Business Notes VERDICTS

For a man facing the possibility of 20 years behind bars, John Mulheren was remarkably philosophical. "You win some, you lose some," said the fallen Wall Street arbitrager last week after a Manhattan jury found him guilty on four felony counts of securities fraud and conspiracy. The seven-week trial of the former head of the Jamie Securities stock-trading firm was the latest featuring a former business associate of confessed insider trader Ivan Boesky -- and the first featuring public testimony by Boesky.

Under a relentless cross-examination, Boesky stuck to his story that Mulheren's firm bought 75,000 shares of Gulf & Western to drive up the stock's value and enable Boesky to sell his own shares back to Gulf & Western at a handsome profit. Mulheren, whose attire throughout the trial ran toward aggressively casual sport shirts, jeans and sockless shoes, denied any wrongdoing, but the jury believed Boesky.