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By Matthew Russell Lee

SDNY COURTHOUSE, April 19 – College basketball scandals involving Adidas and University of Louisville on March 5, with a glancing reference to Rick Pitino, resulted in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in prison sentences of nine months for James Gatto, and six months each for Merl Code and Christian Dawkins. Now the latter two are set for a second trial for which jury selection will begin on April 22. On April 19 SDNY Judge Charles Ramos told the two defendants' lawyers how he will run jury selection, and the opening statements could begin on the afternoon of April 22 if the jury is selected before 3:30 pm. There was discussion of yachts and luxury hotels; Judge Ramos said you can cross examination about where they stayed and what they ate but cautioned against getting into issues like college players getting paid. He asked for comments on the voir dire jury selection form by midday on Sunday, saying he'll be in his office working that day. The trial, expected to go two weeks, will take place between 9:30 am and 2:30 pm five days a week, with two 15 minute breaks for the jury. (Judge Ramos said he's done that math and that's still more hours than 9:30 to 5 Monday through Thursday, with a one hour lunch break. It seems Will Wade, LSU's once and perhaps again coach, will dodge the bullet. We'll have more on this, picking up from April 8 when Virginia beat Texas Tech 85-77 in overtime to win March Madness, on the same day SDNY Judge Lewis Kaplan was informed that "the Government and defendant James Gatto have agreed to restitution amounts for the Victim Universities.  In particular, Gatto has dropped his procedural objections to the entry of a restitution order that includes legal fees for North Carolina State University and the University of Kansas, and the Universities have agreed to seek restitution of revised amounts of legal fees, specifically, legal fees of $79,026.75, for N.C. State University, and  $161,574 for the University of Kansas.  As reflected in the proposed restitution order, which is being submitted via email to the Court, the total amount of restitution, which includes scholarship amounts for certain student-athletes, is $342,437.75.  In light of the proposed consent restitution order, the parties submit that the conference scheduled for tomorrow, April 9, 2019, is unnecessary." So one conference was cancelled - but the case(s) continue, and Inner City Press will continue to cover them, in ever more detail.

  LSU coach Will Wade was suspended - even as LSU with named Javonte Smart in March Madness beat Maryland on March 23, only to lose on March 29 to the Spartans of Michigan State in the Subpoena Sixteen. Now corruption linked Auburn was itself robbed in the Felony Four, with a bogus foul call with 0.6 seconds left leading to three made free throws by Virginia. Some call it karma. Meanwhile, Michael Avenatti has accused Nike with relation to Zion Williamson's mother, and Duke says it is looking into it. Already out of the money - on paper - but in the line of fire are Kansas' Bill Self, and Arizona's Sean Miller. Inner City Press will continue to cover these cases in the SDNY, as it covered the April 5 sentencing of sports talk gambling addict Craig Carton by SDNY Chief Judge Colleen McMahon, here, where she said "long time listener" but gave no indication of Criminal Championship choice, if any.

