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By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Podcast Doc

SDNY COURTHOUSE, April 13 – Francis Lorenzo used his position as UN Ambassador for the Dominican Republic to take and pay bribes for a Macau "UN South South Development Conference Center proposed by now incarcerated Ng Lap Seng.

   Lorenzo was given a sentence of time served, which was twenty days in detention, by U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Vernon S. Broderick.

     It was what the US Attorney's Office essentially recommended, calling Lorenzo a model cooperating witness. This despite acknowledging that Lorenzo had to "re-plead" guilty when it emerged he had not disclosed his receipt of bribes.

  It then emerged that this same prosecution team asked for yet another six months delay in sentencing another briber in the case, Heidi Hong Piao.

 On March 5, Judge Broderick held the sentencing, and gave Heidi Piao "time served," with a reference to her being subjected to ridicule. Inner City Press live tweeted it, here.

  Then on March 24 Heidi Piao's lawyer wrote to Judge Broderick, seeking approval to withhold from the docket even her "statement of the case" - a case which involves bribing the UN.

  On the March 24, in the evening, Inner City Press wrote to Judge Broderick opposing the sealing of these judicial documents, citing the public interest in ending or at least exposing to public view UN corruption.

  Two days later on March 26, Judge Broderick docketed Inner City Press' letter, here, and gave Heidi Piao's counsel until April 9 to provide its legal justification for filings these documents under seal.

On April 1, Piao's lawyer said it would be unseal: "This office represents Defendant Heidi Hong Piao in the above-captioned matter. We write in response to Your Honor’s March 26, 2021 Order on Ms. Piao’s application regarding redactions to the defense sentencing submission. (Dkt. Entry 998). Upon further reflection, and discussion with the Government, Ms. Piao will not seek to maintain under seal the exhibits to the sentencing submission. Instead, consistent with Your Honor’s ruling on the sentencing memorandum, we will file a redacted version of the exhibits. The redactions will only pertain to Ms. Piao’s medical records, treatment, and diagnosis, as well as any personal identifying information (e.g., mailing address, email address) about the individuals who submitted letters of support to this Court. In accordance with Your Honor’s Order, we will file the redacted sentencing memorandum and accompanying exhibits on or before April 9, 2021."

But when filed, whole paragraphs were redacted. Inner City Press filed a brief reply, seeking further unredaction or legal justification of the withholding. Now, administration (or District Court) remedies exhausted, Inner City Press is published the still-redacted Statement of the Case and the exhibits it was packaged with, for the three dollar PACER charge, for free on DocumentCloud, here.

It says, for example, " I joined my then-friend and business colleague, Sheri Yan, as she was in  the process of starting the Global Sustainability Development Foundation (GSDF) in New York.  Ms. Yan had contacts within the United Nations (“UN”), and she sought to create a nongovernmental organization to work with the UN President’s office to advance projects and  cooperative partnerships that utilized scientific and technological innovations for social good. The  primary objective of GSDF was to promote educational opportunities, expand access to  knowledge and information, promote socioeconomic equality, and empower under-privileged.  This is how I came to meet John Ashe, who was the Permanent Representative to UN from  Antigua and, from September 2013 to September 2014, the President of the UN General  Assembly.  I agreed with other individuals to pay money to Mr. Ashe with the intent of influencing  him, including in his official capacity – for example, so he would influence other officials and also  attend a conference in China in his official UN capacity. The payments also included money that  Mr. Ashe intended to give to officials in Antigua to influence their official actions – for example,  so the officials would enter into a contract with a Chinese entity. My poor choices extended into  my personal affairs as well, as I knowingly failed to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial  Accounts (FBAR) disclosing that I had financial interests in foreign bank accounts.  I did not personally or financially benefit from what I did, but still, what I did was wrong  and I will not try to justify my actions. I am deeply ashamed of my actions and I wish to  apologize to the Court, to the Government of the United States, and to my family and friends. I  am so sorry for the pain and humiliation that I have caused my family, particularly my younger  sister Grace. I have tried to live a law-abiding life, and I am distraught that I have fallen short in  this regard. I fear that whatever good I may have done in my life may be overshadowed by my  criminal conduct.  I have tried to make amends for my actions. I entered into a plea agreement with the  United States Attorney’s Office at an early stage. Both before and after entering my guilty plea, I  have cooperated with the Government and I have been completely truthful from the outset.  Beginning in 2015 after my arrest, I did everything the Government asked of me, including  participating in multiple in-person and telephonic interviews to assist the Government in its  investigation against other individuals. Nevertheless, I freely acknowledge that my cooperation  with the Government does not “right” my previous wrongs."

Then, three full paragraphs redacted. The US Attorney's Office, also opposing unsealing in the US v. Coro Venezuela sanctions case, was fine not only with these redactions, which if medical are fine, but also with withholding the entire statement of the case, including the above quoted. We'll have more on all this.

     Judge Broderick before giving Francis Lorenzo the time served sentence said there was a need for general deterrence. But neither he nor Zolkind even mentioned an after arising UN bribery case, for which Patrick Ho of CEFC China Energy was convicted by SDNY Judge Loretta A. Preska.    

Judge Broderick did impose two years of supervised release, and 250 hours of community service.

    Afterward Inner City Press sought to ask Lorenzo a question but was told by his lawyerBrian H. Bieber that Lorenzo would not answer questions.

    So Inner City Press asked Bieber how Lorenzo would do his community service and when Lorenzo last saw and communicated with Carlos Garcia, the former El Salvador ambassador shown in the trial before Judge Broderick to have helped launder money for Lorenzo.

  Bieber said he would ask Lorenzo, and perhaps get back to Inner City Press, which has reported and will continue to report on these cases. This case is US v. Lorenzo, 15-cr-706 (Broderick).

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