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Blakstad's Illumina Insider Trading Trial
US Cites NFL Player, Defense Says Witness
Bought
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
June 25 – The insider trading
trial of Donald Blakstad is
ongoing in the U.S. District
Court for the Southern
District of New York, but the
transcript of cooperator
Martha Bustos' guilty plea is
still sealed, as as she
testifies, it emerged on June
16, see below.
On June 17
in the trial, the trades
including of call options in
Illumina by Sapphire Bay,
Sutton View Equity Partners
and even Mid-Continental
Petroleum, Inc. of Las Vegas,
Nevada were detailed, as to
timing and amount, from the
glassed-in witness box. The
accented witness explained for
the jurors being "out of the
money" versus "deep in the
money."
On June 22, the
US Attorney's Office filed a
letter opposing the
introduction of DX-AG, which
without submitting it
described as a 97 page exhibit
with "billing records issued
by at least five separate law
firms, including a law firm
related in Israel." It said
one "legal bill reflected the
matter name 'Magic Jack' 'for
legal services rendered,
without describing what 'Magic
Jack' is."
On June 25,
closing arguments began but
did not finish before the 2:30
pm cut-off. Inner City Press
live tweeted it, here:
AUSA: Blakstad
went out for $7000 dinners,
with money stolen from
investors. There are receipts.
Blakstad cannot deny it
happened... Remember Blakstad
traded on August 1, 2017 and
met Patty Bustos after and he
handed over cash? 3 cash
withdrawals, 5, 6 and 7
thousand
AUSA: [NFL player
Corey] Liuget hasn't gotten
his money back to this day
[$150,000]
Now Blakstad's
defense lawyer. "The
prosecution's closing was
good. But it was not fair."
China has a Constitution that
looks good on paper. The
problem with this case is that
the prosecution came into the
case with a template.
Blakstad's
counsel: They walk about CC-4,
excuse me for using this
jargon. It's Co-Conspirator
Number 4, whom they say is
Cipriani. [It's 2:15 now,
& Judge Ramos has said
there's a hard-stop at 2:30.
So US Attorney's Office final
argument will be after the
weekend
Blakstad's
lawyer hits 2:30 pm cutoff
slamming prosecutors paying
witness Hinton, and
essentially telling him what
to say. Multiple uses of the
word "lie." Judge Ramos: OK,
we're done for the day.
Back on June 16, Bustos was on
the witness stand for the
second day, now facing cross
examination including quotes
from her plea allocution
before SDNY Chief Magistrate
Judge Gabriel W.
Gorenstein.
Inner City
Press, live tweeting the cross
examination here and below,
went into the docket of
Bustos' case, 19-cr-482.
But there things
ended on February 28, 2021
with a deleted document;
previously there was an order
"placing this matter under
seal /delayed
docketing."
Delayed
for how long? It is no long a
secret that Bustos is a
cooperator. The last
substantive entry in her
docket is the waiver of
indictment, now on Patreon here. It has it was
subject to delayed docketing,
but we have it. So where are
the documents after that?
We'll have more on this.
Here was some of
the thread: now in insider
trading trial of US v. Donald
Blakstad , government witness
Martha Patricia Bustos
formerly of Illumina is being
cross examined. The question
are about the trip to New York
that the witness testified
about yesterday. On
cross, she's being asked if
she was hung-over.
Q: Were you taken
off the email distribution on
this? A: It was late
2018 I was taken off.
[From July 2019:
"the unsealing of charges
against MARTHA BUSTOS, a CPA
formerly employed by Illumina,
who pled guilty on June 28,
2019, and is cooperating with
the Government.]
Q: Did you
consider the internal mood to
be confidential information?
A: Yes.
Q: You
would ask Mr. Blakstad his
opinion on whether you should
sell you stock? A: Not that I
recall specifically. Q: Did
you ask Mr. Blakstad if you
should quit your job there? A:
Don told me, Don't quit, it's
a really good company.
Q: You did
discuss selling or buying
Illumina stock in your chats,
right? A: I may have.
Q: You talked
about the price of the stock.
In texts, like "I sold so much
at $160," in 2018? A: I may
have.
Q: And he
said he had sold at $200 a
share earlier in the
year?
Q: Ms. Bustos,
you pled to conspiracy?
Bustos: Yes.
Q: With an overt
act in October 2016, receiving
inside information? Bustos: I
don't recall. Q: In your plea
you admitted to being part of
a conspiracy, right? Bustos: I
don't recall.
Q: What about
CC-1 and CC-2? You did not
look at the mention of other
persons? Bustos: I know there
were other people
involved.
Q: Let me discuss
with you the entry of your
guilty plea, in open court,
before Magistrate Gorenstein.
You were asked
questions...
Q: You said you
received a trip to New York,
right? Bustos: That I received
gifts and entertainment.
Then Inner City
Press went to read the
transcript Bustos is being
asked about -- and in her
case, it is still
sealed.
This case is US
v. Blakstad, 19-cr-486 (Ramos)
***
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