| After
Conviction for Real Estate Fraud Almaleh
& Iotova Get Time Served but No Answer
on FL
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
Book
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Jan 20 – Issak Almaleh and
Antoaneta Iotova were charged
in 2017 with conspiracy to
commit bank fraud, bank fraud,
wire fraud and making false
statements to the Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation
(FDIC).
As Judge Edgardo
Ramos put it at sentencing,
they pretended to be Deutsche
Bank.
They were,
five years later, on trial
before U.S. District Court for
the Southern District of New
York Judge Edgardo Ramos.
On March 7
witness Julie Rivera was
called the witness stand and
described trying to rent an
efficiency apartment from the
defendants at 1730 Rodman
Street in Hollywood,
Florida.
Witness
Rivera was asked if she say
the woman who showed the
apartment, and the man in the
van outside (who she described
as "fat") in the courtroom.
It was said,
Everyone but the jurors should
take off their masks. Inner
City Press' reporter, nearly
alone in the gallery, took off
his.
But Julie
Rivera, squinting, at first
could not make the ID.
She asked to get
closer; she put on her mask
and walked over to the defense
table. Then she made the
identifications, the lady in
the blue blazer, "the man in
the little hat."
The two were
convicted on March 17. Then in
April they wrote to the US
Attorney's Office against for
investigation of their
lawyers. The Office filed it
with Judge Ramos.
Jump cut to
September 2022: counsel Ezra
Spilke, of Anna Sorokin and
Ghislaine Maxwell juror
"Scotty David" fame, has
written to seeking to be
relieved. The two client sued
him, and have appealed.
"Anything we say to our
clients can be used in their
lawsuit(s) against us,
rendering effective
communication nearly
impossible." You might say.
Sentencing was postponed.
It occurred on
January 20, 2023. New counsel
did well: both defendants got
time served. Almaleh's counsel
Richard Rosenberg emphasized
his client's precarious health
and said, This is not Bernie
Madoff and his wife.
Judge
Ramos noted that they had
served 32 and 29 months in
prison, and that before Booker,
a "lack of sophistication"
downward variance might be
applicable.
At the end,
Almaleh asked if they will be
able to visit their children
in Florida. Iotova's counsel
Sabrina Shroff, after
preserving an issue for
appeal, tried to get the AUSA
to commit, but was rebuffed.
It will be up to Probation.
We'll revisit this issue as
necessary.
The case is US v.
Almaleh, et al., 17-cr-25
(Ramos)
***
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