Two brothers accused of stock fraud bandied about the name of Al Reynolds – Star Jones’ husband – to inflate the value of their bottled-water company, a prosecution witness testified yesterday.
In press releases issued early in 2004, Lennox and Lester Parris said Reynolds, then a Merrill Lynch broker not yet married the TV host, was helping them get a contract to supply water to Time Warner.
But Brian Maas, Reynolds’ lawyer, said his client never gave the brothers permission to use his name.
And testifying in Brooklyn federal court, Marla Markowitz, a Merrill Lynch lawyer who conducted an internal probe in 2004, said she found Reynolds had not served as a liaison between the firm and Time Warner.
The brothers are accused of inflating the value of Queench stock by falsely claiming they had contracts to supply water to Time Warner, 7-Eleven and the U.S. military.