A Hamptons mayor facing federal charges for “cherry-picking” stocks by waiting to see how the market performed before assigning trades to favored accounts was expected to reverse course and plead guilty to securities fraud last night according to a spokesman for U.S. attorney Benton J. Campbell. Quogue mayor George M. Motz, a minority owner of now-defunct brokerage Melhado, Flynn & Associates, was charged with securities fraud and document alteration in November 2008. A superseding indictment alleged the fraud took place between November 2000 and June 2005 and generated around $1.4 million for favored brokerage customers at the expense of others.

Eastern District Judge Arthur D. Spatt had dismissed a part of the government’s case against Mr. Motz, ruling that the alleged trades were not part of a “continuing” course of conduct and limited prosecution to trades executed after Aug. 27, 2003 (NYLJ, Aug. 24). Mr. Motz was expected to plead guilty yesterday before Judge Spatt. - Vesselin Mitev

Vance Likely to Outline Vision for D.A.’s Office at Conference