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OneCoin Trial US Opposes Good Faith
Defense in Jury Charge for Mark Scott
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Thread, Plea
BBC
The
Times (UK)
Daily
Mail
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Nov 18 – After OneCoin's
Konstantin Ignatov got a stay
of the civil case against him,
his criminal case was said to
have been kicked down the road
for at least another two
months.
It was a
productive two months, at
least for the U.S. Attorney's
Office for the Southern
District of New York. They got
Konstantin Ignatov to sign a
plea agreement and become a
cooperating witness.
Now the
trial is coming toward a
close. Late on the afternoon
of November 18 the charging
conference was held, with
Inner City Press the only
media in the courtroom. The US
opposed Mark Scott's lawyer's
request for a "good faith"
jury instruction, and at 10 pm
followed it up with a letter:
"Dear Judge Ramos: The
Government submits this brief
letter in opposition to the
defendant’s proposed inclusion
of a standalone good faith
jury instruction. Such an
instruction is unnecessary in
light of the current jury
instructions. The Second
Circuit “has long adhered to
the view held by a majority of
the circuits that a district
court is not required to give
a separate ‘good faith
defense’ instruction provided
it properly instructs the jury
on the government’s burden to
prove the elements of
knowledge and intent, because,
in so doing, it necessarily
captures the essence of a good
faith defense.” United States
v. Al Morshed, 69 F. App'x 13,
16 (2d Cir. 2003). As the
Second Circuit has noted,
standard instructions on
knowledge and intent “capture
the essence of the good faith
defense, for someone cannot
believe in good faith that he
was acting properly and within
the law if he knowingly” and
intentionally committed the
charged offense. Id. The
current charge adequately
charges the jury on the issues
of knowledge and
intent—including a reference
in the conscious avoidance
charge to the fact that if the
jury “find[s] that [Scott]
actually believed the fact was
not so, then you may not find
that he acted knowingly with
respect to that fact.” The
current jury charge is more
than sufficient and nothing
further is warranted in this
case."
Earlier on
November 18 after Manhattan
District Attorney's Office
witness Rosalind October
described OneCoin linked
accounts at Commerzbank,
Morgan Stanley and IBERIABANK,
Scott's lawyers put on the
stand their first witness, out
of order: Florida lawyer
Miguel Diaz de al Portilla as
a character witness.
After he
testified about a real estate
deal on which Mark Scott held
with a refinance mortgage
loan, Assistant US Attorney
Christopher Dimase asked him
about multiple campaign
contributions from Scott when
he unsuccessfully ran to
re-election to the Florida
state legislature.
On Sunday
November 17 the prosecutors
had written to SDNY Judge
Ramos to "request that the
Court: (1) preclude the
defendant from eliciting
testimony from defense
character witnesses regarding
specific instances of the
defendant’s conduct; and (2)
instruct the jury that (a) the
duty of client confidentiality
cannot serve as a defense to
criminal conduct; and (b) none
of the email communications
admitted by the Government at
trial—including communications
between the defendant and Ruja
Ignatova—are privileged."
At the
tail end of the trial day on
Friday, November 15, Scott's
lawyers begrudgingly disclosed
one such character witness,
apparently Renier David de La
Portilla. (Judge Ramos asked
it was "del;" the answer was
"de la.")
If it is,
or even Miguel de La Portilla,
both have been described for
their roles in Cuban-American
/ Republican politics in
Florida, casting addition
light on the role in the case
of George W. Bush's brother
Neil Bush, first reported by
Inner City Press, including at
least $300,000 from Ruja
Ignatova. We will have more on
this during the November 18
trial day. Watch this site, this platform (Patreon)
- and @InnerCityPress
on Twitter.
Inner City
Press also first reported that
Mark Scott associate David R.
Pike was arrested on OneCoin
charges and quietly presented
in and bailed by the SDNY
Magistrate Court on September
12, 2019 by Magistrate Judge
James L. Cott, based on a
complaint signed sealed back
on August 29 by this week's
Magistrate Judge Katharine H.
