| In Wirecard
Trial of Weigand Inner City Press
Challenged Redactions Judge Rakoff Orders
Unsealing
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Podcast Order
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
March 15 – The trial of US v.
Weigand and Akhavan began
before Judge Jed S. Rakoff in
the U.S. District Court for
the Southern District of New
York on March 1. Inner City
Press, which has been covering
the case including its
Wirecard aspects, live tweeted
Day 1, here
and below.
On March 9 it
connected back up to the
OneCoin crypto fraud - and the
US has explained Hargreaves'
phones.
And so on March
10, Inner City Press filed to
get DOJ's most recent
submission about Hargreaves
unredacted. The Court gave
until 8 pm on March 11 for
response. When it came, at
deadline, said justified the
redactions as based on
Hargreaves' "proactive
cooperation."
Inner City Press
has submitted a brief reply,
including that "Given that
government witness Hargreaves
has spoken at trial of
Wirecard and Jan Marsalek, and
of Gilbert Armenta who is
already before SDNY Judge
Ramos in the OneCoin
crypto-currency series of
cases, it is not clear that
characterizing Mr. Hargreaves'
cooperation beyond the two
defendants on trial here as
"proactive" can justify
redacting whole
paragraphs.
Nor can inclusion of documents
in 3500 production justify
redacting portions of judicial
documents filed in public
criminal trials."
Now, after
Inner City Press also
submitted a reply, on March 15
Judge Rakoff granted Inner
City Press' application and
ordered the redaction removed
by midnight, Order here.
(Written opinion to follow in
due course). Watch this site.
On March 2,
evidence began - and witnesses
with immunity deals.
(Tassone's immunity deal is
now on Patreon, here).
Inner City Press tweeted in
Day 2, here.
Day Four
began with news, tweeted
by Inner City Press, that a
juror had tested positive for
COVID, and ended with cooperator
Oliver Hargreaves on the
stand.
Day Five,
things took off. The remaining
13 jurors all tested negative
and when Hargreaves testified,
first about fake website for
golf equipment and facial
cream, he soon turned to the
meat: Wirecard and Jan
Marsalek, live tweeted thread
below. Inner City Press has
asked the US Attorney's Office
to make available the
exhibits, as is done in other
cases. So far, nothing. Some
live tweets from the thread, here
and below.
On March 9,
world's collided. Hargreaves
on cross examination admitted
he and his boss Gary Murphy
had dealt with OneCoin
crypto-Ponzi money launderer
Gilbert Armenta, whom Inner
City Press has covered,
including exclusive reporting
on Armenta's ongoing
businesses. Inner City Press
retweeted from the cross here
and below.
March 9
ended, after the jury left,
with Judge Rakoff admonishing
one of Weigand's lawyers not
to himself testify, for
example that "you left on a
flight the same day you
arrived") and not to tell the
jury that the prosecution
would be recommending
Hargreaves' sentence to the
judge. "That's now how it
works in our District."
On March 10,
Hargreaves was cross examined,
then a Bank of America witness
took the stand. Inner City
Press live tweeted, here:
Defense lawyer:
You used the code, Medical
services 8099, for marijuana?
Hargreaves: We
thought it was elegant. A
consultant proposed it.
Defense lawyer: In your second
day as a cooperator, you told
the US, It didn't work with
Paynetics, correct?
Hargreaves: Yes.
Akhavan's lawyer:
You told the agents, we tried
to do marijuana delivery with
Ray, right? Hargreaves: Yes.
Akhavan's lawyer: And you
didn't say, false, or
misleading, or deceptive?
Hargreaves: No, sir.
Re-direct:
AUSA: Mr. Hargreaves, part of
your cooperation with the
government was to give full
access to your phones and
ProtonMail, correct?
Hargreaves: Yes.
AUSA: Let's
put up Government Exhibit
3604. Do you remember this,
one of the websites your team
designed for the
@Eaze scheme?
Hargreaves: A fictitious
website. Ray and Ruben worked
on it.
AUSA: These
fraudulent business plans were
sent to EUprocessing at
ProtonMail dot com - that was
Ruben [Weigand], correct?
Hargreaves. Yes.
Next witness in
US v. Weigand / Eaze /
Wirecard was long at Citibank,
now at Bank of America, in
"payments innovation." Not
much time for questions -
Judge Rakoff has another
proceeding at 4 pm (which
Inner City Press also
covered.)
The BofA official
says, "In the US, we do not do
any kind of business with
marijuana related businesses."
Gov't offers exhibits 2410,
2411. Judge Rakoff: You may
step down.
Judge
Rakoff suggests to government
they trim their case by a day.
Then defense urges that an
agent witness tomorrow be
trimmed, as not having
personal knowledge of the
documents. Judge Rakoff:
If you're not contesting
authenticity, the janitor
would get them in ...
The trial's done
for day.
And still
none of the exhibits Inner
City Press requested on March
8 and March 9 have been
provided. Watch this site.
The case is US
v. Weigand,
20-cr-188
(Rakoff).
***
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