Ex-CEO Charged With Perjury
The former chairman and chief executive of Federated Department Stores Inc., the corporate parent of Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges he lied under oath to hide antitrust violations.
James M. Zimmerman, 61, who retired from Federated in February 2003, was arraigned in New York state court in Manhattan on an indictment unsealed Tuesday by Atty. Gen. Eliot Spitzer that charged him with first-degree perjury.
Prosecutors allege that Zimmerman lied under oath April 9, when he was asked whether he had discussed ways to keep the Bed, Bath & Beyond Inc. stores from selling Lenox Inc. tableware and Waterford Wedgwood USA Inc. crystal and china products.
Justice James Yates released Zimmerman on $50,000 bail and scheduled his next court date for March 3. Zimmerman faces up to seven years in prison if convicted.
Thomas Fitzpatrick, Zimmerman’s lawyer, said his client was innocent.
“He has been indicted for failing to recall a brief portion of a brief telephone conversation that occurred almost three years before his testimony,” the lawyer said.
Fitzpatrick said it was “most unfortunate” that the attorney general filed the charge “against such a respected and honest corporate leader whose integrity has been beyond reproach. It ultimately will become perfectly clear that he told the truth and that he did not intentionally mislead the examiner.”
Zimmerman’s indictment stemmed from an antitrust investigation Spitzer’s office began in 2003. Prosecutors were probing a 2001 project in which Bed Bath & Beyond wanted to begin a test program to sell Lenox and Waterford Wedgwood products.
In an antitrust lawsuit, Spitzer alleged that Federated and May Department Stores Co., which operates Lord & Taylor, pressured Lenox and Waterford to cancel the test program.
The antitrust case against Federated, May, Lenox and Waterford was settled last August when they agreed to pay a total of $2.9 million. In that settlement, Federated agreed to pay $900,000; May, $800,000; Lenox, $700,000; and Waterford, $500,000. None of the defendants admitted wrongdoing.
