Secretary Says Hoover Had Her Alter Figures
A secretary testified Thursday that Nancy Hoover Hunter paid her $400 to retype financial statements for J. David (Jerry) Dominelli to include altered figures about Dominelli’s track record as an investor.
Christine Nespor said she did the work for Hunter in 1980 while she and Hunter were working at the La Jolla office of Bache, Halsey, Stuart, Shields, an investment brokerage. At the time, Dominelli was starting up his J. David & Co. investment firm in La Jolla.
Prosecutors have charged that Hunter helped Dominelli lure investors to his new firm by preparing falsified financial statements that indicated he was a highly successful broker, when in fact he had a dismal investment record.
Dominelli is serving a 20-year prison term for defrauding investors of $180 million. Hunter, once his live-in companion, is on trial on charges stemming from her role as a top executive of J. David & Co.
Both Hunter and Nespor eventually went to work for J. David & Co. and remained there until it collapsed in 1984.
Under questioning by Assistant U. S. Atty. S. Gay Hugo on Thursday, Nespor testified that, for two months while she worked for Bache, Hunter gave her photocopies of statements of Dominelli’s accounts with Bache and had her retype the statements. At Hunter’s instruction, Nespor said, she ignored the original typed figures and replaced them with numbers that had been handwritten on the photocopies.
Prosecutors have charged that Hunter eventually became second-in-command at J. David & Co. and was intimately involved in the illegal activities that led to the huge investor losses.
Hunter’s lawyers are attempting to persuade the jury that Dominelli alone was responsible for the fraud and Hunter was unaware of any illegal activity.
On cross-examination by Richard Marmaro, one of Hunter’s lawyers, Nespor said that Hunter did not try to hide the fact that she was paying her for the extra work for Dominelli, nor did Hunter try to hide the fact that she was helping Dominelli get his business under way.
The trial continues today in federal court.
