Saturday, August 16, 2025
Friday, August 15, 2025
For Eric Adams Straw Donations Arkan Gets No Jail As Lawyer Redacts Names Calling Out DOJ
by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE, Aug 15 – The five-count indictment of NYC Mayor Eric Adams was unsealed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Magistrates Court. Inner City Press was the first one in and live tweeted it. City of Maybe book
The unsealing thread
On September 17 at noon he was arraigned and pleaded not guilty. Thread.
On January 10 Arkan pled guilty, Inner City Press was there and later asked his lawyer if Arkan will testify. There was no answer, but sentencing was put off to August 15, after Adams' trial, with zero to six month guideline.
On August 1, after the case against Adams was dismissed with prejudice, Arkan wrote in asking for one year probation, on Patreon here
But Arkan's counsel refiled to seal all 53 exhibits, presumably sentencing letter of the kind that Inner City Press recently won a Second Circuit order about improper withholding, Lee v. Greenwood.
Inner City Press filed to unseal Arkan's 53 letters, saying the the Second Circuit's decision in Lee v. Greenwood is directly on point and must be applied in this case, before sentencing. Filing here
On August 14 Judge Ho ordered unsealing, ascribing it to error.
Inner City Press immediately reviewed Dockets 12-1 and 12-2, which still redacted for example Endometriosis Foundation of America, Turkish Kitchen and a supporter who worked at OceanFirst Bank, which settled charges of redlining in 2024...
On August 15 after his lawyer threw shade on DOJ and Judge Ho pushed back, Arkan got no jail, one year probation. Thread
More on X for Subscribers here and Substack here
On August 11 Mohamed Bahi pled guilty - with a plea deal for zero to six months, payment of $32,000, sentencing on November 18, thread
The case is now USA v. Bahi, 1:25-cr-358 (Torres)
More/extra on X for Subscribers here and Substack here
This case is USA v. Arkan, 25-cr-13 (Ho)
The Adams case is USA v. Adams, 1:24-cr-556 (Ho)
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After First Community Bank Misfired on Signature Bank Merger Loan Disparities Raised
by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
SOUTH BRONX/Federal Court, July 9 – A proposed acquisition by First Community Bank of South Carolina of Signature Bank in Georgia after the proposed acquiring jumping the gun and pre-announcing the deal, has been followed by a challenge under the Community Reinvestment Act.
On August 15 Fair Finance Watch, after reviewing Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data of both banks from 2019 to 2024, filed a CRA challenge to the merger with the FDIC:
This is a first timely comment opposing the Applications of First Community Bank to acquire Signature Bank Fair Finance Watch has been tracking First Community Bank and finds it lending patterns, including in the newly released 2024 HMDA data not taken into account in CRA exams, troubling.
In South Carolina in 2024, First Community Bank marde 283 mortgage loans to whites, but only 20 to African Americans. This is out of keeping with the demographics of its footprint, and its competitors. Likewise its disparate denial rates: it denied three applications from African Americans, versus 20 originations - while denying only nine whites, compared to 283 loans to whites.
The disparities continue, on lower volume in North Carolina (1 loan to an African American and on denial; to whites 11 loans and NO denials) and in Georgia (three loans to every denial to African Americans, versus seven loans to every denied to whites).
To impose this record and his pattern to more in Georgia should not be permitted. There are obvious managerial issues, for example the "erroneously" sent out press release announcing the deal, before it was finalized - either a stock trading issue, or a lack of managerial resources, or both. Public evidentiary hearings are needed.
Watch this site
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After First Community Bank Misfired on Signature Bank Merger Loan Disparities Raised
by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
SOUTH BRONX/Federal Court, July 9 – A proposed acquisition by First Community Bank of South Carolina of Signature Bank in Georgia after the proposed acquiring jumping the gun and pre-announcing the deal, has been followed by a challenge under the Community Reinvestment Act.
On August 15 Fair Finance Watch, after reviewing Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data of both banks from 2019 to 2024, filed a CRA challenge to the merger with the FDIC:
This is a first timely comment opposing the Applications of First Community Bank to acquire Signature Bank Fair Finance Watch has been tracking First Community Bank and finds it lending patterns, including in the newly released 2024 HMDA data not taken into account in CRA exams, troubling.
