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By Matthew Russell Lee, Periscope, Photos

SDNY COURTHOUSE, March 28 – A sentencing broken down in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York courtroom of Judge Valerie Caproni on March 28. Defendant Heriberto Duarte-Gutierrez arrived with his lawyer, ready to be sentenced has having a minimal role in a drug deal. But Judge Caproni said his story didn't make any sense, the claim to have paid a coyote to come into California then fly East in search of work "albeit as an illegal immigrant." Then waiting in a hotel room for orders, to pick up drugs. His lawyer tried to blame co-defendant Perry Mahan, "who doesn't speak Spanish," but Judge Caproni remained sceptical. What do you want, she asked the lawyer. The defendant's sister had flown up from Mexico; she was set to leave at 8 am on March 29. Still the lawyer asked for two weeks. Something is wrong. We will stay on this.
Judge Valerie Caproni

Back on March 22 as 42 year old Starlin Nunez was being sentenced on March 22 for a home invasion robbery by SDNY Judge Caproni, into her courtroom arrived four individuals seemingly unconnected from Nunez' Washington Heights crime. After Nunez' family left following the nine year sentence imposed by Judge Caproni, the four went to the front. It was a US Attorney and and FBI agent, a defense lawyer named Levin and the defendant, Jorge Torrealba. He was soft spoken, waiving his right to be indicted but pleading not guilty. To what? Receipt and possession of child pornography. The government, as it turns out, asked for a continuance to review "mitigation materials." His lawyer asked for more time so he could see a new psychologist, since his last one stopped accepting his insurance. When afterward Inner City Press, the only media present for this proceeding, received the case on Pacer it was truly horrific, including a reference to a two year old, on Kik Messenger. This is the same SDNY where an employee of the West Side Market got five years for ordering up child porn, live, from the Dominican Republic. Should coverage of these proceeding be hindered, or limited to those who choose not to cover it?  On Nunez, in the more than one hour proceeding, Nunez spoke of his work in prison, the first time until 2014 and then since the robbery. While he will almost certainly be deported to the Dominican Republic after the nine years to which Judge Caproni sentenced him on March 22, he was not deported the first time. Because he was applying to asylum and made a filing under the UN Convention Against Torture, he returned to Washington Heights where he met up with the old gang from the Hot Boys. Yada yada yada, there was a home invasion burglary complete with zip ties and pistol whipping, all witnessed by a 10 year old boy. Judge Caproni put a fine point on it: that 10 year told was the same age as Nunez' own son, who was in the courtroom except for a short time in which his sister took him out into the 40 Foley Square hallway with tears in his eyes. The case is US v Nunez, 17-cr-438. Some others came into the courtroom, but it turned out they were for Judge Caproni's next case. There was no other media present, other than Inner City Press. Judge Caproni again spoke about general deterrence. But what is being done to facilitate or at least not hinder Press coverage of these proceedings? Earlier in the week when former CPA Tom Shin appeared to be sentenced on March 19 he had his mother, father and brother with him in Courtroom 443 of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York before Judge Valerie Caproni. But there was also the victim, who said he chose not to speak. Shin had given him copies of tax forms never filed, leaving him with a tax liability and keeping over $300,000. Shin's lawyer blamed this on Shin growing up poor and said he now worked for Amazon Warehouse and a Korean non-profit, and will re-take the LSATs on March 30. She was dismissive of general deterence, wondering aloud who would ever read about this sentence. (It's worth noting that things are made difficult for the press to cover the SDNY, with long lines and electronics taken away by a Board of Judges unlike in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia; we'll have more on this). Caproni ended up imposing two years in prison and two years of supervised release, something the U.S. Attorney's office soon crowed about, trying perhaps to create their own general deterrence, a la state media. Four days earlier on March 15 when Kevin Schuler, who pled guilty in the Buffalo Billion case, came up for sentencing  his lawyer Terrence Connors told Judge Caproni that his law firm has hired Schuler.  Connors argued that Schuler would be of more use giving scared-straight talks at law schools and colleges than in jail. Judge Caproni ultimately agreed, saying that perhaps Connors had a gremlin in her computer and this this in advance, sentencing Schuler to "time served" - one day, between 6 am and 3 pm - and 400 hours of community services, one third of which must be such talks. (She mentioned the Kiwanis and Lions Club).  Afterward Inner City Press asked Connors where Schuler might be teaching. UB, he mentioned, University of Buffalo - and quickly emphasized that he does NOT have a gremlin in Judge Caproni's computer. Which is a good thing since in other case, for example a Bronx mother who had twenty kilos of narcotics in the trunk of her used Saab, much longer sentences are given. But Schuler cooperated, even helping to exculpate another indicted defendant, and lost friends in the process. Connors said Buffalo is not a small town - it is a big room. Caproni's courtroom is smaller than some other SDNY judges', but there were three or four reporters for this sentencing, unlike for the Bronx mothers. Sometimes New York City can be too big...

