| Jury Convicts Conde of Stealing HRA
Checks Despite Defense of HRA Negligence at
SDNY
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
June 30 – Salifou Conde and
others stole NYS Human
Resources Administration rent
subsidy checks from August
2016 through August 2019.
Inner City Press reported on
the trial, below, including
the argument about HRA
negligence.
Now Conde has
been found guilty of bank
fraud, wire fraud, and
conspiracy to commit bank and
wire fraud "in connection with
his involvement in a
years-long scheme to steal
over $1.5 million from HRA
following a four-day jury
trial before U.S. District
Court Judge Valerie E.
Caproni."
On June
28, 2021, the trial was
ongoing on the 26th floor of
500 Pearl Street, and Inner
City Press covered it in
person. The government put on
the stand a man on a checkered
shirt who work for the
landlord who never got the HRA
checks (their account was with
Sterling National Bank, who
trying to be bought by
Webster); then a branch
manager from JPMorgan Chase.
Conde is
arguing to get into evidence
of negligence, that others are
Deluxe Courier Service
committed the crimes and that
"HRA's lack of due diligence
in authorizing, printing and
delivering checks is
relevant." Watch this site.
On June 15 U.S.
District Court for the
Southern District of New York
Judge Valerie E. Caproni held
a change of plea proceeding
for co-defendant Issiaga
Sylla. Inner City Press
covered it.
Sylla was
pleading guilty to Count 3. He
said he was originally from
Guinea but then became a
naturalized US citizen. His
sentencing will be in
September. He is on the hook,
if only joint and severally,
for $3 million.
Back in
September 2020 on a
co-defendant, Assistant US
Attorney Kedar S. Bhatia said
that Toure should be
sentencing from between 18 and
24 months, arguing that the
loss amount was "a
conservative figure."
Toure's
lawyers at Kaplan Hecker &
Fink LLP argued that "Toure is
a hard-working family man who
is essentially the lone earner
for his wife and four children
who live abroad in
Senegal."
Judge
Caproni after listening to
arguments imposed a sentence
of time served, with time in a
halfway house, so that Toure
can keep his job.
The overall case
is US v. Conde, 19-cr-808
(Caproni).
***
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