In South Carolina in 2024, First Community Bank marde 283 mortgage loans to whites, but only 20 to African Americans. This is out of keeping with the demographics of its footprint, and its competitors. Likewise its disparate denial rates: it denied three applications from African Americans, versus 20 originations - while denying only nine whites, compared to 283 loans to whites.
The disparities continue, on lower volume in North Carolina (1 loan to an African American and on denial; to whites 11 loans and NO denials) and in Georgia (three loans to every denial to African Americans, versus seven loans to every denied to whites).
To impose this record and his pattern to more in Georgia should not be permitted. There are obvious managerial issues, for example the "erroneously" sent out press release announcing the deal, before it was finalized - either a stock trading issue, or a lack of managerial resources, or both. Public evidentiary hearings are needed.
Watch this site
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After SDNY Judge Denied Unsealing Maxwell Transcripts DOJ Writes to Epstein Judge
By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell Book
SDNY COURTHOUSE, Aug 14 – With Ghislaine Maxwell in prison, she has offered to testify to Congress about Jeffrey Epstein - with significant conditions.
Meanwhile just before midnight July 29 DOJ in a filing in SDNY said it submitted Epstein and Maxwell grand jury information under seal, filing on Patreon here.
On August 11 Judge Paul A. Engelmayer denied DOJ's bid to unseal the transcripts in US v. Maxwell, concluding that "granting the Government’s motion would bloat the “special circumstances” doctrine, which to date has warranted disclosure in only a tiny number of cases, all involving unique testimony by firsthand witnesses to events of obvious public or historical moment" - 30 page order on Patreon here
Near midnight on August 14-15 DOJ wrote to Judge Berman, who has yet to rule, that "Further to the Government’s August 8, 2025, letter, we write to confirm that the Government has completed its notification process with respect to the grand jury exhibits for any such parties it was able to identify" - letter on Patreon here.
Inner City Press will remain on the cases,
after having asked Maxwell herself question when she did a press conference in the UN. After that, Inner City Press was banned from the UN by SG Antonio Guterres. His spokesman Stephane Dujarric on July 14, 2025 refused to answer written questions, including:
On deadline, explain why Ghislaine Maxwell was granted a press conference in the UN briefing room, and why a UN correspondent who did a fundraiser with Ghislaine Maxwell - convicted of sex trafficking here in SDNY, and known at the time to be manager for Jeffrey Epstein - is allowed in daily and can ask questions, while Inner City Press which asked and asks remains banned, with 6/19/25 application to MALU pending, none of the promised (by Dujarric) answers to written questions like this provided
No answers.
On April 19, 2022 U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Loretta A. Preska held a proceeding to unseal some but not all documents. Inner City Press, which has published a book on the Maxwell trial here, and another book including the Larry Ray trial "John list" here, live tweeted it, thread here:
173-6 it will be sealed [or redacted.]
Jump cut to April 25, 2025, with Virginia Giuffre declared dead, reportedly by suicide. A redacted life. Rest in Peace.
Inner City Press continues reporting on the UN (where Ghislaine Maxwell was allowed a press conference and SG Antonio Guterres had a rep on her Terramar board (video here, story here).
Watch this site.
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Defendant Charged with Killing and Dumping Man in East River Won't Face Family in Court
by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Substack
100 CENTRE STREET, Aug 14 – A man charged with stabbing and dismembering his grandmother's boyfriend and then dumping the body parts in NYC's East River was brought from Rikers Island to court on August 14.
But he would not leave the holding cell.
His lawyer said this was due to the victim's family members being in the courtroom gallery (along with Inner City Press).
The prosecutor noted that the family members have remained civil, or at least non-violent, since the February arrest and March indictment, to which Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg devoted a press release:
"Christian Millet allegedly committed a shocking and brutal murder, and my thoughts are with Mr. Edwin Echevarria’s loved ones. I want to thank our prosecutors who worked quickly," he Bragged.
Now the case is moving slowly, with a defense motion due on October 3.
As the proceeding broke up, heading into Justice April A. Newbauer's next cases, one of the family members raised her hand to speak. It did not happen; she conferred with the prosecutor afterward. The wheels of justice turn slowly in the old courthouse at 100 Centre Street.
