Unsurprisingly, Sean Healy was less-than-thrilled when court-appointed receiver Melanie Damian showed up to seize his house, cars, and valuables last July. Damian brought along two more attorneys from her firm, and she recalls Healy threatening to pick up Ken Murena and throw him across the room. It would be a long night, stretching from 7 p.m. to after midnight.
But about halfway through the night, the attorneys noticed a drastic shift in Healy's mood. He was "supercooperative and kind of, like, a little giddy," Murena says. "It was a little weird, but that's how it was. He was walking us through different rooms and saying, 'Oh, don't forget down there; you didn't get that drawer!'"
Both Murena and Damian were clear that they did not actually
see Healy ingest drugs that night, nor did he smell like alcohol. But
it was strange.
Four months later, Healy pleaded guilty to the SEC's charges of wire fraud and unlawful monetary transactions
in a federal court in Pennsylvania. The judge released him under an
electronic monitoring system to spend the holidays in Florida at his
mother's condo. On December 1, his probation officer came by to find
Healy was not there. He had gone to his Weston mansion to pick up a few
things, but he returned soon enough.
The next day, Sean's urine sample tested positive for cocaine, opiates, benzodiazepine, and amphetamines.
In an interview last month, Healy's wife maintained that Sean was not
taking recreational drugs. "He was on certain medications,
prescriptions, that were said to be why he failed the drug test,"
Shalese said.
On
December 11, Sean was arrested for breaking bail and put in the custody
of a U.S. marshal. Twelve days later, as Healy wept at his sentencing
and apologized to his investors, he blamed drugs for his actions.
"Your
Honor, I just want you to know, words that are being said today, it's
not me," he began before adding, "I had a very bad drug problem. It
took the best of me. I'm not making excuses for it, but I wish I had an
opportunity to meet every single person in this court and show it's not
me... I apologize to you, Your Honor, for lying to you when I was doing
the drugs."
