Wednesday, April 07, 1999
Ex-Chiquita lawyer sought revenge, prosecutors say
BY DAN HORN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Before he contacted The Cincinnati Enquirer, prosecutors say, George Ventura warned Chiquita Brands International Inc. that he would go public with damaging information about the company unless it paid him $1.5 million.
They say Mr. Ventura, a former legal counsel for Chiquita, threatened the banana company shortly after he quit his job there in 1996.
At a court hearing Tuesday to discuss evidence in Mr. Ventura's criminal case, Special Prosecutor Daniel Breyer said the dispute with the company prompted Mr. Ventura to help two Enquirer reporters who were investigating Chiquita.
He said the information he gave the reporters included secret codes that would allow access to the company's voice-mail system.
Mr. Ventura's lawyers described the accusations as “inappropriate and less than accurate,” arguing that Mr. Ventura had legitimate grievances against the company and never threatened to take revenge.
“The statements by Mr. Breyer were calculated to leave an unfair view of Mr. Ventura,” defense attorney Marc Mezibov said after the hearing.
But Mr. Breyer said the dispute with the company is what led Mr. Ventura to the Enquirer reporters.
“After he left (the company), he was on less than favor able terms,” Mr. Breyer said in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court. “He told Chiquita, "Here are the things I'm going to release to the Enquirer.'”
Some of those things, Mr. Breyer said, ended up in articles the newspaper published last year about Chiquita's business practices.
Mr. Breyer raised the issue while arguing over pretrial motions in Mr. Ventura's case, which is now scheduled for trial July 6.
Mr. Ventura faces 10 charges accusing him of providing the voice-mail codes that enabled one of the reporters, Michael Gallagher, to access the company's system.
After the hearing Tuesday, Mr. Ventura's attorneys angrily denied that their client sought revenge against Chiquita.
Mr. Mezibov said Mr. Ventura had considered filing a civil rights lawsuit against the company that would claim he was underpaid because of his Spanish heritage.
While preparing for a possible lawsuit, Mr. Mezibov said, a lawyer calculated that Mr. Ventura might be entitled to as much as $1.6 million.
“He resolved his economic disputes (with Chiquita) for a pittance,” said Mr. Mezibov, who said he was commenting on the job dispute only because Mr. Breyer brought it up in court. “He wasn't interested in exacting economic vengeance.”
Chiquita officials could not be reached for comment late Tuesday.
Mr. Breyer, however, said Mr. Ventura sought out the reporters when he learned they were working on articles about Chiquita. He said the initial contact came in an e-mail Mr. Ventura sent to the newspaper, urging the reporters to call him.
In a subsequent phone call, he said, Mr. Ventura told one of the reporters, Cameron McWhirter, to access the system immediately so he could listen to specific messages.
“He says, "You've got to have someone run through those voice mails,'” Mr. Breyer said of Mr. Ventura.
Mr. McWhirter, who now works for the Detroit News, was not charged with a crime and has testified that he never accessed the system himself.
He said he passed on the codes to Mr. Gallagher, who has pleaded guilty to felony charges accusing him of accessing the voice-mail system.
The newspaper eventually fired Mr. Gallagher and renounced the articles in a front-page apology.
Mr. Breyer mentioned the e-mail and phone call while fighting an attempt by Mr. Ventura's lawyers to throw out key evidence in the case. Most of the evidence is tapes the reporters made of their conversations with a source, who prosecutors say is Mr. Ventura.
The defense wants to bar the tapes on grounds that the reporters violated a “contractual relationship” with Mr. Ventura when Mr. Gallagher identified him as a confidential source.
“Mike Gallagher chose to protect himself instead of protecting his source,” said defense attorney John Feldmeier.
But Mr. Breyer argued that Mr. Ventura's identity probably would have become known even without the help of Mr. Gallagher, who agreed to cooperate as part of his plea deal with prosecutors.
Mr. McWhirter also has signed a cooperation agreement but was not required to name sources.
“Ventura was well known to prosecutors before Gallagher or McWhirter ever assisted,” Mr. Breyer said.
Judge Ann Marie Tracey is expected to rule on the pretrial motions within a week.
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