Ealier on March 15 an NYPD officer who blew the whistle on cheating in promotion exams faced blow-back himself on March 15 in the SDNY

Jonathan Blatt is asking SDNY Judge William H. Pauley to restore his status as a probationary Lieutenant; the NYPD's lawyer said there are sexual harassment complaints against Blatt. The City's filings says Blatt "is charged with violation of NYPD rules prohibiting sexual harassment and the creation of a hostile work environment. The allegations against plaintiff include comments regarding threesomes and 'blumkins,' a particular sexual act, to a female service member."

While some call it a case of the "Bad Lieutenant," Blatt says his termination was retaliation, casting a chilling effect on himself and other officers to challenge the department. Cases going both ways were cited -- HANAC (101 F 3d 877), about the Mayor's decision, and Bartels v. Incorporated Village of Lloyd, 751 F Supp 2d 387 at 397. Judge Pauley reserved decision. The case is Blatt v. City of New York, 19 Civ. 1227 (WHP). Back on March 8 a shooting in The Bronx in October 2018 was the subject of an ill-attended conference in the SDNY. Jerome Jackson is described as in a white t-shirt with silver handgun on 2 October 2018 on Freeman Street - but in the SDNY courtroom of Judge Kevin Castel he was in jail house blues and shackles. His lawyer Julia Gatto questioned whether the NYPD detectives who questioned Jackson about the shooting were in fact part of a joint task force with the Feds - no, Karin Potlock for the government said, and on that basis no suppression - and questioned probable cause. There will be a hearing on that on April Fools Day and Inner City Press aims to be there. The case is US v. Jackson, 18 CR 760. A week before on March 1 when Statue of Liberty climber Patricia Okoumou appeared in the SDNY , it was to face revocation of bail for more recent climbs, all to protest the separation of immigrant families. SDNY Judge Gorenstein did not revoke bail but imposed house arrest. He jibed that it appeared Ms. Okoumou could only support herself by donations garnered by climbing. Afterward Inner City Press asked her lawyer Ron Kuby about this argument. He said the judge has it precisely wrong, or in reverse: she raised money because she is an activist, she is not an actively in order to make money. Ms. Okoumou raised her fist, and headed to Staten Island. Photos here. Inner City Press, which interviewed Okoumou on December 5 just after another SDNY decision, in the Patrick Ho / CEFC China Energy UN bribery case, headed out and streamed this Periscope, and this Q&A, with more to come, on this case and others. How guns eject shell casings was the subject of expert testimony in a Bronx gang trial on February 27 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Before Judge Robert W. Sweet, an ATF agent traced a bullet back to Illinois; under cross examination he said a shell casing might eject feet rather than yards unless it bounced on something. Then testimony went back to 2007, a 14-year old with a gun heading from the Millbrook projects to the Mitchell Houses. The defense asked for a mistrial when the name of a second gang was introduced; the prosecution shot back (so to speak) that it came from photos on the defendant's own Facebook page. And so it goes in trials these days. Back on February 25 a prison sentence of life plus five years was imposed for a Bronx murder by SDNY Chief Judge Colleen McMahon on February 25. She presided over the trial in which Stiven Siri-Reynoso was convicted of, among other things, murder in aid of racketeering for the death of Jessica White, a 28 year old mother of three, in the Bronx in 2016. Jessica White's mother was in the court room; she was greeted by Judge McMahon but declined to speak before sentencing. Siri-Reynoso was representing himself by this point, with a back-up counsel by his side. Judge McMahon told him, "You're a very smart man... a tough guy, a calculating person... You are a coward, sent a child to do it for you... Your emissary shot the wrong person, a lovely lady... It was a vicious, evil attack against the good people of that neighborhood." When she imposed the life plus five sentence, a woman on the Jessica White side of the courtroom cried out, yes Ma'am, put the animal away! Later, after Siri-Reynoso ended asking how he can get more documents about the case, a woman on his side of the courtroom said, "No te preocupes, muchacho, Dios sabe lo que hace" - don't worry, God knows what he is doing. But does He? Earlier 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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