A jury is expected today to start weighing the fate of a Connecticut man who made millions hawking allegedly bogus papers linking the late President John Kennedy to Marilyn Monroe and a Chicago mob boss.
After two weeks of hearing evidence against Lawrence X. Cusack III, 48, a jury in Manhattan federal court will decide if committed fraud selling documents containing forged JFK signatures and handwriting.
In closing arguments yesterday, prosecutors and Cusack’s defense painted contrasting pictures of the former paralegal.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Neiman told the jury Cusack “told lie after lie after lie to make people believe the documents were real.” Neiman added that Cusack, who had studied drafting, also had a “dramatic ability to change his handwriting.”
Cusack, who bought a mansion and luxury cars with money he made from collectors, got snared in his alleged web of deceit by a 1962 document he claimed was an agreement between JFK and Monroe to buy her silence about meetings with Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana. Neiman said the typewriter used was not available until the 1970s.
Cusack’s lawyer, Robert Katzberg, told the panel there was no proof his client forged the 700 documents or that he knew they were fakes.
“Whoever drafted these documents had years of practice forging handwriting,” Katzberg said, adding that Cusack lacked the “discipline and control” and access to samples of JFK’s writing to have pulled off the scheme.
Cusack faces up to five years in prison if convicted.