Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP former controller told a jury yesterday that years before the law firm collapsed, Dewey’s accounting department scrambled to avoid trouble with its banks by making the firm’s income appear higher than it was, the Wall Street Journal reported today. In January 2009, with just days to find a way to boost 2008 income by $25 million, members of the department used fraudulent adjustments to get the numbers where they wanted them, former controller Thomas Mullikin said during the third week of a criminal trial of Dewey’s three top leaders, accused of conspiring to defraud the firm’s banks and creditors. Mullikin is the first of seven cooperating witnesses to take the stand for the Manhattan district attorney’s office in what is expected to be a six-month-long trial. He pleaded guilty to a scheme to defraud in the first degree tied to his actions in Dewey’s accounting department, and prosecutors will recommend Mullikin receive five months in a Manhattan detention center.
