Oury tries to use the Chris Christie defense

by: Jason Springer

Thu Sep 10, 2009 at 12:15:00 PM EDT

Attorney Dennis Oury says his failure to tell his accountant about $25,000 he received from a grant consulting business is like the "innocent oversight" cited by former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie in neglecting to report interest income from a loan to a colleague.

Without mentioning the Republican gubernatorial candidate by name, Oury's defense lawyer, Gerald Krovatin, alluded to him in court papers seeking to strike certain language from a revised indictment as irrelevant to the crimes charged, and prejudicial to Oury.

Oury is seeking to strike language from four new counts, added in July, alleging willful failure to file tax returns for the years 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.

The passages in question allege that from 2004 through 2007, Oury "concealed" from his personal accountant $25,000 he received from GGC in 2004 and only after he became aware of the grand jury probe in 2008 did he instruct his accountant to include that income.

Krovatin said Oury's memory was jogged by the investigation and, in an apparent reference to Christie, described the lapse as an oversight, "similar to an innocent 'oversight' of interest income from a personal loan to a colleague or friend."