  On March 31 NCAA's Mark Emmert made much of information being imported into the internal adjudication system, specifically referring to the trial "later this Spring" - in the SDNY in April, which Inner City Press will cover -- at which coaches will testify under oath. He mentioned Condi Rice and behind the scenes (or, incongruously, "inside baseball") reforms, but he said the sneaker companies are an important part. Too important? Auburn continues on, knocking off the Tar Heels of North Carolina and and on March 31 in overtime Kentucky in the Illegal Eight, before the Michigan State beat Duke, treating them like Blue Devils like the UN should be treated, but for impunity, see below. Already in the Felony Four is last year's goat, the Virginia Cavaliers, with a buzzbeater by Guinea Conakry's Mamadi Diakite. There was immediate rebound refraction in UN world, where another Mamadi Diakite is works Security for UNAIDS and its harassment chief Michel Sidibe, defended to the end by corrupt UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who never submitted to questioning like the NCAA's Emmert did on March 31 and  most recently lied about turning off the UN's lights for Earth Hour as Virginia beat Purdue and Texas Tech beat Gonzaga. Watch this site - and The Play, as Cavaliers guard Ty Jerome misses a free throw - on purpose? - and Diakite slaps the offensive rebound back to teammate Kihei Clark, behind the half court line. He found Diakite unguarded (not surprising given his shooting percentage) with a return pass and the rest is history. Video here. For now, this from the SDNY on March 19: "CHUCK CONNORS PERSON, a former men’s basketball coach at Auburn University (“Auburn”), pled guilty in Manhattan federal court today to receiving approximately $91,500 in cash bribes from athlete advisers in exchange for using his influence over Auburn basketball players to retain the services of the advisers paying the bribes.  PERSON pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska.     Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said:  “As he has now admitted, Chuck Person abused his position as a coach and mentor to student-athletes in exchange for personal gain.  In taking tens of thousands of dollars in cash bribes, Person not only placed personal financial gain above his obligations to his employer and the student-athletes he coached, but he broke the law.”   According to the Complaint, the Indictment, statements made in court and publicly available documents:  Over the course of a year, PERSON, a former men’s basketball coach at Auburn University until shortly after his arrest, agreed to accept cash bribes in return for agreeing to exert his influence over student-athletes on the Division I men’s basketball team he coached to retain the services of the bribe-payers, including once the student-athletes entered the National Basketball Association (“NBA”).    Beginning in 2016, and continuing into September 2017, when PERSON was arrested, PERSON received approximately $91,500 in cash bribes from a financial adviser and business manager, who, unbeknownst to PERSON, was providing information to law enforcement (“CW-1”).  In exchange for the cash bribes, PERSON agreed to exert his influence over certain student-athletes PERSON coached at Auburn University to retain the services of CW-1 once those players entered the NBA." After Michael Avenatti was arrested and presented in the SDNY -- Inner City Press story here -- he has alleged that Oregon Ducks center Bol Bol took money from Nike to attend Oregon. Avenatti tweeted that Bol and his "handlers" received "large sums from Nike."  Oregon lost to low scoring Virginia on March 28, in the Subpoena Sixteeen. Who will make it to the Illegal Eight? The Felony Four? The Criminal Championship? Meanwhile after Pitino's former team Louisville lost against Minnesota coached by his son by 10 - call it karma -- then Minnesota lost to Michigan State (slated to play LSU).  Auburn, see below, again reversed the karmic trend with a win over Kansas after its squeaker win over New Mexico State. Auburn faces North Carolina on March 29. The next NCAA corruption trial starts April 22 in the SDNY, with Will Wade already served a subpoena... On March 19 Chuck Person, former coach at Auburn, pled guilty in the SDNY to receiving approximately $91,500 in cash bribes from athlete advisers in exchange for using his influence over Auburn basketball players to retain the services of the advisers paying the bribes.  Person pled guilty before SDNY Judge Loretta A. Preska, who on March 25 is set to sentence UN briber Patrick Ho who paid $500,000 to UN PGA Sam Kutesa of Uganda, and offered $2 million to Chad's Idriss Deby.  Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said:  “As he has now admitted, Chuck Person abused his position as a coach and mentor to student-athletes in exchange for personal gain.  In taking tens of thousands of dollars in cash bribes, Person not only placed personal financial gain above his obligations to his employer and the student-athletes he coached, but he broke the law"....  In one recorded meeting, Person stressed to an Auburn University player the importance of keeping their relationship with CW-1 a secret.  Person stated, “most important part is that you  . . . don’t say nothing to anybody . . . don’t share with your sisters, don’t share with any of the teammates, that’s very important cause this is a violation . . . of rules, but this is how the NBA players get it done, they get early relationships, and they form partnerships.”   Person later told that player that CW-1 would purchase him a separate cell phone over which they could communicate so as to conceal the nature of the scheme. It's called guilty knowledge.

On March 5 SDNY Judge Lewis A. Kaplan heard from each of the defendants' lawyers and then from the defendants themselves. A particular wiretap played during the trial was cited by Judge Kaplan, in which the parties said they had to leave Rick Pitino "plausible deniability." Since then Pitino, who was fired by Louisville in 2017 as the school’s basketball program was being investigated as part of the federal corruption probe, has complained. “The Southern District of New York used me for publicity, the University of Louisville buried a Hall of Fame career,” Pitino said in a text message to the Louisville Courier-Journal from Turkey, where his Greek EuroLeague team Panathinaikos plays Thursday. “Let me rest in peace. Please, you have killed enough of my life.  "And by the way, if you care to ask, there are 50-plus players that will attest to my honesty, not some gullible judge. And Judge Kaplan is as guilty as the people he just sentenced for bringing up an innocent person with his remarks." In fairness, Judge Kaplan was quoting for a transcript of a wiretap played in the trial. And it is such a wiretap that has Will Wade not coaching. Now there's speculation, for now shot down, of Pitino returning to Washington State University despite "the sleaze factor." We'll have more on this.

