| With 1 Virtual Juror Iranian
Banker Ali Sadr Found Guilty On Most
Counts in SDNY Trial
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Thread,
Patreon
Song
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
March 16 – Iranian banker Ali
Sadr Hashemi Nejad has been on
trial, charged with money
laundering and violating US
sanctions including through a
Venezuelan infrastructure
project.
On
March 16,
after an
unprecedented
decision to
proceed with
ten jurors in
the jury room
and an
eleventh at
home,
deliberating
by video
conference or
FaceTime, he
was found
guilty on most
charges. Live
tweeted thread
here:
Judge Nathan:
"The jury has reached a
verdict.... The juror on video
conference will stay on until
he hears from me further."
Jury entering! Judge Nathan:
"I'll ask the foreperson. Has
the jury asked a unanimous
verdict?" Yes.
Judge
Nathan: Count 1, how do you
find the defendant, with
conspiring to defraud the US?
Guilty. Count 2: Guilty.
Judge Nathan
(after sidebar) "On Count 3,
bank fraud, how do you find?
Guilty. Under 1344, prong 1,
neither (?) Count 4: bank
fraud conspiracy: Under
1344, prong 1, neither (?)
Under 1344, prong 2, guilty
Judge Nathan:
Count 5: Guilty. Count 6,
money laundering conspiracy:
Not guilty. Now polling
jurors: one? 2? [soon the
virtual juror] Let me confirm
the verdict with Juror Number
7... I have confirmed it is
his verdict. I will dismiss
the jury.
After
Judge Nathan had declined to
sent Sadr to jail pending
sentencing but instead
converted him to home
detention, Inner City Press
rushed out to do a Periscope
video live stream (here)
and try to ask Sadr a
question. His lawyers left in
a yellow cab, then he left.
Inner City Press asked, Are
you going to appeal? He
answered softly, Of course.
Then he too got in a yellow
cab. More on Patreon here.
On March
16 amid the Coronavirus
COVID-19 crisis, jury
deliberations ran into a
problem. SDNY Judge Nathan
proposed proceeding with ten
jurors in the jury room and
one connected from outside by
video.
Assistant
US Attorney Michael Krause
objected. But Judge Nathan
said there are extraordinary
circumstances and she would
proceed thusly.
Judge
Nathan then spoke to the
remote (male) juror by video.
He is at home with wife, child
and child care worker. She
told him, if and when they
need his attention, all
deliberations must cease.
Inner City
Press learned, with gratitude,
that the juror said while he
has Zoom and WhatsApp, he'd
use FaceTime. He did not say
he has been tested positive
for COVID-19, only that he
felt sick and stayed home out
of an abundance of caution.
Inner City
Press live tweeted it all:
thread here.
More on Patreon here.
In other
SDNY and Coronavirus news,
Inner City Press raised
this issue of the virtual
juror to none other than US
Attorney for the SDNY Geoffrey
S. Berman, who came to visit
the Magistrates Court which
Inner City Press closely
covers. It was apparently to
see if it was running
smoothly. Inner City Press has
heard of Saturday proceedings,
and pleas referred down from
Judge Swain. We'll have more
on this.
The
SDNY US Attorney's Office has
double standards on
#Coronavirus: it wants the US
v. Andrews trial to go
forward, and wants other
stopped. Defense lawyers say
some AUSAs have asked to and
are working from home.
Ali Sadr is
represented by lawyer Reid
Weingarten of Steptoe &
Johnson and, on November 25 as
reported
by Inner City Press by Brian
M. Heberlig
before U.S. District Court for
the Southern District of New
York Judge Alison J. Nathan.
On Sunday,
March 8 [alongside this song]
the US Attorney Office which
closed its
case on March
9 past
9 pm submitted a letter, here.
The case is US
v. Nejad,
18-cr-00224
(Nathan).
***
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