More on X for Subscribers here and Substack here
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SDNY Judge Wood Cited Wolfe Margolies Lyrics for 14 Years US Supports Past Lawyer
By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive Follow up
SDNY COURTHOUSE, Aug 14 – When Wolfe Margolies came up for sentencing on December 2, 2019 after pleading guilty to narcotics and child pornography charges, his lyrics including being a rapist who beats cases were quoted by Judge Kimba M. Wood of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Judge Wood sentenced Margolies to 168 months or 14 years in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release. She quoted the lyrics from the pre-sentencing report which is not part of the public docket. While Assistant US Attorney Mollie Bracewell quoted another lyric in her sentencing submission, the rapist-beating-cases lyric was not quoted there.
In 2022 Margolies wrote to Judge Wood saying his lawyer was no good, and his sentence was inflated. On July 1, the US Attorney's office opposed, citing heroin death, child porno and conclude that Margolies' motion should be denied.
Docketed on August 3 was another motion by Margolies, to have the public pay for a toxicologist to obtain the toxicology report of the decedent. Margolies again says his trial counsel's representation was deficient. He attached the AUSA's email, and death certificate, on Patreon here.
Docketed on August 10, another filing by Margolies, saying among other things that "the government misrepresents the manner in which 'law enforcement officers discovered a video file constituting [CP] on the Movant's cellphone. The Movant had long before deleted the video he received; indeed, the law enforcement officers discovered it in a deleted cache. PSR Para 24-27." On Patreon here.
On September 21, the US Attorney's Office replied and said all of Margolies' requests should be denied, stating "the defendant's demand for a toxicology [sic] or pathologist should be denied. There is no basis for the defendant to make what amounts to a discovery demand given that he has already admitted his factual guilt."
On January 17, 2023, Judge Woods denied Margolies motions: OPINION & ORDER as to Wolfe Margolies: Margolies's motions are DENIED. Because Margolies has not made a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right, the Court declines to issue a certificate of appealability. See 28 U.S.C. § 2253. Furthermore, the Court certifies pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from this Order would not be taken in good faith and thus Margolies may not proceed in forma pauperis for any such appeal. See Coppedge v. United States, 369 U.S. 438, 444-45 (1962). The Clerk is respectfully directed to close the motions at ECF Nos. 50, 51, and 54. SO ORDERED. (Signed by Judge Kimba M. Wood on 1/17/2023)."
On November 26, 2024 Wolfe Margolies wrote in from Danbury FCI (postmarked Westchester) asking for a CJA lawyer, specifically Benjamin White, to seek to vacate, set aside or correct his sentence. He attached a financial affidavit - his months puts $300 a month in his commissary account. But no mention of publishing a book through Infinity Land Press in December 2024. Maybe it will be updated.
On December 30, the defendant's (former) lawyer filed this: "enclosed please find an Attorney Declaration along with accompanying exhibits addressing Mr. Margolies’ allegations of ineffective assistance of counsel. The submission includes numerous references to the defendant’s personal history and circumstances, references to the Presentence Report and includes a Psychological Evaluation Report as an exhibit. For this reason, it is respectfully requested that the entirety of this submission be filed Under Seal."
On January 27, a free lawyer and a schedule: "having reviewed Margolies' November 12, 2024 Financial Affidavit, the Court grants defendant's motion and requests that CJA counsel be appointed to represent Margolies."
On June 20 that counsel filed for a new trial, saying that initial counsel was ineffective and failed to investigate - he had no toxicologist.
On June 23 Judge Wood gave the US Attorney's Office time (extended) to respond.
On August 18 the US Attorney's Office did, quoting previously counsel's affidavit that "the defendant admitted an interest in images of adolescents and children," noting the benefits of the plea, and concluding "the Motion should be denied."
Inner City Press will stay on this - watch this site.
On the narcotics conspiracy, Margolies worked with Erik Erkan, who has managed to get into the SDNY's Young Adult Offender Program.
Bracewell's sentencing submission, perhaps sensing the disparity argument Margolies' attorney Maurice Sercarz could make, argues that "there are substantial differences between these defendants," that is, the government is not aware that Erkan had any involvement with the child pornography offense to which Margolies pled guilty.
Margolies will also, upon his release, be required to register as a sex offender. In his sentencing proceeding, at which Inner City Press was the only media present, Margolies said that when arrested in Louisiana in February of this year he was in a coding boot camp, and that he wants to continue to pursue that as a profession when he gets out.