 On March 5, Merl Code's lawyer did most of the talking, in a Southern accent, at one point favorably comparing Judge Kaplan to his own mother. There was laughter in the courtroom. It won't help you, Judge Kaplan quipped. But who knows? In the argument for bailing pending appeal, Judge Kaplan hearkened back to having won bail for a client some forty years ago by arguing to a judge in Rhode Island that the judge's decision was likely to be reversed. The U.S. Attorney's office, represented at the sentencing by Edward B. Diskant, said they were convicted "for conspiring to defraud universities by funneling illicit payments to the families of high-school and college basketball players and concealing those payments – which were prohibited by university policies and NCAA rules – from the schools. GATTO, the Director of Global Basketball Sports Marketing at Adidas, CODE, an Adidas consultant, and DAWKINS, an aspiring manager of professional athletes, will be sentenced on March 5, 2019, at 10:00 a.m. by Judge Kaplan, who presided over the four-week trial. Two other scheme participants, MUNISH SOOD, a financial advisor, and THOMAS “T.J.” GASSNOLA, a former Adidas consultant, previously pled guilty in connection with their participation in the fraudulent scheme." Gatto will be back in front of Judge Kaplan on the restitition issue on Paril 9 at 10 am...

The day before in the same courthouse the jury in a week-long Bronx gang case  passed a note on to Judge Robert W. Sweet, who said it indicted a lack of unanimity, but not necessarily division. But should he read the note into the record? Initially the prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney's office said yes, and provided Judge Sweet a citation. But when he re-emerged from his chambers agreeing to show both sides the note, he asked why he should read it into the record. Now the prosecutors said they would defer to the lawyers for the defendant, Christopher Howard, and not read it into the record. Which meant, and still for now means, that the press and public have no way to know what it says.

  Isn't there's an interest in the public, separate from the government's interest, in knowing of this process? The interest was cited recently in this SDNY to release some of what was seized in the raid on Michael Cohen's home. Why does that logic not apply to this? And how does the Press, entering each day from the metal detectors, go about asserting and pursuing that interest? Inner City Press, on this day and in this case the only media in the courtroom, last month covered the decision by SDNY Judge Pauley
From the SDNY decision in U.S. v. Cohen, 18-cr-00602: "the presumption of access is at its core tethered to the need for public monitoring of the federal courts and their exercise of judicial power. Cf. SEC v. Van Waeyenberghe, 990 F.2d 845, 847 (5th Cir. 1993) (explaining that “[t]he public’s right to information does not protect the same interests that the right of access is designed to protect”). As the Second Circuit explained, Monitoring both provides judges with critical views of their work and deters arbitrary judicial behavior. Without monitoring, moreover, the public could have no confidence in the conscientiousness, reasonableness, or honesty of judicial proceedings. Such monitoring is not possible without access to testimony and documents that are used in the performance of Article III functions. Amodeo II, 71 F.3d at 1050." 

  The same question has been raised in another SDNY case, this one civil and involving the employment practices of the Qatari royals who live in a mansion on 72nd Street. There, Judge Oetken told the parties to agree among themselves how much to seal. But this is a criminal case.

On February 25 when the government tried to defend its 2018 change of policy or practice on Special Immigrant Juvenile status in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge John G. Koeltl had many questions about the change. He asked, are you saying that all the decisions before 2018 were just wrong, under a policy in place but not implemented at the time? In the overflow courtroom 15C the largely young audience laughed, as the government lawyer tried to say it wasn't a change of policy but rather an agency interpretation of the statute. Shouldn't there have been notice and comment rulemaking under the Administrative Procedure Act? The government said the argument proffered for this was about the Freedom of Information Act (on which, as Inner City Press has noted, the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has similarly reversed its policy 180 degrees without justification). SDNY Judge Koeltl demanded t know if the government is arguing that no juvenile court in New York, California (and maybe Texas for other reasons he said) is empowered to grant relief. The answer was far from clear - but where the ruling is going does seem so. Watch this site. The Bangladeshi Central Bank which was hacked for $81 million in February 2016, on January 31 sued in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. Now the first pre-trial conference in the case has been set, for 2 April 2019 before SDNY Judge Lorna G. Schofield. Inner City Press will be there.

