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Trials and Litigation

Representing himself, accused art scammer seeks 'dirty trick' potty break, labels witness a liar

Luke Brugnara. Photo from the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center.

Accused art scammer Luke Brugnara told his mother in a recorded phone call that he had a strategy for his upcoming trial, where he would be representing himself after going through a succession of lawyers.

Brugnara told his mother that he would ignore the judge and say whatever he wanted, and jurors would remember his words even if they were stricken from the record.

Brugnara had assured U.S. District Judge William Alsup of San Francisco that those purported plans were just words intended to placate his mother, but as the trial got underway, Alsup didn’t think so, the Recorder (sub. req.) reports.

“Everybody has been trying their best to give you a fair trial,” Alsup told Brugnara, “and you’ve done your best to sabotage the process.”

Brugnara is on trial for allegedly conning an art dealer into shipping him $11 million worth of art. His antics began last Tuesday when he asked for a bathroom break shortly after a federal prosecutor began his opening statement. Alsup granted the bathroom break, but later labeled it a “dirty trick.”

During his opening statement, the Recorder says, Brugnara “talked through a string of government objections.” He told jurors he probably had cancer and said the government’s principal witnesses were “two thieves,” During his cross-examination of the allegedly victimized art dealer, Brugnara called her a “liar” and said her “cognitive process” was impaired.

Brugnara is representing himself after he alleged impropriety by his public defender, temporarily escaped from custody during a meeting with his second lawyer, saw his third lawyer withdraw because of a “severe personal conflict in style” with Brugnara, and rejected a fourth lawyer because he would be representing himself. Two other lawyers are acting as stand-by counsel.

Alsup had determined Brugnara was competent to represent himself before the trial began, noting that Brugnara’s outbursts are part of his strategy of “persistence wears down resistance,” the Recorder story says

“Defendant is a forceful, pushy and demanding man who tries to bull his way through—but he is mentally competent and insists (correctly) that he is,” Alsup said.