He flashed a sheaf of certificates at Judge Wood. Inner City Press said it would have more on this. And now it does, deciding to publish this edited version:
Good day Mr. Lee... Despite my fear, I am writing to you today for three reasons. The first is my pre-existing and somewhat personal knowledge of Wolfe Margolies. The second is that you are evidently the only journalist who is demonstrably interested in covering Wolfe's story. The third and final reason has to do with the details reported in your December 2, 2019 article, which covers Mr. Margolies' sentencing hearing and is how I found your contact information--and also raises questions on how his story will develop in the future.
First off, as you note in the article, no other media was present at this hearing. Given that I watched through my computer screen for years leading up to his 2019 arrest as Wolfe rose to C-list NYC celebrity status, then was suddenly wiped from the internet practically overnight, this detail from your report hit me as just one in a long line of similar censorship-themed events surrounding this case. Worse yet, per your report, Mr. Margolies only received a 14 year sentence, after which he need only register as a sex offender...and he apparently intends to further pursue coding upon his release - a fact I found especially disturbing in light of the charges involving Mr. Margolies' exchange of child pornography over what he believed what an encrypted "private" app.
In 14 years from now, I will have children approaching a prime age for Mr. Margolies' pedophilic victimization on apps and the internet - a terrain where registered sex offender status is unfortunately meaningless.
This whole situation reminds me of all the employees and contractors of men like Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein who are only speaking out now--individuals who together over the years are complicit in creating a culture of silence that protected these powerful men, and perhaps even helped create them by protecting them through silence. Any one of these people could theoretically have pierced the veil of silence had any one of them spoken up sooner, potentially crippling the power of these men and preventing the harm to many subsequent victims.
Right now, the most effective way to make sure myself, my sisters, and my daughters avoid predators like Wolfe is the equivalent of the stall graffiti in the women's bathrooms at my college, telling you which guys to avoid being alone with. Unlike bathroom-stall graffiti, however, and as has been heavily covered in the post-#metoo era, press coverage is easily influenced by money.
Accordingly, I have a terrible feeling that Mr. Margolies' family - and particularly his mother, Liz Margolies, for her own very specific reasons - have thrown significant financial resources behind making sure Wolfe and his sordid story get no press, that no graffiti with Wolfe's name can ever stick to the wall. And so I ask myself, in 14 years, how could women NOT be less safe, unless someone does something about this issue, right now?
I do not want to be like those in the orbits of Weinstein and Epstein, complicit in maintaining a veil over the misdeeds of a powerful, wealthy individual through the simple act of not saying what I know I should say, to who I know I should say it. Remembering the Farmer sisters' futile outcries against Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislene Maxwell in the 1990s, however, it occurred to me that one must sometimes watch for or seek out the right right time and the right place within which to make a move. I have thought about many ways I could try and make what I have to say public, but I feel the safest way which most shields me from accusations of doing this for any kind of pecuniary or personal gain (rather than because it is the right thing to do) is to speak through a professional journalist, which I am not.
I have therefore been watching and waiting for the right "right now" journalist for months now, in hopes of finding someone who can help tell this story, someone who understands the importance of telling it and yet also is not vulnerable to the financial coercion which almost certainly stands in the way. So in summation, I have decided to write to you.. to do something in the face of dangerous predator, before he becomes the next Weinstein or Epstein.
I met Wolfe through mutual friends when we both went to a small, public high school, Bard High School Early College or BHSEC, Manhattan campus. I was a grade ahead of him, but a friend of mine from my grade (10th) was hanging around with Wolfe and one of his 9th grader friends, which was how we got acquainted. Shortly after we first met, I had a very brief personal/intimate relationship with Wolfe during what was probably the lowest point of my life in terms of confidence, being 15 years old and slightly overweight. I realized pretty quickly though (as in, within weeks), that Wolfe was too dangerous and too disgusting, even for me, even with the self-esteem issues I had back then.
The tipping point, I think, came one day when we were sitting on the sidewalk outside the school with some other people, and Wolfe kept forcibly making out with me--something I had never experienced before and did not know how to deal with. I never did like kissing him, as I quickly realized he was not brushing his teeth and I have always been very into oral hygiene... but he kept physically tackling me backwards from my sitting position to lay back on the sidewalk, like in the middle of my conversation with a friend, and smashing the back of my head into the concrete in the process.