In Dhaka, the Criminal Investigation Department which failed to submit its probe report into the heist on time has now been ordered by Metropolitan Magistrate Sadbir Yasir Ahsan Chowdhury to do so by March 13 in Bangladesh Bank cyber heist case.

In the U.S. District Court for Central California, the unsealed criminal complaint against Park Jin Hyuk lists four email addresses involved in spear-phishing Bangladesh Bank and among others an unnamed "African Bank;" one of these addresses is said to also have communicated with an individual in Australia about importing commodities to North Korea in violations of UN sanctions.

To the Federal Reserve, Inner City Press has requested records relating to the Fed's role with response due in 20 working days - watch this site. In the SDNY, the case is Bangladesh Bank v Rizal Commercial Banking Corp et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 19-00983. On February 3 in Dhaka Bangladesh Bank's lawyer Ajmalul Hossain said it could take three years to recover the money. The Bank's deputy governor Abu Hena Razee Hasan said those being accused -- in the civil not criminal suit -- include three Chinese nationals. Ajmalul Hossain said the Bank is seeking its hacked million plus interest and its expenses in the case. He said US Federal Reserve will extend its full support and that SWIFT, the international money transfer network, also assured of providing all the necessary cooperation in recovering the hacked money.  The Philippines returned $14.54 million in November 2016, so $66.46 million has yet to be retrieved. Now defendant RCBC Bank of the Philippines has hired the Quinn Emanuel law firm to defend it, and it already fighting back in words. RCBC’s lead counsel on the SDNY case, Tai-Heng Cheng, said:  “This is nothing more than a thinly veiled PR campaign disguised as a lawsuit. Based on what we have heard this suit is completely baseless. If the Bank of Bangladesh was serious about recovering the money, they would have pursued their claims three years ago and not wait until days before the statute of limitations. Not only are the allegations false, they don’t have the right to file here since none of the defendants are in the US." But it seems the funds were transferred to and through the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. And as Inner City Press reported in the US v. Patrick Ho case last year, the wiring of funds through New York can confer jurisdiction. Inner City Press will be covering this case. The first paragraph of the 103 page complaint reads, "This litigation involves a massive, multi-year conspiracy to carry out one of the largest banks heists in modern history right here in New York City. On February 4, 2016, thieves reached into a bank account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (“New York Fed”) and stole approximately $101 million (out of the nearly $1 billion they attempted to steal). The bank account was held for the benefit of Bangladesh Bank, which is Bangladesh’s Central Bank. Bangladesh Bank has had a 45-year banking relationship under which it has placed its international reserves with the New York Fed. The New York Fed is a critical component of the United States’ central banking system and its link to the international financial system." Bangladesh's lawyers on the case are "COZEN O’CONNOR John J. Sullivan, Esq.  Jesse Loffler, Esq. Yehudah Gordon, Esq." We'll have more on this.

Debaprasad Debnath, a general manager at the central bank’s Financial Intelligence Unit, Joint Director Mohammad Abdur Rab and Account and Budgeting Department General Manager Zakir Hossain all left Dhaka to head to New York, for the filing of the lawsuit, which Inner City Press will be following.

They say the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which on January 29 was instructed by the US State Department to allow Juan Guaido to access Venezuelan accounts, will be helping its Bangladeshi counterpart to get to the bottom of the hack.  Those eyed include Philippines’ Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation or RCBC and some of its officials, and Philrem Service Corporation, casino owners and beneficiaries. Ajmalul Hossain QC, a lawyer for the central bank, is with them to file the case.

It is an interesting twist on the SDNY as venue for the money laundering and FCPA prosecution of Patrick Ho of CEFC for bribery in Chad and to Uganda - in this case, too, the money flowed through New York. Inner City Press intends to cover the case.

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