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By Matthew Russell Lee

SDNY COURTHOUSE, July 17 – An unscheduled guilty plea, at least not scheduled on PACER, was taken on July 17 before
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Ronnie Abrams. A defendant named Mr Robles pled guilty to wire fraud involving cell phones, a scheme between September 2016 and June 2018 triggering forfeiture of $67,000 and restitution of $91,000.

  There was a plea agreement for 15 to 21 months, with the sentencing set for November 1. All that was lacking was the case number, and notice of it in PACER. But Inner City Press will continue to dig into this and other cases, of the many uncovered in the SDNY. The only way we even knew of this proceeding was someone else headed up to it on the elevator, when Inner City Press left a status conference before Judge Ramos about a Trump Hotel in Panama. For figure. Watch this site.

Back on April 12 when Will Baez came up for sentencing  he faced a mandatory minimum ten years in prison for five kilos of heroin and a .45 handgun and ammo in his Bronx apartment. The courtroom of Judge  Abrams was packed with dozens of family and friends, and Baez spoke about his seven year old daughter and dream of opening an auto body shop. His lawyer spoke of conditions in the MCC: 26 men on 13 bunk beds in a unit with one toilet and one shower and rodents in the walls. There was no discussion of the safety value provisions of the First Step Act, which later in the day got a reduction for another defendant caught with five kilos of what he thought was heroin. Judge Abrams showed those in the courtroom the sentencing guidelines book and said Baez need not be defined by the worst day in his life. But ten years are ten years. He waved as they led him to the elevator of 40 Foley Square in shackles.

Another defendant on April 9 before SDNY Judge Gregory Woods had no fewer than three defense lawyers with him, more than some defendants who face and receive much longer sentences. But Judge Woods' reasoning for imposing a sentence of 48 month in prison rather than the lower guideline of 57 months was that Martinez was that his was the lower level of the gang, that this will be his longest sentence on 15 convictions, and that Judge Woods hopes Martinez can get back to his 13 year old son faster than 57 months. It was as is often the case with Judge Woods a comprehensive and human sentencing, ending with an "I wish you well" and "Thanks." The lawyers, it seems, were from DLA Piper; it contrasts to other cases Inner City Press has witnessed this year, where a defendant complained that his passport was not returned, for example. We'll have more on this.

  The U.S. Treasury employee accused in October of leaking Suspicious Activity Reports about Paul Manafort and others, Natalie Edwards, pled not guilty back on January 30 before  Judge Woods. Her next appearance was set for April 4 at 2 pm, but when Inner City Press came in again through the metal detectors to cover it, other cases were on in Judge Woods' 12th floor courtroom. His deputy informed  Inner City Press that Edwards was adjourned to May 2 at 10 am.

  One of the other cases in front of Judge Woods, a defense lawyer argued that his client Freddy would never have voluntarily told the detectives that he is a "great dice roller;" he is making a suppression motion. But it will be delayed, by vacation and the prosecutor being on trial. Judge Woods urges both sides to file more quickly, and pointed asked if a police witness had, in fact, perjured himself. That trial is set for July 22 - the case did not seem to be listed on the board in the lobby of 500 Pearl Street, and still without electronics it was not easy to inquire, yet.

 Back on January 20 on Worth Street, Inner City Press asked her lawer Jacob Kaplan of Brafman & Associates about a statement made during the proceeding, that another person's device was also search. Kaplan acknowledged that had been said, adding that he didn't know who it was. Video here, Vine here. 

  Jump cut to 2 April 2019: "I was a street drug dealer in from of my building in the Bronx," a defendant told U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Paul A. Engelmayer on April 2. Defendant Gonzalez was pleading guilty to a lesser included charge, with a guideline sentence of between 120 and 150 months in jail. But he won't be sentenced until July 11 at 2:30 pm, after the Probation Department does its interview and issues a Pre Sentencing Report that will remain sealed until, somehow, Gonzalez appeals. We'll have more on this - there were no family members in the courtroom, no media other than Inner City Press. Less than hour earlier when Eldar Rakhamimov appeared for sentencing for inflating the number of Pepsi and Canada Dry bottles returned through his business in the SDNY courtroom of Judge Ronnie Abrams, he had many of his employees and family members with him. His lawyer Tony Mirvis pointed them out, arguing that if not sentenced to jail he could pay back the $700,000 restitution faster. But half of the debt is to the State of New York; recently Judge Abrams rejected just such has argument from a medical software company executive on tax fraud. Here, Judge Abrams went below the 37 to 46 month guideline sentence, to 15 months with two years of supervised released - the books of his recycling company will be open - and a $15,000 fine. Two of his employees were asked to take off their caps by the Court Security Officers. The prosecutor said, It would not be a bad thing if his company just fell apart. The case is US v. Eldar Rakhamimov,  18 – CR – 72 (RA).

The day before in a class action lawsuit against BHH's rodent repellers creeps toward trial or settlement, SDNY Judge William Pauley heard arguments and ruled on no fewer than 14 motions in limine. There were nine from the class action plaintiffs, mostly successful, and five from the defendant, most unsuccessful.

During the three hours of argument, Judge Pauley said today is not the day to admit anonymous customer reviews from Amazon.com from the likes of "TaterSpud59" (whom he referred to as Tater Tot), and said that FTC press releases dubious about repellers will or would be admissible at trial, with a possible limiting instruction.

There was discussion of experts including a Michigan State University protocol which Judge Pauley shot down, adding that after MSU's victory over Duke, he is not disposed toward them. Judge Pauley took more time listening to arguments than many other judges would, and said he said spent the rainy Sunday - on which Duke was eliminated from NCAA March Madness - to read all of the papers. The sense, after the mouse motion marathon, was that the plaintiffs are in the driver's seat, and that the case may settle. There is a mediation scheduled for April 9 before Hon. John S. Martin (Ret). But Inner City Press will be cover it and what happens in the SDNY either way. The case is Hart, et al. v. BHH, LLC d/b/a Bell + Howell, et al., 15-cv-04804; class counsel is Yitzchak Kopel  and BHH is now represented by Quinn Emanuel We were also at Judge Pauley's courtroom on the news there would be a proceeding in US v Genovese, a hedge fund fraud prosecution. But it was not there - once we left the courtroom and retrieved electronics, we were able to ask and learned Genovese was adjourned to April 10. We'll have more on this. Back on March 28 an insider trading action by the SEC was under heavy fire in SDNY courtroom of Judge Richard M. Berman. The SEC had in 2017 grand alleged that "Ariel Darvasi and Amir Waldman were in possession of material nonpublic information about the impending acquisition when they purchased Mobileye securities" just prior to its acquisition by Intel. But on March 28 the defendants' lawyers, moving for summary judgment, mocked the arguments. They said Waldman was "not a direct insider;" they said suspicious trades are not enough, mere contact with an insider is not enough. The SEC lawyer responded with tales of MobileEye's founders private jet flight to New York to nail down the Intel deal. Much of the argument came down to whether a response by Waldman during deposition, that he had been aware of the trip - "yes" - before the words, for the merger, were said, should go to a jury. The defendants insisted on their video. There was no other media in the court room but Inner City Press, still without its electronics. So what of general deterrence?