Guldi to represent himself at fraud trial

Despite a Suffolk judge's effort to discourage it, former Suffolk legislator George Guldi once again will represent himself at the second of his three trials on fraud charges.

Guldi was convicted at his first trial in March of insurance fraud and is already serving 4 to 12 years in prison. His next two trials are mortgage fraud cases, in which he and several co-defendants are accused of running the largest mortgage fraud ring ever in Suffolk, involving the sale of 60 homes and a total theft of more than $80 million. Guldi, 59, of Westhampton Beach, served as a lawyer in many of the transactions, prosecutors have said.

Thursday, Suffolk County Court Judge James F.X. Doyle questioned Guldi to make sure he really wanted to proceed again without his own lawyer.

"In my opinion, no one should represent themselves at a criminal trial," Doyle told Guldi, and then warned him that with a co-defendant at this trial, his courtroom behavior had better improve from the first trial. In that case, Guldi often tried to goad prosecutor Thalia Stavrides and sometimes appeared disorganized.

Doyle said he wouldn't allow such behavior to prejudice the fair trial rights of co-defendant Brandon Lisi, 37, of Dix Hills. He told Guldi he'd be removed from the courtroom if necessary.

"You're going to have to be more careful," Doyle said.

Lisi's attorney, Randy Zelin, could not be reached Thursday.

Guldi assured the judge he would not be disruptive but complained of the difficulty of reviewing trial documents in jail.

Doyle said that's another argument for having a defense attorney, and that he wouldn't slow down the trial to accommodate Guldi or tell the jail to give him more time with his papers. "It's not like you're going to be in a law office," Doyle said.