Insider
Trader Oujaddou Got Time
Served and $500000 Fine Now
Urges Inner City Press Censor
Itself
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Periscope,
Photos
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Nov 6 – After insider trading
tipper Sebastian Pinto-Thomaz
was sentenced to 14 months in
prison, and on July 30 one of
his two tippees Jeremy Millul
was sentenced to five months,
on October 11 the second
cooperating tippee Abell
Oujaddou came to be sentenced,
see below.
And now on
November 6 Inner City Press
has received a letter from a
firm saying it represents
Oujaddou: "Inner City
Press Matthew Russell
Lee – Senior Reporter Re:
Courtesy Request To Whom It
May Concern, We have been
retained by Abell Oujaddou in
connection with an article
published on your website at
the following URL: here
and here.
While we support free speech
rights and have great respect
for the work journalists
perform, especially in the
current anti-media
environment, our client does
have some concerns about this
article. We are not permitted
to give you specific details
at this time, however our
client believes several facts
were reported without
necessary context and/or that
some details conveyed in this
article are wholly incorrect.
In no small part due to the
ready availability of your
article via internet search
engines, our client has
suffered both personally and
professionally. Again, we are
not permitted to reveal
details at this time, however
we can state that this article
has had a negative impact on
their personal wellbeing,
personal and professional
relationships, work
environment and
employment/business
opportunities. We would be
happy to provide additional
details. However, due to the
sensitive nature of some
information, we are only able
to do so if your publication
agrees to keep any information
disclosed strictly off the
record."
Apparently this refers
to: "
the
second day of
the trial of
Sebastian
Pinto-Thomaz
on four felony
counts
proceeded,
with Oujaddou
in the stand.
Assistant
U.S. Attorney
Christine I.
Magdo walked
him through
his Charles
Schwab
accounts, and
photos from
the Home Depot
on 23rd Street
where he said
he handed
Sebastian
$7,500 in cash
he kept in his
apartment with
his wife,
since
Hurricane
Sandy.
But when the
jury left,
questions were
raised.
Oujaddou had
been
threatened
with a lawsuit
for sexual
assault by a
woman whom he
fired from the
salon, just
before
marrying his
Superstorm
Sandy
co-hoarder
wife. This
information,
who said on
the record,
was deemed too
prejudicial
for the jury
to hear.
Sebastian's
lawyer Henry
Mazurek argued
that it was
relevant, that
Oujaddou's
need for hush
money for the
threatened
lawsuit
explained his
trading. Even
when this was
denied, he
made a point
of saying that
hush money is
in the news,
and that being
an alleged
sexual
assaulter may
not be so
prejudicial,
given that the
current US
President was
elected. Judge
Rakoff riffed,
I am
interested in
your political
analysis - but
not as a
lawyer. And
thus ended Day
Two of US v
Pinto."
This was said
in court - it
is the type of
information
Inner City
Press does
not, even
cannot, take
down.
Oujaddou
was probably surprised to see
the full courtroom of U.S.
District Court for the
Southern District of New York
Judge Jed S. Rakoff. The
crowd, other than Inner City
Press and perhaps one other,
was for Judge Rakoff's GSE
bond antitrust case.
Inner City
Press went to the overflow
room, usually unused Courtroom
12B, and watched as Judge
Rakoff asked Oujaddou's lawyer
why he should not impose a
large fine. When the lawyer
replied that Oujaddou was an
unusual client in that he was
so nice, Judge Rakoff jokely
asked if he told his other
clients that.
While
Oujaddou cheated even Pinto
Thomas, out of $2,500 dollars,
his cooperation counted for a
lot with the US Attorney's
office, who has also only this
week discussed its 5K1 letter
offers to men who confessed to
killing 56 and 78 people.
Judge
Rakoff imposed a $500,000 fine
on Oujaddou, but no jail time.
It's a significant fine, more
than Oujaddou made and payable
in 30 days. But with no jail
time, one wonders how it is
not pay to play. We will
continue to explore this.
During the sentencing that
Pinto-Thomaz's lawyer's
argument in the trial had been
to "throw his mother under the
bus." The lawyer, Henry
Mazurek with another client
facing a jury across the
hallway, said it was more
complicated that that. And
complicated it is.
Sentencings in the SDNY often
involve the invocation of the
sins of the father, absent
fathers, abusive fathers. This
absent father was different
than the norm: a Brazilian
industrial magnate. Equally
absent, even as Sebastian's
mother sent to open luxury
stores in Asia. Call it the
Nanny Diaries.
Watch
this site, and
@SDNYLIVE.
***
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