SDNY COURTHOUSE, June 27 – While many even most cases in the Magistrates Court of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York are sealed, on June 27before Magistrate Judge Robert Lehrburger one got unsealed, and one of the two defendants after argument got released on $500,000 bond but will home detention and no cell phone.
In late morning it was announced: "unsealing of an Indictment charging leaders of two local chapters of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America (the “Union”) with accepting tens of thousands of dollars in cash bribes in return for guaranteeing admission to hundreds of prospective union members. SALVATORE TAGLIAFERRO, the president of the Local 926 chapter of the Union, and JOHN DEFALCO, the vice president of the Local 157 chapter of the Union, were each charged with one count of honest services wire fraud, one count of conversion of union assets, and one count of conspiracy, in connection with their involvement in a scheme to solicit cash bribes in exchange for union membership. DEFALCO was also charged with one count of witness tampering and one count of obstruction of justice, in connection with his attempts to interfere with the investigation of the scheme. TAGLIAFERRO and DEFALCO, who were arrested this morning, are expected to be presented later today."
Inner City Press asked, but presentments are not scheduled. This one occurred after 2:30 pm and it was a doozy. The government represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jarrod Schaeffer and Thomas McKay emphasized the DeFalco tried to obstruct the investigation, urging people to lie, using burner cell phones and "spoofers." Judge Lehrburger after a break allowed DeFalco out on $500,000 bond but he can only have a "stationary" job and no cell phone. Install a land line, he ordered, giving DeFalco two weeks. 2:
Earlier on June 27 a defendant pled guilty to wire fraud for embezzlement and the case number was given: 19-mj-2954.
Cynthia Jordan, now 61, was arrested in March for stealing from the Wall Street firm in which she worked in the accounting department, to the tune of $688,142. Only $73,000 of this was by wire transfers, it emerged in the Mag Court with Inner City Press the only media present. There were also 59 false overtime payments, 111 paychecks and other hard copy checks. But it's all under wire fraud. The maximum sentence in 20 years in prison but there is a plea agreement, with the sentencing set for October 3. Inner City Press will continuing to follow this and other Mag Court cases. u
On June 25 Magistrate Judge Lehrburgerordered detained a defendant named Martinez charged with 33 kilograms of cocaine, a first name - Eliot - and a case number were provided: 19-mj-5950.
But by 5 pm, even after Judge Lehrburger had detained Mr. Martinez and set a July 8 hearing, PACER said "Cannot find case 19-mj-5950." So Inner City Press reports: Judge Lehrburger said he did not find a risk of flight, but given the heavy weight of coke, and that Martinez violated the terms of his probation in New Jersey, he would be detained. This came four hours after an appearance before Judge Castel of a defendant accused of offenses against children, a defendant who unlike Martinez was allowed free on bond, to his mother's house in Freehold, New Jersey...
