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By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon

SDNY COURTHOUSE, Dec 1 – While many even most cases in the Magistrates Court of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York are sealed or have case numbers given only later, on September 6, 2019 Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn arraigned four defendants in a case that even long after the fact was still listed as sealed: 19-cr-627.  It has since been unsealed.in

  A case back on on September 6 that wasn't sealed involved Ari Teman who allegedly deposited counterfeit checks into a bank account in Florida, then transferred and withdrew $4000 of the funds from the same bank at a branch in Manhattan.  Back on June 20, 2019, by coincidence before the same Magistrate Judge who eight weeks later released Teman on a $25,000 bond, NYPD Detective Daniel Alessandrino swore out that Teman for the scheme used his company GateGuard Inc, based in New York, NY..

Why Teman thought he could deposit over $200,000 in funds from companies which exist but had not authorized the payment is not known. His lawyer is Joseph A. DiRuzzo of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with a notice of appearance first digitally signed, then re-filed upside down. Inner City Press will continue to follow this case and has.

Now on the eve of sentencing, the US Attorney's Office has apparently reduced the amount of money it is seeking, while Teman insists he is ready to pay $259,988.17 while demanding to know more about the US Attorney's Office's communications with Bank of America. There is a "Sealed Document placed in vault" on November 30, the day before virtual sentencing is scheduled.

And later still on November 30 the US replied with a quote from Judge Robert W. Sweet that "Under Rule 32.2 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, if the Government seeks to forfeit specific property after trial, the defendant and the Government each have the option of requesting that the jury determine whether the specific property is subject to forfeiture. If the Government seeks a  money judgment, however, the Court alone determines the forfeiture amount at sentencing”.

So, the US says, it "provided both Rule 16 discovery material and § 3500 material relating to the loss suffered by Bank of America in connection with the offenses of conviction. The Government provided records to the Probation Office substantiating the need for restitution and forfeiture in the amount of $259,988.17. Today, the Government learned that Bank of America was able to offset certain losses it suffered, and the Government promptly notified the Court and the defense that it was seeking a lower amount of forfeiture and restitution.... $245,862.95."
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 The sentencing of Teman is set for December 1 at 10:30 am. The case is US v. Teman, 19-cr-696 (Engelmayer)