| Man Charged With
Shipping Stolen Cars from
The Bronx to West Africa
Asks Low So Remain
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE,
April 24 – Two men charged
with using a South Bronx auto
transport firm to try to move
stolen luxury vehicles from
the US to West Africa are
scheduled to stand trial.
On
September 16 they appeared
with the lawyers before U.S.
District Court for the
Southern District of New York
Judge Analisa Torres. Inner
City Press was there, the only
media in the
courtroom.
One defense
lawyer only recently joined
the case, replacing a Federal
Defender, and requested to
push the trial back from
February 10 into May.
The other
defendant did not want such
delay, and said he'd like to
have his case severed and
tried separately.
Judge
Torres agreed to move the
trial back to May 12 - but
told the second defense lawyer
that she was unlikely to grant
any severance motion.
Jump cut to April
28, 2025 when counsel to
defendant Fofanah wrote in
that while a plea offer has
been made, his mother-in-law
was taken to the hospital by
ambulance - and asked to delay
the May 12 trial date by 60
days.
On May 19
co-defendant Haidara through
counsel wrote in and asked for
probation on June 2.
On May 20, Judge
Torres set a change of plea
for co-defendant Fofanah on
May 27.
But it did not
happen, and on June 2
Fofanah's counsel wrote is
saying he hopes to have a
definitive answer regarding
whether there will be a
disposition by June 6 - so his
filing is due then.
Fofanah pled
guilty on June 18, 2025. Then
a long delay in sentencing,
for both.
On March 16, 2026
the US Attorney's Office wrote
in about Haidara, a 2020
incident in New Jersey where
checks for an auto were
bounced. Both exhibits are
sealed. The US is requesting
46 to 57.
On April 24
defense counsel wrote in, with
heavy redactions, asking for
less than a year so that
Haidara will not be deported.
Co-defendant
Fofanha asks for "a sentence
well below the 5 year
Guidelines recommendation,"
and mentions five years
probation.
Both will
be sentenced on May 4.
The case
is USA v. Haidara, et
al., 1:24-cr-85 (Torres)
***
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