A federal judge has rejected an attempt by the former head of defunct soft-drink company Le-Nature’s to withdraw his guilty plea in an $875 million accounting fraud for which he’s serving 20 years in prison, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday. Gregory Podlucky had claimed that he was misled by prosecutors and not properly represented by his attorney when he pleaded guilty to the fraud and underlying money laundering counts in October 2011. Podlucky contends the plea agreement has been nullified because the government has so far refused to return $934,000 worth of jewels that were seized from him, which he contends weren’t related to the fraud. Senior U.S. District Judge Alan Bloch, in a ruling issued on Monday, said that Podlucky can still pursue those assets — which were among more than $30 million in valuables seized by the government to repay creditors — but that his appeal is otherwise baseless.
