Kate Crowley, ex-general counsel to the fallen Reserve [profile] mutual fund shop, finished her testimony this morning, and the defense concluded its case in the SEC's fraud trial of Reserve and the family on top, the Bents.

To read the full, continuing saga of the collapse of the Reserve Primary Fund and the ensuing legal battle, see MFWire's living timeline.

Crowley, who first took the stand yesterday, continued to review the events of September 15-16, 2008. She said that when she left work on the 15th, she thought there was nothing more she could do and that "the credit support agreement would be finalized that evening.

It was the next day she learned that the credit support agreement, intended to save the company's flagship Reserve Primary Fund from breaking the buck, would not be happening.

After Crowley stepped down, the defense showed a video of a rather testy deposition, conducted in October 2010, from SEC official Douglas Scheidt. In the video Scheidt, who works in the regulator's division of investment management, became extremely agitated while answering questions about his dealings with the Reserve in 2008.

The Scheidt video concluded the defense case.

In the government rebuttal case, the first witness called was Rose DiMartino, a lawyer at Wilkie Farr who worked with the Reserve.

The most important part of her testimony came when shown a letter from Bruce Bent II saying that the mutual fund shop was awaiting "final approval" for a credit support agreement to save the primary fund.

In reality, the situation was nowhere near final approval, and a plan for a deal had been discussed, but the paperwork had not been filed, DiMartino said.

DiMartino is slated to continue her testimony this afternoon. 

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