Parker.
Since then
Special AUSA Julieta V. Lozano
has asked for continuances,
during the Scott trial, to
figure out what to do with
Pike afterward. Inner City
Pres, cover this closely, will
have more. More on Patreon here.
On
November 15, on which the
government had said it might
rest its case, AUSA
Christopher Demase
questioned a witness
from BNY Mellon about
irregularities it found in
Mark Scott's Fenero Funds'
business with DMS Bank in
Cayman Islands.
The
questioning established the
FDIC insurance, an element in
bank fraud charges, applies
not only to BNY Mellon but
also other involved banks
including TD Bank, JPMorgan
Chase, HSBC and Northern
Trust. The implications of the
evidence in the case for these
banks is not yet clear. More
on Patreon here.
Near
midnight on November 14
defendant Mark Scott's lawyer
Arlo Devlin-Brown wrote to
SDNY Judge Edgardo Ramos
urging admission into evidence
of two emails involving Scott.
Each
email, it is argued, undermine
the credibility of Konstantin
Ignatov's testimony that in
Ruja Ignatova's July 20, 2016
meet with Scott, Irina
Dilkinska was present.
In the
first, Dilkinska tell Scott
she will be traveling that
week. In the second she says,
in essence, "Me too" - that
she too is traveling.
By
footnote, Devlin-Brown implied
that Konstantin Ignatov
embellished what he initially
told the prosecutors, from
that Ruja asked him to leave
her meeting with Scott to that
she instructed him, as her
personal assistant, to make
all OneCoin staff other than
Dilkinska leave OneCoin's
Sophia building during the
meeting.
As
of 2:30 am before the November
15 trial day starts at 9:30,
Judge Ramos had not ruled on
the request. But it is
questionable if the two
proffered emails, even if
admitted, would undermine the
rest of Konstantin Ignatov's
extensive cooperating
testimony, or the other
evidence entered about Mark
Scott's guilty knowledge. More
on Patreon here.
Inner City
Press will continue to report,
live, on the trial.
On November
13 the prosecution and the
defense both questioned the
deputy Chief Operating Officer
of Locke Lord, the law firm
Mark Scott worked at from June
2015 through September 2016.
Thread here.
E-mails
were shown in which OneCoin's
Ruja Ignatova told
Scott, "I have some cash with
me. About 220K GBP. Can you
store it for me in London?"
Other exhibits concerned a
bank in Zimbabwe, a penthouse
in London, and funds put into
and quickly taken out of the
law firm's escrow account.
There is
also in evidence
an e-mail from the defendant
Mark Scott to now-cooperating
witness Konstantin Ignatov, as
his sister Ruja's personal
assistant, stating that "I
would prefer not meeting in
Sophia as I don't want too
many travels there on my
flight list." More on Patreon
here.
On November 12
Inner City Press obtained and
put online here,
on Scribd, Konstantin
Ignatov's plea agreement,
including "On the
understandings specified
below, the Office of the
United States Attorney for the
Southern District of New York
(“this Office”) will accept a
guilty plea from Konstantin
Ignatov (the “defendant”) to
the above-referenced
four-count Superseding
Information (the
“Information")...
If the defendant
fully complies with the
understandings specified in
this Agreement, he will not be
further prosecuted criminally
by this Office for any crimes,
except for criminal tax
violations, related to his
participation in: (1) an
international cryptocurrency
fraud scheme known as
“OneCoin” (the “OneCoin
Scheme"), from in or about
2016, up to and including in
or about 2019, as charged in
Counts One and Two of the
Information; (2) a conspiracy
to defraud banks and other
financial institutions
worldwide by causing them to
transfer proceeds of the
OneCoin Scheme by
misrepresenting and omitting
material facts to those banks
and financial institutions,
from in or about 2016, up to
and including in or about
2019, as charged in Count Four
of the Information; and (3) a
conspiracy to launder criminal
proceeds derived from the
OneCoin Scheme, and to
transfer funds internationally
to promote the OneCoin Scheme,
from in or about 2016, up to
and including in or about
2019, as charged in Count
Three of the Information; to
the extent that he has
disclosed such participation
to this Office as of the date
of this Agreement.
