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HomeNewsArchivesCharges Against Former Prosser Valet Fall Flat in Florida

Charges Against Former Prosser Valet Fall Flat in Florida

Former Innovative CEO Jeffrey Prosser has suffered two major losses in his battle against his ex-valet, Arthur J. Stelzer, who earlier provided damning evidence against Prosser in his ongoing bankruptcy cases.
After Stelzer’s employment with Prosser ended in the fall of 2007, Stelzer provided credit card records to Prosser’s creditors, giving information to the bankruptcy court that has been very damaging to Prosser.
Prosser had tried to get the Florida State’s Attorney in Palm Beach County, the location of one of his mansions, to indict Stelzer for using Prosser’s computer and credit card account password without permission.
However, on April 16 these charges were nolle prossed by that office, the Source learned via phone, on the grounds that the State’s Attorney’s Office found that there was “no likelihood of a successful conviction.” (Nolle prossed is a legal term essentially meaning the charges won’t be prosecuted.)
Stelzer was originally charged March 23 in Palm Beach County with two felony counts: fraudulent use of personal identification (i.e., for accessing Prosser’s credit card records after leaving Prosser’s employ); and accessing a computer without authority—apparently for the same act. He was released March 26.

Prosser Setback No. 2
Meanwhile, in another legal move, Prosser had filed papers with the St. Croix U.S. District Court in an effort to disqualify lawyers hired to protect the ex-valet from Prosser’s various legal assaults. Prosser’s lawyers had argued that it was inappropriate for the court-appointed trustees in the case to pay to defend Stelzer; they added that one of Stelzer’s Florida lawyers had become a witness in the case, and thus should be dismissed from Stelzer’s legal team.
Timothy J. Savage, a federal district court judge from Pennsylvania who sits in St. Croix from time to time, heard the case and studied three documents filed for Prosser by Jeffrey B.C. Moorhead, a St. Croix attorney. On April 16 Judge Savage denied the motions to dismiss the Stelzer lawyers from the case.
Savage thus becomes the latest of a long series of judges in the territory—and on the U.S. mainland, Belize and the United Kingdom—to rule against one or more of Prosser’s legal maneuvers. Prosser’s ongoing bankruptcy case remains before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Judith Fitzgerald, who routinely works in Pittsburgh, but visits the territory on a monthly basis.
Prosser’s main creditor is National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation (CFC), a Virginia-based, nonprofit financial institution that had lent well over half a billion dollars to Prosser and his wholly owned corporations.
Stelzer had provided information on Prosser’s decision to destroy the hard drive on his personal computer in Florida, which contained financial information, which had not been shared with the bankruptcy court or its trustees.
According to a filing by Stelzer’s lawyers, Genovese Joblove & Battista of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida: “Ever since Mr. Stelzer provided truthful testimony as a witness . . . Mr. Prosser has both sought to cause Mr. Stelzer to change his testimony through harassment and intimidation, and, at the same time, he has sought to discredit him. He sent process servers and attorneys to harass Mr. Stelzer; he has filed a civil lawsuit against Mr. Stelzer; and he has sought and obtained criminal charges against Mr. Stelzer.”
The last item is a reference to the Palm Beach charges, which have just been dropped by prosecutors in that state.

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