Crude
Counterfeits of Cesar Sayoc Were
Not Destructive Devices SDNY
Judge Rakoff Is Told By ESI
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Periscope,
Photos
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
July 16 – When Cesar Sayoc was
led for a second time into the
courtroom
of Judge Jed
Rakoff in the
U.S. District
Court for the
Southern
District of
New York on
April 15 his
March 21
guilty plea to
more than 60
criminal
counts was in
question. Less
than an hour
later it was
again all
systems go: no
Curcio lawyer
to consult
with, no
vacating of
any of the
March 21
guilty pleas,
and sentencing
now sent for
August 5 at 2
pm. Que pasa?
Periscope
video here.
Now
on July 16
Judge Rakoff
had docketed
now only the
FBI report but
also one from
ESI
commissioned
by the Federal
Defenders
which
concludes that
"the 16
devices are,
at best, each
a crude
counterfeit of
an explosive
device...
[they] are not
'destructive
devices' as
defined in
Title 18 US
Code Section
921." How will
this play on
August 5?
Watch this
site.
The
U.S.
Attorney's
office began
by arguing
that in light
of Sayoc's two
letters - so
far - to Judge
Rakoff,
perhaps the
plea should be
vacated and
Curcio counsel
assigned. But
once Sayok
said what was
wanted - that
he knew that
at least
property, in
the form of
mail boxes,
could be
damaged by his
amateur
explosives -
the government
was satisfied.
There is a
third letter
in the mail
but not yet
received.
Sayok's
Federal
Defenders
lawyers said
it might have
to be
redacted.
Judge Rakoff
asked Sayok if
he wanted to
consult with
another
lawyer, and
Sayok said no.
By
contrast, in
the recent
SDNY case of
Daniel
Hernandez
a/k/a/ Tekashi
6ix9ine,
Curcio counsel
was assigned
despite the
defendant
insisting he
was happy with
his counsel.
See Inner City
Press story here.
There, the
possible
conflict of
interest was
structural:
his counsel
Lance Lazzaro
represented
other
co-defendants.
But here Sayok
sent his
letter(s)
without even
sending copies
to his
assigned
counsel. A
Curcio counsel
might slow
things down.
But what's the
rush? That was
exactly the
phrase Sayok
used on April
15, that he'd
felt rushed.
Inner City
Press, present
in Judge
Rakoff's
courtroom on
both March 21
and April 15,
will have more
on this.
Sayok appeared
on March
21 to plead
guilty to 65
counts his
raspy voice
was barely
audible, even
from the front
row where
Inner City
Press sat. The
problem was
more than
volume. On the
key point of
whether he
intended for
the bombs he
sent to people
ranging from
Joe Biden to
Kamala Harris
to Tom Steyer
to explode,
Sayoc was
unclear.
Afterward some
said he was
"crazy like a
fox," ready to
make this
argument at
his sentencing
on September
12. But Sayoc
also asked
Judge Rakoff
if the
government
will give him
a list of the
property of
his that they
are taking,
when that is
fully covered
in the plea
agreement that
Sayoc
ostensibly
read and
understood. At
one point
Sayoc began to
ask Judge
Rakoff a
question and
his Federal
Defender
lawyers cut
him off,
"conferred"
with him and
the question
went away.
Perhaps this
is to help
him. But it
does not seem
unreasonable
to ask, Is
Sayoc
competent?
Especially
when he is
pleading, or
has pled,
guilty to
charges
involving life
imprison plus
ten years.
Judge Rakoff,
in fine form,
made fun of
the
government's
assertion of
its power even
after death.
But again the
nagging
question: is
Sayoc
competent?
Early in the
proceeding he
said a
sentence that
no one
understood.
Then he
referred to
AA. Then his
voice trailed
off. How will
he be at
sentencing?
Inner City
Press will be
there - in the
front row or
closer. More
on this to
follow.
The day before there was
another, lower profile change
of plea to guilty on wire
fraud charges before
SDNY Judge George B. Daniels.
But when it was time to
allocute there was a problem,
or at least a long pause.
Defendant Evaldas Rimasauskas
read a statement how he set up
bank accounts in Latvia and
Cyprus and got Victim-1 and
Victim-2 to wire money into
them. But then Judge Daniels
asked, "Why did the victims
wire the money?"
Rimasauskas
conferred with
his lawyer
Paul D.
Petrus, and
with the
interpreter.
Finally they
asked, Can you
repeat the
question?
Judge Daniels
did, including
What were they
promised? "I'm
not 100%
sure," Rimasauskas
said. The
government
jumped in to
say he was not
charged with
inducing, only
with
logistics. But
he was
described as
being involved
in false
contracts to
support
transfers.
Didn't he know
what the
Victims
thought they
were buying?
The ritual of
allocation had
broken down.
Afterward some
said the
indictment
should have
been read more
closely. But
shouldn't a
defendant who
is actually
guilty of the
charge being
pled to be
able to answer
such a
question? If
not, why even
hold these
empty
ceremonies?
We'll have
more on this -
sentencing is
set for July
24 at 10 am.
The case is US
v. Rimasauskas,
16 cr 841.
Another ceremony:
back on March 18 when the
marshals brought in another
defendant, Ronald Johnson, he
signed the change of plea.
Then he it was time for him to
allocute, he haltingly read
out a generic statement
written for him by his lawyer.
That between January, no June,
and October 2018 he
"wittingly" sold firearms.
Judge Crotty asked, Did your
lawyer write your statement?
Yes. Do you adopt it? No. No?
Oh, yes. The guidelines
suggested 97 to 121 months,
but on the count pled to, the
maximum if five years or sixty
months. The
case is US
v. Johnson,
18 cr 907.
Sentencing is
set for June
12. Look for
the straight
five... For
weeks the trial of US v.
Latique Johnson et al
has plodded along across Pearl
Street in SDNY
Courtroom
318 in 40 Foley Square; by
March 20 summations are set to
begin. The case began with a
sealed indictment, signed by
Preet Bharara in 2016,
alleging the use of a firearm
for a drug dealing conspiracy
in The Bronx. Preet has moved
on, but the trial continues.
On March 15 there was talk of
sour diesel marijuana packed
in vacuum sealed bags, BWM car
keys and digital scales. SDNY
Judge Paul G. Gardephe said he
would not be comfortable with
a witness saying he thought
the Facebook photo showed
marijuana; the relative
attributability of Instagram
and Facebook pages was
discussed, although the
companies are commonly owned.
During the trial the jury has
only sat 9:30 to 2:30; next
week it will shift to a full
shift to 5 pm if Judge
Gardephe has his way. Inner
City Press will be there -
watch this site. Back on March
8 a shooting in The Bronx in
October 2018 was the subject
of an ill-attended SDNY
conference.
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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