To PPP Bank Fraud Muge Ma Pled Guilty
Now Seeks To Seal Motion on Expert But Press
Opposes
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Podcast
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Nov 16 – Amid mounting fraud
in the U.S. Paycheck
Protection Program, including
banks and non-bank fintech
lenders refusing to report the
most basic data about what
they done with the money, an
investigative project of Inner
City Press, on May 21, 2020
there was the arrest of Muge
Ma, as known as "Hummer Mars,"
a Chinese national residing in
Manhattan.
At 7 pm he was
remanded to custody in jail as
a risk of flight, see below.
On
September 11, 2020 after
various other attempts, Ma
tried again before Judge
Richard M. Berman. He
continued remand but agreed to
hear Ma's Constitutional /
Sixth Amendment right to
counsel arguments, on
September 30. Inner City Press
live tweeted September 11, here
and below.
On November
16, 2021 after Ma pleaded
guilty to Counts 2 and 8 and
several times delayed his
sentencing, his lawyer sought
to seal the entirety of his
motion about an expert for
sentencing. One the first and
last line were left in; four
paragraph were redacted.
Inner City
Press immediately filed
opposition, seeking unsealing.
Watch this site.
On
June 15, 2021 Ma was brought
into the courtroom of Judge
Berman by two Marshals, for
his change of plea proceeding.
But it did not go smoothly.
When asked to allocute to his
crimes, Ma did not want to say
that he had intended to
defraud the banks.
Then why
was he pleading guilty? And
why should he get "acceptance
of responsibility" reduction
in offense level at
sentencing?
Next, Ma
resisted describing his
aggravated identity theft. He
kept saying that he applied in
his own name, but possessed
the email of another, with the
name in it. Really?
Then the
AUSA and defense counsel had a
whispered, non-public sidebar
with Judge Berman, after which
the allocution was accepted.
Ma's parents, it appeared,
were in the gallery with Inner
City Press. Sentencing was set
for September 22.
But on July 12,
the sentencing was delayed
more than two months to
November 30: "MEMO ENDORSEMENT
as to Muge Ma on re: [50]
CONSENT LETTER MOTION filed by
Muge Ma addressed to Judge
Richard M. Berman from Peter
Katz, Esq. dated July 12, 2021
re: Because in-person meetings
at the Metropolitan
Correctional Center, where Mr.
Ma is housed, are difficult to
come by, as well as the
parties' collective schedules,
we are requesting that Your
Honor extend the interview
schedule, disclosure dates, as
well as Mr. Ma's sentencing
(which is currently scheduled
for September 22, 2021) as
follows: Pretrial interview to
be completed by September 13,
2021; First Disclosure of the
Draft PSR by October 9, 2021;
Second Disclosure of the Final
PSR by November 3, 2021;
Sentencing on or about
November 22, 2021, at the
Courts discretion.
ENDORSEMENT: The proposed
schedule is acceptable to the
Court with the following
modifications: Sentence is
adjourned to 11/30/21 at 10:00
am; Defense submission is due
11/9/21; and Government
submission is due 11/16/21. SO
ORDERED: (Signed by Judge
Richard M. Berman on
7/12/2021)."
On November 10,
more delay: "Activity in Case
1:20-cr-00407-RMB USA v. Ma
Order on Letter Motion MEMO
ENDORSEMENT [53] CONSENT
LETTER MOTION addressed to
Judge Richard M. Berman from
Peter Katz, Esq. dated
November 10, 2021 re: [51]
Memo Endorsement, Set
Deadlines/Hearings,,,,,,,, re:
Sentencing Adjournment
Request... ENDORSEMENT...
Sentence is adjourned to
12/16/21 at 11:30am. Defense
submission is due 11/29/21.
Government submission is due
12/6/21. (Signed by Judge
Richard M. Berman on
11/10/21)."
Inner City Press
will stay on these cases.
Podcast here.
Watch this site.
Back on
September 30, Judge Berman
heard an application for
release on bond again, and
again denied it. Inner City
Press again live tweeted:
Judge Richard M.
Berman begins by recounting
judges who've denied bail to
Ma, who has a Chinese passport
but if offering up a property
at One West End Ave: SDNY
Magistrates Judge Aaron, Judge
Rakoff (to whom as Part 1
judge Ma did not appeal Judge
Aaron's denial)
Judge
Berman says Ma is 36 and a
Chinese national; his wife is
in LA & is divorcing him.
"His home in Manhattan is in a
luxury high-rise." Judge
Berman finds danger to the
community - not physical
danger, but financial danger.
"Mr. Ma poses a risk of
flight."
Judge
Berman says Ma's retained
counsel has had 12 legal calls
with him, and four on video,
and is asking how he would be
able to review discovery. The
SDNY prosecutors reply that
defense counsel does not
explain how a dozen calls at
this stage is not enough.
Judge Berman
denies Ma's application and
orders remand to be continued.
Muge Ma, the
defendant, has a Mandarin
interpreter. His lawyer
says Ma speaks fine English.
But the MCC has not produced
him. Lawyer wants him present
for bail argument. Seems the
proceeding may be put over -
for more than a week.
Muge Ma
a/k/a Hummer Mars has hired,
and is paying (unlike Michael
Avenatti in SDNY) his own
lawyer: Peter Katz of
Princeton NJ. MCC
counsel says they are trying
to produce Ma.