I would sit up and begin talking to my friend again, clearly not into it but not quite sure what else to do, only to have him do it again, over and over again--one time so hard I saw dark blue with little white stars fill up my view as I laid there on the concrete. As someone who previously experienced physical and sexual abuse, I probably would have blocked out the entire experience, to be honest - but one of our friends who was sitting with us happened to be taking photos without me noticing, which I still have in my possession.
Looking at those photos again after the fact, I couldn't ignore the disturbing event. That was not who I was. I broke off the personal/intimate relationship with Wolfe immediately and completely soon after that. We had barely made out and gone to second base.
Once that was done, my next step was trying to tell people in high school that Wolfe was dangerous. But these were high school age people, and so was I. They had no reason to listen to me.
I had about zero social capital in high school, I was overweight and had transferred into the school in 10th grade instead of starting in 9th grade like everyone else. So I was basically at the bottom of the high school social ladder. Wolfe, on the other hand, had a fairly strong strong pull for a few reasons. He was thin and blonde and generally considered good-looking. He had good taste in music, he was "cool," the older hipsters liked him, so no one really listened to me. I thus watched him go through a string (as in, at least two) of long-term relationships with girls in his grade and lower grades after me, in which the girlfriends as well as those close to Wolfe and them would later say that he was abusive.
One of those girls, I ended up going to college with, and a mutual friend spoke to her recently as well. I have a feeling that if I reached out to her through our mutual friend, she would be interested in helping us... In any case, back in high school, and during the years subsequent, as Wolfe stayed centered in this same area and remained in the same social spaces as some of the people I knew, my tactic was just to back off and keep an eye out and warn where and when I could. I continued to keep watch over the situation from the safe vantage point of the internet.
As time passed, some of my friends from high school (who eventually came to understand about Wolfe) also did the same thing. I know because we spoke about it--about Wolfe's escalating and public predatory behavior, his continued insistence that it was all a "persona" perpetrated in the name of "creativity" and "artistic license," along with our futile attempts to warn and protect others--at different points over the years.
Because again...we (that is, people my age, around 30) all knew eventually that Wolfe was dangerous, and yet he remained in close proximity to a lot of younger people we knew and cared for, our younger siblings and their friends for example, who would not listen to us when we said they needed to get away and stay away from Wolfe. Mind you, keeping watch over Wolfe via the internet was not a difficult task at that time, since prior to his arrest he carried on an extensive public life on the internet and even requested to be my "Facebook friend" on more than one occasion, which I denied on more than one occasion before blocking him on Facebook entirely.
So this, in combination with having spoken to several of his ex-girlfriends from high school, is how I knew he also remained very obviously, publicly dangerous. Other people that I knew tried to do something about Wolfe at various times over the years, and yet, until 2019, it seemed like no one could touch him at all, despite as I said there being a lot of very publicly accessible (via the internet) behavior that would have indicated that he was dangerous to any reasonable observer.
Connect the dots (potentially) as to why it is especially important to the family/mother to keep this whole thing under the rug."
Inner City Press aims to have more on this - and on other cases, in this same blog-cast way.
This case is US v. Margolies, 19-cr-178 (Wood).
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For Eric Adams Straw Donations Arkan Sealed All 53 Letters So Motion Now Granted
by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE, Aug 14 – The five-count indictment of NYC Mayor Eric Adams was unsealed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Magistrates Court. Inner City Press was the first one in and live tweeted it. City of Maybe book
The unsealing thread
On September 17 at noon he was arraigned and pleaded not guilty. Thread.
On December 23 the prosecutors wrote in that Erden Arkan, "Businessman-5" in the Adams indictment, intends to plead guilty.
On January 10 Arkan pled guilty, Inner City Press was there and later asked his lawyer if Arkan will testify. There was no answer, but sentencing was put off to August 15, after Adams' trial, with zero to six month guideline.
On August 1, after the case against Adams was dismissed with prejudice, Arkan wrote in asking for one year probation, citing "The Unprecedented Posture of this Case" - 25 page memo on Patreon here
But Arkan's counsel refiled to seal all 53 exhibits, presumably sentencing letter of the kind that Inner City Press recently won a Second Circuit order about improper withholding, Lee v. Greenwood.
