Ex-baseball player testifies against former friend in deal with prosecutors

SANTA ANA — The key prosecution witness against a corporate CEO accused of insider trading told a jury Wednesday that he purchased shares on the advice of the defendant, including a silent instruction mouthed in the parking lot of an elite Newport Beach country club.

Former baseball player Doug DeCinces testified all day under direct examination from Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer L. Waier, describing interactions with James Mazzo that he said prompted him to buy shares in Mazzo’s company, Advanced Medical Optics, despite initially investing at the advice of someone else.

Convicted of 14 felony counts of tender offer fraud last May, DeCinces’ cooperation deal with the U.S. attorney’s office calls for prosecutors to recommend no prison time if he provides substantial assistance in the prosecution of Mazzo, whom the last jury split 8-4 in favor of convicting.

He attempted to do so Wednesday, detailing to jurors how Mazzo, his Laguna Beach neighbor and former friend, told him in late 2008 that a sale or refinancing deal involving Advanced was imminent. DeCinces said he asked Mazzo about the company during a car ride to an Anaheim Ducks hockey game after buying stock at the advice of well-known Orange County investor Dick Pickup, who’d heard that a deal was looming.

“I remember Jim just kind of hesitating a little bit, and then proceeding to tell me ... it could happen by the end of the year,” DeCinces said, adding that he bought more Advanced stock on Dec. 15, 2008, based on that comment.

DeCinces’ observation that Mazzo was hesitant touches on what Mazzo’s lawyer, Richard Marmaro of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates, outlined in his opening statement: Mazzo never told DeCinces anything; instead, DeCinces took advantage of Mazzo’s friendship by reading Mazzo’s behavior for clues about the status of Advanced.

It wasn’t the only testimony that seemed to match Marmaro’s narrative. After DeCinces said Mazzo canceled golf plans about a week before the sale, Waier asked if the cancellation prompted him to buy more Advanced stock.

“I just meant that he must be really busy … so yes, in my personal view of reading the situation, I thought that something was gong to happen soon,” DeCinces answered.

“Something? Or what he told you the weekend before the Dec. 15 purchase?” Waierasked.

Judge Andrew J. Guilford sustained Marmaro’s objection for leading, and Waier asked what that something was.

“Either refinancing or the sale,” DeCinces answered, referring to his conversation with Mazzo.

DeCinces then recounted a final allegedly criminal interaction with Mazzo that he said prompted another purchase. The men and their wives had dined at the Big Canyon Country Club in Newport Beach, and DeCinces said Mazzo asked him as they walked to their cars if he was comfortable with his stock amount. DeCinces said he was, and that Mazzo then said “this was a once in a lifetime opportunity” and mouthed “buy more” as they parted ways.

The country club plays a prominent role in the case. Not only is it the alleged scene of alleged crimes, DeCinces, a long-time member, sponsored Mazzo’s membership in what prosecutors allege was essentially payment for the information Mazzo provided.

Waier also asked DeCinces why he’s cooperating with prosecutors.

The retired Angels and Orioles star said he’d been “living with this for eight plus years.”

“I felt like it was time to come out and get this off my shoulders,” DeCinces testified. He said he suffered medical issues after his conviction that prompted his friends and family “to come to me and basically say that it was costing me my life holding all this pressure in.”

“Also, I just believed strongly that it was time to tell my story,” DeCinces said.

Waier’s questions about DeCinces’ convictions followed Guilford’s reading of a jury instruction that said the evdience was admitted “only for the limited purpose of evaluating Mr. DeCinces’ character for truthfulness.”

“Consider only for that limited purpose and not for any other purpose,” Guilford said. “Mr. DeCinces’ verdicts of conviction are not evidence against Mr. Mazzo.”

Marmaro’s cross examination of DeCinces began about 3 p.m. Wednesday and is expected to continue through Thursday. He started forcefully by highlighting DeCinces’ previous steadfast denial of his charges and asking him if he and his lawyer lied to jurors in the first trial. He spent the last 15 minutes of Wednesday going over DeCinces’ deal with prosecutors, including the fact that, under federal sentencing guidelines, DeCinces faced 51 to 63 months in prison.