| Ari Teman
Said His Lawyer May Have Spied For SDNY
Now Seeks Return of Restitution
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Dec 23 – Ari Teman, raising
prosecutorial misconduct up to
the day of his scheduled
sentencing on December 1,
learned on that day that his
defense lawyer is married to a
prosecutor. Now he has
formally requested the return
of his retainer and
restitution, see below.
U.S.
District Court for the
Southern District of New York
Judge Paul A. Engelmayer held
the December 1 proceeding.
Inner City Press covered and
tweeted it.
From
the first moment, Judge
Engelmayer said he would not
be imposing sentence in the
proceeding. He expressed
amazement that the conflict
wasn't disclosed to him,
particularly by the
prosecutors usually so fast to
request so-calls Curcio
hearings. He discovered it as
he prepared remarks about
having known the lawyer.
But a
simple Internet search finds
that defense lawyer Noam
Korati Biale of Sher Tremonte
LLP is married to Margaret
Graham, who appears working an
SDNY prosecutor in press
releases.
Teman
added that Biale and Sher
Tremonte were specifically
retained to work on Brady
disclosure issues, citing US
v. Nejad, US v. Ahuja and
other cases covered by Inner
City Press.
He also noted
that since people are working
at home, it is more possible
for spouses to overhear each
other's work.
So sentencing was
adjourned, as were the Bank of
America issues Inner City
Press covered earlier in the
day, here.
Now on December
23, Teman has written to Judge
Engelmayer and others that
"On December 1,
2020, at my scheduled
sentencing hearing, I first
learned that my counsel at
Sher Tremonte LLP (Noam Biale)
was married to AUSA Margaret
Graham, a prosecutor in the
same office that seeks to put
me in prison. I did not learn
of this conflict from my
counsel, nor from AUSA Kedar
Bhatia (despite his awareness
of this conflict). I learned
of it from Your Honor. Over
the past weeks, I have worked
diligently to engage new
counsel and I hope to formally
retain Susan G. Kellman and
Andrew J. Frisch shortly.
(Justin Gelfand and Joseph
DiRuzzo have been terminated,
and have my thanks and
permission to withdraw.) As
the Court also knows, I
appeared at my scheduled
sentencing with funds
sufficient to pay the full
restitution alleged by the
Government. 1 These
funds were - and, I hope,
still are - being held by Sher
Tremonte. In connection with
my anticipated engagement of
Ms. Kellman and Mr. Frisch, I
have instructed Sher Tremonte
to disburse: (1) return my
retainer; and (2) wire my
restitution funds to Ms.
Kellman’s escrow account.
Despite multiple written
requests, Sher Tremonte has
not disbursed my funds and has
not provided any explanation
for their refusal to do so (in
fact, they have not responded
to me, nor to Ms. Kellman or
Mr. Frisch, in any manner).
Given Sher Tremonte’s refusal
to disburse my funds (and the
upcoming holidays), I am
unable to meet the Court’s
deadline for me to engage new
counsel. Accordingly, I
respectfully request that your
Honor order Sher Tremonte to
immediately transfer all funds
held on my behalf to Ms.
Kellman’s escrow account
without further delay."
FN1: "As the
Court also knows, on the eve
of my sentencing the
Government first disclosed
additional evidence that casts
doubt on the damages and
restitution amounts claimed.
This information also
contradicts the testimony of
Bank of America’s
representative. The Government
has not explained why they
failed to disclose this
important information to me
until hours before my
scheduled sentencing. There
are many other disclosure
violations, and new evidence,
which Ms. Graham’s husband
fought against us revealing to
the court." Watch this site.
The case is US v.
Teman, 19-cr-696 (Engelmayer)
***
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