Moriarty Berates Both Sides in Young’s Trial

Convicted political corrupter W. Patrick Moriarty berated both defense lawyers and government investigators Friday in the trial of former Norwalk Assemblyman Bruce E. Young, declaring that he is “not obliged to bring anything to the attention” of the U.S. attorney’s office in its continuing investigation of California politicians.

Moriarty’s courtroom outburst occurred at the end of three days of testimony in the corruption trial of Young in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. Young is charged with 28 counts of mail fraud in connection with allegedly failing to report income from Moriarty and a cable television company.

Young’s chief defense lawyer, George Walker, focused much of his cross-examination on a Dec. 22, 1983, letter written by Moriarty in which the former Orange County fireworks manufacturer falsely stated that an investment by Young in a Baldwin Hills condominium project was made in 1982.

High Return Offered

Moriarty, who said he actually offered Young a “2-for-1” return on a $50,000 investment in 1981, said he wrote the letter at Young’s request to “accommodate his late filing” of the financial information with the California Fair Political Practices Commission.

Challenging Moriarty’s credibility by attacking earlier statements made to government investigators, Walker noted that Moriarty, now serving a seven-year prison term for fraud and corruption of political figures, had not admitted the falsity of the letter to investigators until last month, after Young’s lawyers had disclosed the letter to the prosecution.

At that point Moriarty--who earlier had revealed that he expected to receive only a one-year sentence for his crimes--attacked the government for its interrogation techniques and criticized government officials for failing to warn him to make corrections in the printed summaries of FBI interviews.

‘Hostile Agents’

“I was confronted by 8, 10 and 12 hostile agents on a quest to uncover the major crime of the 21st Century,” Moriarty said sarcastically, referring to “more than 100” interview sessions he said he has had with government investigators beginning in March, 1985, after his decision to plead guilty and cooperate in the investigation.

“They had no recording equipment. They did not instruct me to make any corrections (in the transcripts of the interviews),” Moriarty said.

“I’m not obliged to bring anything to the attention of the U.S. attorney. I’m not in position to volunteer anything to the government. They have two dozen agents working on this from morning till night.”

Moriarty, who said he “particularly” dislikes testifying against Young, a former close friend, also attacked Young’s lawyers for bringing the false letter to the attention of prosecutors, who have cited it as part of a “pattern of deception” by Young to obstruct justice in the case.

‘They Wouldn’t Know’

“Frankly I hate to see you bring up the letter,” he said. “They wouldn’t know about the letter if you didn’t bring it up.”

Moriarty’s testimony during the week established that Young had invested $50,000 with him in 1979. Moriarty put the money in his personal bank account and did not specifically commit to the Baldwin Hills condominium project until two years later, after he had offered a number of other investors double their money on investments of up to $100,000.

Referring to the fact that Moriarty failed to record the investment in any way as a legal real estate investment, Walker suggested that Moriarty had effectively used Young’s money to pay for operational expenses of his real estate firm.

“He (Young) had no investment whatsoever in any real property or condominium, right?” Walker asked.

“Yes--that’s correct,” Moriarty said.

The Young trial, expected to last four weeks, resumes Tuesday. The government plans to call about 35 witnesses, including more than half a dozen state legislators, to describe Young’s financial affairs while he was a member of the Legislature from 1976 to 1984.