It is
understood that Ignatov's
truthful cooperation with this
Office is likely to reveal
activities of individuals who
might use violence, force, and
intimidation against Ignatov,
his family, and loved ones.
Should Ignatov's cooperation
present a significant risk of
physical harm, this Office,
upon the written request of
Ignatov, will take steps that
it determines to be reasonable
and necessary to attempt to
ensure his safety and that of
his family and loved ones.
These steps may
include application to the
Witness Security Program of
the United States Marshals
Service, whereby Ignatov, his
family, and loved ones, if
approved, could be relocated
under a new identity...
This Office will,
however, bring the cooperation
of the defendant to the
attention of other prosecuting
offices, if requested by
him. It is understood
that the sentence to be
imposed upon the defendant is
within the sole discretion of
the Court.
This Office
cannot, and does not, make any
promise or representation as
to what sentence the defendant
will receive, and will not
recommend any specific
sentence to the Court.
However, this Office will
inform the Probation Office
and the Court of (a) this
Agreement; (b) the nature and
extent of the defendant's
activities with respect to
this case and all other
activities of the defendant
which this Office deems
relevant to sentencing; and
(c) the nature and extent of
the defendant's cooperation
with this Office. In so doing,
this Office may use any
information it deems relevant,
including information provided
by the defendant both prior to
and subsequent to the signing
of this Agreement.
In addition, if
this Office determines that
the defendant has provided
substantial assistance in an
investigation or prosecution,
and if he has fully complied
with the understandings
specified in this Agreement,
this Office will file a
motion, pursuant to Section
5K1.1 of the Sentencing
Guidelines, requesting the
Court to sentence the
defendant in light of the
factors set forth in Section
5K1.1(a)(1)-(5).
It is understood
that, even if such a motion is
filed, the sentence to be
imposed on the defendant
remains within the sole
discretion of the Court.
Moreover, nothing in this
Agreement limits this Office's
right to present any facts and
make any arguments relevant to
sentencing to the Probation
Office and the Court, or to
take any position on
post-sentencing motions. The
defendant hereby consents to
such adjournments of his
sentence as may be requested
by this Office.
It is
understood that, should this
Office determine either that
the defendant has not provided
substantial assistance in an
investigation or prosecution,
or that the defendant has
violated any provision of this
Agreement, such a
determination will release
this Office from any
obligation to file a motion
pursuant to Section 5K1.1 of
the Sentencing Guidelines, but
will not entitle the defendant
to withdraw his guilty plea
once it has been entered.
It is
understood that, should this
Office determine, subsequent
to the filing of a motion
pursuant to Section 5K1.1 of
the Sentencing Guidelines
and/or 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3553(e),
that the defendant has
violated any provision of this
Agreement, this Office shall
have the right to withdraw
such motion."
A sample TD
Bank letter to Gilbert Armenta
is here.
We'll have more on this.
Inner City
Press has asked the US
Attorney's Office when it was
that Konstantin Ignatov pled
guilty, since he gave no
indication of such a plea in a
September 6 status conference
that Inner City Press covered,
and has asked if it was before
Judge Ramos, and if it was
sealed.
The
government's next witness was
the anti money laundering
expert Donald Semesky. Inner
City Press will continue to
cover the trial. November 7
thread here.
More on Patreon here.
On
November 6 Konstantin Ignatov
testified that the bodyguards
to took Ruja on her final
public trip told him she was
met by "Russian guys," and
that Ruja had told him that in
Russia she knew a rich and
powerful person. More on
Patreon, here.
The case
is US v.
Scott / Ignatov,
17-cr-630
(Ramos).
More
on Patreon, here.
***
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