Financier in Land Swindle to Serve 6-Month Sentence
A Manhattan Beach financier accused of masterminding what may have been the largest land swindle in U.S. history was sentenced to spend six months in a community care facility Monday by a Los Angeles federal judge.
U.S. District Judge Richard A. Gadbois Jr. said the light sentence was imposed on Bernard Whitney purely for “humanitarian” purposes.
“He’s 66 years old and he’s suffering from a number of seriously debilitating diseases,” Gadbois said. “He simply could not survive a prison term. It would be a sentence of death.”
Whitney, who used two canes to support himself during the sentencing, suffers a crippling hip disease, advanced athritis and diabetes.
Journalist Sentenced
The judge also sentenced former Dutch journalist Rienk Kamer, 41, Whitney’s European partner in a scheme that allegedly bilked thousands of European investors out of millions of dollars in U.S. real estate ventures, to a 16-month prison sentence.
But Gadbois credited Kamer with 15 months of prison time already served, and ordered his release from federal custody Feb. 11. The judge said Kamer is to return to The Netherlands within three days of his release to face criminal fraud charges there.
“I’m assured there is a criminal warrant waiting for him,” said Gadbois, explaining that he did not want the light sentences interpreted as a show of leniency toward white-collar crime.
“The public stood to benefit by about $200,000 for not going to trial,” Gadbois said. “To me it makes great sense to see Mr. Kamer get on a direct flight to Amsterdam as soon as possible.”
Whitney and Kamer pleaded guilty in December to one count each of conspiracy, wire fraud and mail fraud in connection with their tax shelter and real estate swindle.
One portion of the land fraud scheme involved the sale of thousands of acres of sagebrush, cactus and sand in the Antelope Valley in northern Los Angeles County and in Kern and San Bernardino counties.
Assistant U.S. Atty. Henry H. Rossbacher estimated that Kamer and Whitney defrauded 6,000 European investors out of at least $50 million in cash and may have sold up to $500 million worth of inflated land between 1977 and 1981.
3-Year Sentence Asked
Rossbacher had asked for a three-year sentence for Kamer, but agreed to the six-month community care sentence for Whitney because of his health problems.
Despite Gadbois’ explanations, the sentences were denounced as too lenient by A. John Lind, 69, of Santa Barbara, a former resident of The Netherlands who said he was cheated out of $33,000 in connection with the land schemes.
“It’s ridiculous,” said Lind, the only victim on hand for the sentencings. “If this is U.S. justice at work for people who have swindled a few thousand people out of millions of dollars, it’s not going to give European investors much confidence in the United States.”
In addition to ordering Kamer’s return to The Netherlands, Gadbois ruled that the convicted Dutch journalist not be allowed to return to the United States during a five-year probationary period without permission of the Justice Department. He also ordered restitution, but expressed his doubt that Kamer would ever repay his victims.
Kamer had protested the idea of restitution even before the judge’s ruling, comparing any such judgment to the “excessive” war reparations imposed on Germany by the Allies after World War I.
Citing German resentment over the World War I debts as a cause for the rise of Nazi Germany, Kamer said that any “unreasonable expectations” on him could force him to consider questionable means of raising money.
Prosecution Protest
“It is indicative of Mr. Kamer’s personality that he would get up and tell a federal judge in a federal courtroom at his own sentencing that if he’s forced to pay restitution he’ll commit more crimes,” Rossbacher protested.
Stephen V. Wilson, Whitney’s attorney, argued that his client was not really a criminal, but had admittedly “done wrong” and engaged in some questionable practices.
“He’s not a crook,” Wilson said. “He is destitute. He is struggling. He’s groping at straws, making $50 here and $100 there.”
Gadbois ordered that the Manhattan Beach financier, who once billed himself as “the world’s greatest tax attorney,” refrain from the practice of law during his probation.
The judge also ordered Whitney to pay restitution if possible, and said that his “ability to pay is going to be watched closely,” but he added: “You can’t get blood out of a turnip.”
Whitney has a Manhattan Beach home valued at $800,000. Rossbacher said the value of the house may be considered in any future restitution order.