On August 8 the US Attorney's Office wrote in asking for one year probation, a fine of at least $9500 and restitution of $18,000 on August 15 -
Inner City Press filed to unseal Arkan's 53 letters, saying the the Second Circuit's decision in Lee v. Greenwood is directly on point and must be applied in this case, before sentencing. Filing here
On August 14 Judge Ho ordered unsealing, ascribing it to error: "The Court granted counsel's request on the same day. See ECF No. 15. The Clerk of Court then sealed not only the Defendant's sentencing submission at ECF No. 12, but also the attachments to it, which had already been redacted by defense counsel, see ECF Nos. 12-1 and 12-2. Because counsel's letter request sought sealing only of Defendant's unredacted sentencing submission, and not of the redacted exhibits attached to it, the sealing of ECF Nos. 12-1 and 12-2 appears to have been in error. Therefore, it is hereby ORDERED that the exhibits attached to Defendant's sentencing submission be unsealed. The Clerk of Court is respectfully directed to unseal ECF No. 12-1 and 12-2. SO ORDERED. (Signed by Judge Dale E. Ho on 8/14/2025)."
Inner City Press immediately reviewed Dockets 12-1 and 12-2, which still redacted for example Endometriosis Foundation of America, Turkish Kitchen and a supporter who worked at OceanFirst Bank, which settled charges of redlining in 2024...
On August 11 Mohamed Bahi pled guilty - with a plea deal for zero to six months, payment of $32,000, sentencing on November 18, thread
The case is now USA v. Bahi, 1:25-cr-358 (Torres)
More/extra on X for Subscribers here and Substack here
This case is USA v. Arkan, 25-cr-13 (Ho)
The Adams case is USA v. Adams, 1:24-cr-556 (Ho)
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After Colombia Plea by Brother of Petro Party Senator Now Redacted Memo Asks Time Served
by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE, Aug 13 – The narco trafficking brother of a Colombian senator in the party of President Gustavo Petro pled guilty on January 2, 2024 to a guideline sentence of 210 to 262 months.
Petro has spoken publicly of no long extraditing drug trafficking suspects to the US if they agree to stop trafficking.
Alvaro Fredy Cordoba Ruiz was extradited in January 2023 to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, where he was assigned a Criminal Justice Act lawyer and detained on consent. His extradition from Colombia had taken more than a year.
A superseding indictment was filed in February 2023 and on January 2, 2024 he pled guilty, stating that between July 2021 and February 2022, he agreed with others to send 500 grams or more of cocaine to the United States.
"I knew that the cocaine would end up in the United States and I knew what I was doing was wrong," he said in a scripted statement. He is the brother of Senator Piedad Cordoba of Petro's Pacto Historico party.
On March 22 co-defendant Alberto Alonso Jaramillo Ramirez was, the day after his extradition in from Colombia, presented before SDNY Magistrate Judge Gary Stein. Inner City Press was there, the only media in the SDNY Mag Court.
Jaramillo had been indicted on cocaine importation and machine gun charges. But it emerged that Colombia had only extradited him on the cocaine counts, and so the machine gun charges, like those on which former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernandez was convicted earlier in the month, would in this case be dropped.
The day's CJA lawyer, from a large law firm based in New Jersey, consented to detention.
On April 12 another large firm defense lawyer for Alvaro Fredy Cordobo Ruiz asked that he be sentenced to 60 months or five years. They note that another defendant "extradited on the same plane as Alvaro from Colombia" got 96 months.
On April 19, the US Attorney's Office wrote in requesting on Alvaro Fredy Cordobo Ruiz 210 months. On April 26, 2024, he got 168 months.
Docketed on June 2, 2025 Alvaro Fredy Cordoba Ruiz wrote in from prison in Texarkana asking for a reduction to five years, quoting Leo Tolstoy.
For a August 14 sentencing defense counsel from Duane Morris late-filed a heavily redacted memo asking for time served. Whole sections are blacked out, including a paragraph after a reference to Gandhi and the identity of more letter writers, contrary to the Second Circuit's decision in Lee v. Greenwood. We may have more on this.
The overall case is US v. Cordoba Ruiz, et al., 22-cr-121 (Liman)
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