| Ruless Pierre Was Convicted
of Securities Fraud, Moved For Acquittal, Now
Sentencing Oct 15
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
August 4 – Ruless Pierre was
convicted of securities fraud
and embezzlement. Inner City
Press covered the trial, see
below.
On June 10,
his Simpson Thacher CJA
lawyers moved for
acquittal, arguing that the
"Amongst Friends Promissory
Notes" were not securities.
Now on August 4,
Pierre's sentencing has been
pushed back to October 15:
"MEMO ENDORSEMENT as to Ruless
Pierre on [82] LETTER MOTION
addressed to Judge Sidney H.
Stein from Brooke E. Cucinella
dated August 4, 2021 re:
adjournment of sentencing date
and related deadlines.
ENDORSEMENT: Objections to the
PSR shall be filed by August
19, 2021. The sentencing is
adjourned to October 15, 2021,
at 12:00 p.m. The defense
submissions are due by October
1, the government submissions
are due by October 8. SO
ORDERED. (Sentencing set for
10/15/2021 at 12:00 PM before
Judge Sidney H. Stein) (Signed
by Judge Sidney H. Stein on
8/4/2021)."
On May 17,
U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York
Judge Sidney H. Stein began an
in-person jury trial in the
case.
Assistant
U.S. Attorney Robert Boone
said Pierre defrauded his
Haitian compatriots and
devoted the money to expensive
meals.
The witness
worked for a hotel in
Palisades, New York,
embezzlement from which Pierre
is charged.
On Marcy
18, with the trial paused for
a day, Inner City Press ]
reported on the record that
the US Attorney's Office
offered Pierre a plea
agreement with a stipulated
guidelines range of 51 to 63
months' imprisonment. It was
rejected.
On May 20, AUSA
Boone was questioning a victim
of Pierre's, who seemed to say
she was compensated from
bringing in more victims. She
was to withdraw $43.05 as a
test, she said.
On May 24,
Pierre's CJA lawyer Brooke
Cucinella of Simpson Thacher
cross examined at length about
charts showing Pierre's
finances, including his
purchase of a Planet Wings
franchise, and payments over
Zell.
Judge
Stein asked the witness, to
friendly laughter from the
jury, Do you have a Zell
account? He told the lawyers,
including AUSA Drew Skinner
who did the re-cross, to
"chill."
There is a mystery as to May
25 on which we hope to have
more. The only thing filed in
the docket was an additional
notice of appearance for
Ruless Pierre, by Jacob
Lundqvist.
On the
morning of May 26, AUSA
Skinner gave the government's
summation, including using
slides to detail each charge,
concluding with "the Planet
Wings Scheme." He said Ms.
Pamphile was charged hundreds
of thousands of dollars for a
store that cost only $50,000,
and then was told to delete
her text messages. The jury
was escorted down to lunch
together, presumably not
Planet Wings but rather than
often name-changing 8th floor
cafe.
In the
afternoon, Pierre's lawyer Brooke
Cucinella
emphasized
that her
client didn't
suddenly pay
off his debts,
for example to
Ally for the
Porsche, and
had sent bills
to those who
traveled with
him each year
to Miami for
Haitian Flag
Day, staying
in the
Fontainbleu
(said
Fountain-Blue)
hotel. Hold
the government
to its burden,
she said.
Watch this site.
The case is
US v. Pierre, 19-cr-783
(Stein)
***
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