| OneCoin
Mark Scott
Asks Yet More
Time Inner
City Press won
Appeal for
Greenwood
Letters
By Matthew
Russell Lee,
Patreon
Podcast Order
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Oct 31 -- For scam crypto
currency OneCoin, Sebastian
Greenwood who co-founded the
company with Ruja Ignatova was
sentenced to 20 years in
prison by U.S. District Court
for the Southern District of
New York Judge Edgardo Ramos
on September 12, 2023. Inner
City Press was there and live
tweeted, thread here
Inner City Press
had sought the unsealing of
Greenwood's 33 sentencing
letters but with him opposing
(citing a Mafia case) and the
US Attorney's Office
inappropriately taking no
position, it was denied. Judge
Ramos' order
is here.
On October 10,
Inner City Press filed Notice
of Appeal of the sealing of
all of Greenwood's letters.
On July 28, 2025,
Inner City Press won: "Before:
Parker, Park, and Nathan,
Circuit Judges. Appellant
Matthew Lee appeals from an
order of the United States
District Court for the
Southern District of New York
(Ramos, J.) denying his motion
to unseal and unredact
Defendant-Appellee Karl
Greenwood’s sentencing
submission. On appeal, Lee
argues that he enjoys a right
of access to Greenwood’s
sentencing memorandum and
sentencing exhibits. We
conclude that a First
Amendment right of access
attaches to Greenwood’s
sentencing memorandum and
sentencing exhibits and
therefore requires the
district court to make
individualized findings to
justify sealing those
materials. Although the
district court’s findings
adequately justified the
narrowly tailored redactions
in Greenwood’s sentencing
memorandum, the district court
did not adequately justify its
decision to seal Greenwood’s
sentencing exhibits.
Accordingly, we VACATE in part
the order of the district
court and REMAND for further
proceedings consistent with
this opinion." Opinion here.
Now --- F.4th
----, No. 23-7432-cr, 2025 WL
2101302
On August
12 Greenwood's until now
retained counsel wrote in to
"request that the Court
appoint the undersigned as
temporary CJA counsel for the
purpose of this submission and
any additional briefing or
litigation related to Lee’s
desired access to Mr.
Greenwood’s sentencing
exhibits....Mr. Greenwood is
in arrears to this firm, which
was engaged to represent Mr.
Greenwood with respect to his
plea and on appeal to the
Second Circuit. The Lee
litigation regarding public
access to his sentencing
submission and exhibits has
been an unpaid burden for
Weddle Law that it has
shouldered to date."
Near-immediate
opposition was filed to
devoting public funds to
further pursue the
unprecedented withholding in
full of these sentencing
letters, particularly without
a CJA financial affidavit
which Inner City Press has
requested in advance be
unsealed, as it won in US v.
Avenatti and other cases.
On August 25,
Mark Scott - still not in
prison - wrote in asking for
bail because he appealed to
the Supreme Court. 6 page
request on Patreon here.
On August 27 the
request was denied: "The
request that this Court order
the Defendant released on bail
pending resolution of the
Petition of Writ of Certiorari
is denied."
On September 3,
while CJA application of
Greenwood still not docketed
in any way, Mark Scott's
lawyer asked for six more
weeks with a letter sent
directly to Judge Ramos.
On September 8,
Scott got eight more weeks,
for reasons redacted: "Scott's
surrender date is adjourned to
November 8, 2025. SO ORDERED
(Signed by Judge Edgardo Ramos
on 9/4/25)." There is a
person in the Scott case who
is in prison but nowhere in
the docket on PACER - watch
this site.
And on October 31
Scott's lawyer, now at a new
law firm, redacted nearly his
entire letter asking for yet
another delay, to December 4 -
and that the US Attorney's
Office "takes no position."
Watch
this site.
More on
Substack here
***
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