van Doren of New York City filed a notice of appeal of his case to the 8th Circuit. Van Doren is another of Barber's attorneys and was charged under the same indictment as Knight.
In an agreement with prosecutors, Van Doren pleaded guilty in August 2013 to one count of money laundering. In March, Van Doren asked to withdraw his plea, but Holmes denied his request Aug. 19.
Van Doren was sentenced Nov. 3 in federal court in Fort Smith to 15 months in prison for helping Barber conceal money from his creditors in 2008.
Gary Corum of Little Rock filed a notice in federal court in Fayetteville that he was appealing Van Doren's conviction as well as the order denying his motion to withdraw his guilty plea.
Holmes ordered Van Doren, who is free on bond, to report to federal prison by Jan. 5.
Metro on 11/28/2014