Juror With Ties To Michael Moore Excused From EMI Trial Jury

Michael Moore

The latest surprise in the court trial over EMI between TERRA FIRMA CAPITAL PARTNERS and CITIGROUP didn't involve either GUY HANDS nor CITIGROUP banker DAVID WORMSLEY. Instead, in a wild twist, a juror with ties to filmmaker MICHAEL MOORE was tossed from the jury -- leaving eight jurors to make a decision.

THE NEW YORK POST reports, "DONNA GIANELL, also known as Juror #6, was dismissed from the high-profile fraud trial late yesterday after lawyers for CITI argued before Judge JED RAKOFF that she harbored an anti-bank bias based on her connection to the filmmaker. GIANELL's name appears in the film credits of MOORE's 2009 documentary, 'Capitalism: A Love Story,' which took WALL STREET firms, including CITI, to task for their role in the financial crisis."

CITIGROUP's lead attorney, TED WELLS argued the jurors presence was "scary in the context of this particular case," and requested GIANELL be dismissed. Judge JED RAKOFF eventually dismissed GIANELL after she reportedly discussed the case with other jurors on the elevator.

"Out of nine people, I have one associated with the MICHAEL MOORE movie who's taking notes like a person possessed," WELLS said. "We started putting in our case and suddenly we're seeing a different person."

MOORE told BLOOMBERG NEWS that he didn't know GIANELL. "You've got to feel sorry for CITIGROUP," MOORE told BLOOMBERG. "They're paying all this money to their attorneys and they didn't bother to GOOGLE her 'til last night."

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