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SDNY Trial Brooklyn State Judge Ash Found
Guilty On Most But Not All Counts
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Alamy
photos
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Dec 13 – A suspended
Brooklyn Supreme Court judge
Sylvia Ash was first brought
by US Marshals on October 11,
2019 to be presented in SDNY
Magistrates Court on charges
of obstructing the
investigation of fraud at the
Municipal Credit Union, where
she was a board member.
Then on
November 4, 2019 she appeared
with her Court Street lawyer
Roger Archibald before SDNY
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan. Things
did not go well, see below.
On December 13,
2021, with the jury
deliberating, they sent in a
note requesting a clear
definition of intent. Judge
Kaplan came up with a
proposal, then agreed to drop
the word "special" at the
request of AUSA Eli Mark (to
whom he remarked, off the
record, that earlier in the
day the Supreme Court denied
cert in US
v. Gatto, which Inner
City Press also covered).
The jury
came in and Judge Kaplan, used
a hand-held microphone so he
could look at the jurors, read
them his response. Then he
said deliberations would
continue to 5 pm, unless of
course there were a verdict
before then.
And there was.
The jury found Ash guilty on
three counts including
conspiracy to obstruct
justice, obstruction of
justice, and making a false
statement to a federal agent -
but not guilty on another
count. Inner City Press rushed
up to the 23rd floor of the
courthouse in time to catch
Ash and a handful of
supporters getting on the
elevator. The mood was
downbeat. Will the sentence,
set for April 20, involve jail
time? Watch this site.
On June 2, 2020
Judge Kaplan denied Ash's
motion to suppress in its
entirety (the 19 page Order is
online), and noted this:
"Archibald had an actual or
potential conflict because he
appeared to have been involved
in the conduct charged to Ash.
The involvement was as
follows: On July 6, 2018 Ash,
through Archibald, made an
allegedly incomplete
production in response to the
June 18, 2018 subpoena, which
had required that she produce,
among other items, all
correspondence with Wong and
all documents regarding any
items of value received from
Wong or the MCU ."
On
September 1, 2021 the trial
was firmly set for November
30. And on November 30 both
sides belatedly unsealed
motions in limine and
responses regarding whether
Ash came cross examine
Witness-1 about providing a
relative's codeine to Kam Wong
of the MCA. Ash argues it goes
to truthfulness - and also
wants to offer evidence about
the money laundering
investigation into the MCU.
On December 6
Ash's lawyers told Judge
Kaplan that only the day
before, on Sunday, the US
Attorney's Office had given
them copies of newly disclosed
documents concerning possible
legal profession sanctions Ash
faced or faces, and argued
that their introduction as
evidence should be precluded.
On
December 7 the prosecutors
wrote to Judge Kaplan asking
him to exercise his
"gatekeeping function" and bar
the introduction of exhibits
through former MCU Board
Treasurer S. Nana Osei-Bonsu,
and Norman Kohn, interim CEO
after the removal of Kam Wong.
Watch this site.
Back on
October 11, 2019 after a
proceeding replete with State
versus Federal court and
Brooklyn versus Manhattan
cultural clashes, Sylvia Ash
was freed on $500,000 bond
with a GPS location monitoring
bracelet.
Her Court
Street lawyer Roger Archibald
told reporters that she must
be presumed innocent, then
went back into the SDNY
Magistrates Court to work on
the logistics of his client's
release.
The
release had not been sure.
Assistant US Attorney Eli Mark
complained that Ash's lawyer
Archibald had inaccurately
told prosecutors that Ash was
on her way to Africa. Then
that Archibald, when he
learned Ash was instead on the
way to Miami, had not updated
or corrected the false
information.
Archibald
for his part said Ash she be
released without condition,
given what he called her
"pedigree." SDNY Magistrate
Judge Ona T. Wang quoted this
back in her decision, saying
that accepting that logic
would mean unconditional
release for any defendant with
a degree.
When Judge
Wang asked Archibold to make
his arguments under the
applicable Federal statute
under the Bail Reform Act,
Archibald said he did not have
a copy. Later he asked for the
preliminary hearing on October
21, when the government has at
least 21 days for defendants
who are bailed.
It
was state versus Federal,
Brooklyn versus Manhattan....
The case is US v.
Ash, 19-cr-780 (Kaplan)
***
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