Ma has
arrived. Judge Berman recites
that Magistrate Judges
McCarthy and Cott turned him
down for release, as did Judge
Rakoff sitting as Part 1
judge. Will Judge Berman go a
different way?
Judge Berman says
he's never seen so many
denials, by 3 different
judges, and a re-application.
Defense lawyer: There was no
bail application to Judge
Cott. We knew we had a date
with you today. Judge Berman:
It's fair to say that Judge
Cott continued the remand Ma's
lawyer Katz: We've just waited
47 minutes for Mr. Ma.
Judge Berman:
What can we draw from that? We
were trying to accommodate him
with an interpreter. Nothing
that we have done or said
today has any bearing on the
determination whether Mr. Ma
is guilty
Judge
Berman: So what's different
now, that should persuade us
that Mr Ma is not a flight
risk? Ma's lawyer Katz: The
communication is
difficult. [But that's
not on risk of flight] Judge
Berman: You can't paint with a
huge brush. What you say would
apply to all
Katz: I'm
not sure if a pre-trial
resolution is possible, since
I can't talk to him enough.
[Some might say this boils
down to saying, Let him out,
he might plead guilty.] Katz
says he has another case with
AUSA Sagar Ravi, about a
defendant in another facility
Judge
Berman named another Judge,
Magistrate Aaron, as turning
Ma down on June 5 and says Ma
didn't appeal to Judge Rakoff,
also Part 1 Judge, on that
day. Implying because Ma knew
he would lose with Judge
Rakoff, but wants to try again
with Judge Berman?
AUSA Ravi:
In person legal visits in MCC
will begin again on September
21. Ma's lawyer Katz: That's
just testing. Judge Berman: If
that's the only issue, I would
suggest you submit
aConstitutional brief about
the attorney client contacts,
not content
Judge
Berman: We've succeeded today
in narrowing the issue. I'll
give you a few days. I've
looked at the papers and I
can't imagine I'd come to a
different conclusion than
Judges McCarthy, Rakoff &
Aaron. I'll continue the
remand; I'll look at whatever
you submit
Judge Berman: I'm
not asking for a supplement,
to what was rejected. I'm
looking for something new. How
long will it take you? Katz:
Next Thurs?
Judge Berman:
Sure. Keep it to 10 pages
double spaced. US? Ravi: 1
week. Wed Sept 30, 10:30
conference.
We will continue
to cover this case.
Inner City
Press previously covered the
bail (denial) hearing:
As the
presentment of Muge Ma begins,
he says, "For many years I
have considered myself as
American." Ma, charged with
defrauding PPP program,
graduated from UCLA Anderson
School in Management in 2013.
Judge McCarthy
(based in White Plains
courthouse) asks Ma, Are you a
U.S. citizen? Ma: Not yet,
Your Honor. Ma is being very
obsequious to Judge, thanking
her profusely.
AUSA Ravi
says Ma lives in a condo in a
brand new Manhattan condo,
defrauded 5 banks for $20
million under PPP.AUSA Ravi
says Ma's statement to agents
reflect he may already have
#COVID19. His parents were
visiting from China in
January, stuck here since -
but seen with tablets and
multiple cell phones in his
condo.
Judge McCarthy
ruled, This weighs toward
remand [to prison]. You have
the financial resources to
flee to China. There's the
sophisticated nature of this
crime. Remand.
In
connection with loan
applications for relief
available from the Paycheck
Protection Program (“PPP”) and
the Economic Injury Disaster
Loan (“EIDL”) Program, MA
falsely represented to the SBA
and five financial
institutions that his
companies, New York
International Capital LLC
(“NYIC”) and Hurley Human
Resources LLC (“Hurley”), had
hundreds of employees and paid
millions of dollars in wages
to those employees, when, in
fact, MA appears to have been
the only employee of his
companies.
SBA OIG Eastern Region Special
Agent-in-Charge Kevin
Kupperbusch said:
“Providing false statements to
gain access to SBA’s programs
will be aggressively
investigated by our
office. SBA OIG and its
law enforcement partners are
poised to root out fraud in
SBA’s programs and bring
wrongdoers to justice." But
SBA has no time to respond to
Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) requests?
From at
least in or about March 2020
through at least on or about
May 15, 2020, MA applied to
the SBA and at least five
banks for a total of over $20
million in
Government-guaranteed loans
for the his companies NYIC and
Hurley (together, the “Ma
Companies”) through the SBA’s
PPP and EIDL Program. In
connection with these loan
applications, MA represented,
among other things, that he
was the sole owner and
executive director of the Ma
Companies, that the Ma
Companies were located on the
sixth floor of his luxury
condominium building in New
York, New York, and that NYIC
and Hurley together had
hundreds of employees and paid
millions of dollars in wages
to those employees on a
monthly basis. In fact,
however, MA appears to have
been the only employee of NYIC
since at least in or about
2019, and Hurley does not
appear to have any
employees... A bank approved
and disbursed over
approximately $800,000 in PPP
loan funds for Hurley, which
were frozen in connection with
this investigation.
Inner City
Press will have more on this,
and other investigations. This
case is US v. Ma, 20-cr-407
(Berman).
***
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