| COBA Insisted Jona Rechnitz
Owes It $12M But Claiming Ignorance He
Will Pay $891000
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Thread Letter
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Oct 17 – When government
cooperator Jona Rechnitz came
up for sentencing for
defrauding among others the
NYC Correction Officers'
annuity fund on December 19,
2019 before U.S. District
Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge
Alvin K. Hellerstein,
Assistant US Attorney Martin
Bell urged
leniency.
Bell said that so
that Rechnitz can continue to
pay restitution, he should
remain free in order to keep
selling jewelry to the
Kardashians.
In
February 2020 Rechnitz was
sued in California for fraud.
Inner City Press published the
complaint on Scribd here,
and for download on Patreon here.
On July
26, 2023, after appeal the
Second Circuit ruled that the
case should be reassigned, as
"the judge's relationship with
[Andrew] Kaplan was
sufficiently close... that a
reasonable person would have
questioned the district
court's impartiality."
Thereupon, Rechnitz'
counsel wrote it suggesting
his case be reassigned to
Judge Carter, or Judge Wood or
Liman. It was reassigned to
Judge Katherine Polk Failla.
On August 30, the
US Attorney's Office and COBA
said the $12 million should be
ordered. Rechnitz through
counsel said restitution
should only be "$891,00
($1,206,00 minus $315,000 that
Mr. Rechnitz has already paid
the victim."
On September 16,
COBA's Reply memo chided
Rechnitz for claiming
ignorance and even
impoverishment; "having skin
in a rigged game does not
imply good faith."
On October 9,
Inner City Press live tweeted
the oral arguments, here.
And on October
16, from the thread of the
decision, this
Judge
Failla: The losses to
COBA are devastating. Mr.
Rechnitz was a but-for cause
of those losses- but the law
requires more than that, that
he be the proximate cause. I
conclude the US has not so
proven; Mr. Rechnitz will not
be changed with the larger
figure
Judge Failla: I
want to be clear, I am not
finding that the US
investigation of Platinum or
disclosure of Rechnitz' plea
led to the losses.
Judge Failla: Mr.
Rechnitz was not told about
the fraud at Platinum during
the relevant time period, and
he had no reason to know about
it. Mr. Rechnitz' view were
more conservative that those
of Mr. [Norman] Seabrook.
Summary: The Court finds that
the Government has not proven
by a preponderance of the
evidence that Defendant is the
proximate cause of the
approximately $11.7M in
remaining losses for which
COBA seeks restitution, or
that the risk of loss from
separate frauds was reasonably
foreseeable to Defendant. The
Court orders restitution in
the amount of $891,000.00.
Watch this site.
***
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