| Barebones
Georgia
Organized
Crime
Indictment Had
Judge Rakoff
Ire Now Guilty
in 20 Minutes
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Dec 10 – Three Georgians were
arrested on November 14, 2023
on an organized crime indictment
a longtime judge called
"barebones."
They consented to
detention and don't have a
next court date until June
2024. Inner City Press covered
each step.
After three 6:05
am arrested, the prosecutors
announced an Indictment
charging VAZHA GABADADZE,
a/k/a “Natan Yusupov,” KAKHA
KATSADZE, TEIMURAZ TAVBERIDZE
and DAVIT TIKARADZE with
extortion
offenses.
Inner City
Press went to the U.S.
District Court for the
Southern District of New York
Magistrates Court and was the
only media there as all three
were presented, and then
arraigned. From the thread
Now in 14B,
before Judge Rakoff who says:
This is the most barebones
indictment I've ever seen.
Exactly a year
later, defendant Teimuraz
Tavberidze was scheduled to
plead guilty. But it did not
happen. Inner City Press went,
from the thread:
Citing Hobbs Act
and a Supreme Court decision
was the 70s, US v Enmons, 410
US 396, Judge Rakoff says " I
am not going to accept the
guilty plea today." Trial also
postponed, defense goes kut
into hall with prosecutors,
leaving defendant alone at
defense table
They're back -
and defendant is no longer
trying to plead guilty, at
least not today. No trial
Monday: defense counsel will
go to MDC with Georgian
interpreter
The plea did not
go forward, trial is set for
December 2: "Oral Argument as
to Teimuraz Tavberidze held on
11/22/2024 The Court
will pick 15 jurors for this
trial. The trial will commence
with colloquy between the
Court and counsel at 10:00am
on Monday December 2, 2024 "
At some point
after that, Teimuraz's lawyers
made a motion to adjourn the
trial, not into the docket.
The US Attorney's Office
opposed it, explaining that
the Victim's dashboard video
at issue has only ten minutes
of speaking and that they
turned it over as soon as
aware.
The trial started
without delay on December 2,
with a professor of crime in
the former Soviet Union on the
witness stand.
On December 3,
the defendant's text messages
- in Georgian script,
translated into English - were
read out to the jury, replete
with F-bombs and references to
The Bronx.. In the gallery row
in front of Inner City Press
four women passed around
Georgian interpretation
headphones.
On December 4,
the prosecution had on the
witness stand an interlocutor
with Teimuraz, about plans to
collect and pay money. Judge
Rakoff praised Juror Number
12's red suspenders, saying
he'd wait to see them in
Vogue.
On December 9, in
all of 20 minutes, the jury
delivered guilty verdicts on
both counts: "Jury Trial as to
Teimuraz Tavberidze. At 3:00
pm, after Marshal is sworn,
the jury retires to
deliberate. At 3:20pm the jury
returns a verdict of guilty as
to counts 1 and 2. Court's
decision : sentencing is set
for 3/11/2025 at 11:00am.
Defendant is continued
remanded."
The case is USA
v. Gabadadze, et al,
1:23-cr-585 (Rakoff)
The dissed Indictment is on
Patreon here
***
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