Venezuela Private Jetter Mones Coro
Pled Guilty Now Says No Intention To Help
Maduro Regime
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Transcript
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Feb 23 –
Victor Mones Coro was charged
with brokering private
passenger air travel for
Tareck Zaidan El Aissami
Maddah - and like co-defendant
Michols Orsini Quintero was
given his discovery late by
the US, mixed with other DHS
info, see report on November
11 filing, below.
On January
4, Mones Coro appeared before
U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District Judge
Alvin K.
Hellerstein to
plead guilty.
His lawyer
said there
were contacts
with
intelligence
service(s) but
that the issue
would come up
as mitigation
at sentencing,
which Inner
City Press
also intends
to cover.
Now
on February 23
Mones
Coro's lawyer
has filed
objections to
the Pre-Sentencing
Report, including
that he "did
not know what
if any business
LOPEZ BELLO
was conducting
with the
Russian government"
and that he "had
no intention
of heldping
the Maduro
Regime."
On February
19, with
Michols Orsini
Quintero's
release to
home confinement
in Florida to
review the extensive
discovery
running out
mid March,
Judge
Hellerstein
held another
proceeding. Inner
City Press
covered it.
AUSA
Sam Adelsberg
pushed for
Orsini Quintero to
return to jail on
March 15.
Judge
Hellerstein
seemed to
agree, but told
defense lawyer
Sabrina
Shroff to
"make a record" for
his decision
or for
appeal. So expect
some
affidavits and
legal arguments.
Shroff
emphasized
that there is
not even a
trial date, and
that he client
was only a
pilot.
This
case is US v.
Coro,
19-cr-144
(Hellerstein)
Some
background: on November 10 in
the U.S. District Court for
the Southern District
Magistrates Court Alejandro
Marin, described as having
access to Venezuelan private
planes, El Aissami and
Venezuela's minister of
crypto-currency, was ordered
detained. It was not
announced, but Inner City
Press found it, and tweeted:
with no announcement in
advance, there is a defendant
in SDNY Magistrates Court that
DOJ is seeking to detain as a
flight risk, he flies private
plane and, AUSA says, knows
Venezuela's minister of
crypto-currency.
They kept
calling him Marin - quickly
seemed it was Alejandro
Marin, witness against
Venezuelans Vice President El
Aissami and his alleged
frontman, businessman Samark
Lopez - now accused of lying.
Inner City Press can report:
he is being ordered detained .
We said,
We'll have more on this. And
now we do. In Orsini
Quintero's counsel Sabrina
Shroff's letter dated December
10, she recounts that "On
December 8, 2020, the Court
ordered the government “to
produce by Thursday, December
10, 2020 at noon, at to both
defendants, its estimate of
probable applications of the
sentencing guidelines.” ECF
No. 153. Knowing full well the
difficulties the parties, the
Bureau of Prisons, and the
Court have scheduling remote
court appearances, and while
also cognizant of legal calls
can only be arranged 4 days in
advance, the government waited
until just 24 hours before the
bail argument to file its
substantive opposition to Mr.
Orsini Quintero’s bail motion.
Sadly, this type of
gamesmanship is typical of the
government’s conduct in this
case."
And at a
December 11 proceeding, there
was more gamesmanship. After
Judge Hellerstein said he was
going to grant Shroff's
request to free her client to
Florida to assist in his
defense, AUSA Sam Adelsberg
suddenly announced there is an
immigration detainer against
him.
Judge Hellerstein
said that could be address in
an order, since he would
retain jurisdiction. He asked
Shroff and Adelsberg to
finalize an order for him by
December 16.
On
December 15, Adelsberg filed a
proposed order, including that
"the defendant is temporarily
released for the preparation
of his defense, pursuant to 18
USC 3142(i) to the custody of
the Court's Pretrial Services
supervision arm, and shall not
be subject to the custody of
ICE for the duration of his
temporary release." It also
says he he must "refrain from
accessing the website of any
consulate or embassy."
Inner City
Press will continue to cover
this case -- Mones will now
have his (re-) pleading
proceeding by December 29.
Watch this site.
It is said that
Marin, a Confidential Source,
"repeatedly approached Mr.
Orsini Quintero's wife and
question her about her
husband's trial...The
Government merely had the same
agents who were handling the
CS ask the CS about these
concerns." Both then denied
them.
Marin told
his handlers, "Why is so
difficult to help to expedite
something that is eminient
[sic] like my citizenship?" He
arguably committed immigration
fraud. His adulterous
relationship are referred to,
followed by a redacted
sentence.
Now on November
24 from Judge Hellerstein,
this: "ORDER denying [140]
LETTER MOTION Sanctions for
late delivery of production,
and bail as to Michols Orsini
Quintero (4). The governments
late productions of Rule 16
and Brady and Giglio evidence
is not responsible for the
approximately 20 months of
defendants detention.
Defendant has not shown an
inability to process the
governments production while
remaining in detention, but
the court remains open to
applications for temporary
release under conditions
pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 3142
(i). Defendants motion for
bail is denied. The government
has shown by a preponderance
of the evidence that
defendants capabilities as a
pilot of chartered aircraft
make him a flight risk. I8
U.S.C. 3142(e); U.S. v.
English, 629 F.3D 311, 319 (2d
Cir. 2011).. (Signed by Judge
Alvin K. Hellerstein on
November 24, 2020)."
In
October, Judge Hellerstein
held a publicly-noticed
proceeding. Inner City Press
covered it.
It emerged
that AUSA Amanda Houle has
made ex parte sealed filings
with Judge Hellerstein, with
not a wisp of them in the
docket.
There was a
discussion of showing some but
not all of the information to
Orsini's lawyer, Sabrina
Shroff, on an "attorney's eyes
only" basis. Shroff, to her
credit, pushed back.
On October
28, Judge Hellerstein held
another proceeding after the
US Attorney's Office
late-produced some eight
terabytes of information, more
than double the volume it
produced before one of the
co-defendant pleaded guilty.
This is post the US v. Nejad
case Inner City Press has
reported on and in which it
anticipates making a filing -
watch this site.
While
Shroff is still digging
through the terabytes,
attorney Christine Chung
was mulling withdrawing
Victor Mones Coro's plea.
Mones moved to
withdraw the plea; the Court
accepted the withdrawal of
plea.
Now on
November 11, Mones has
requested sanctions, stating
that on October 25 the US
Attorney's Office turned over
a hard drive containing,
erroneously, "confidential
material regarding another
investigation that DHS had
mistakenly copied onto the
drive." We'll have more on
this.
In the interest
of increased transparency, here
is the October 28 transcript,
on Inner City Press'
DocumentCloud, here.
And Inner City
Press' filing to further
unseal in Nejad has been
docketed.
This case is US
v. Orsini Quintero, 19-cr-144
(Hellerstein)
***
Your
support means a lot. As little as $5 a month
helps keep us going and grants you access to
exclusive bonus material on our Patreon
page. Click
here to become a patron.
Feedback:
Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
SDNY Press Room 480, front cubicle
500 Pearl Street, NY NY 10007 USA
Mail: Box 20047, Dag
Hammarskjold Station NY NY 10017
Reporter's mobile (and weekends):
718-716-3540
Other, earlier Inner City Press are
listed here,
and some are available in the ProQuest
service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright 2006-2021 Inner City
Press, Inc. To request reprint or other
permission, e-contact Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com
|