SDNY COURTHOUSE, June 28 – The government has given a cooperation agreement, and prospectively a 5K1.1 letter, to Mustafa Abdel-Wadood of Dubai-based Abraaj. At his plea proceeding before Magistrate Judge Gabriel Gorenstein of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on June 28, Abdel-Wadood laid the blame on Abraaj founder Arif Naqvi. He cried, once, as he read an allocution that his lawyer had shared in advance with the government.
Judge Gorenstein asked if he is a citizen of the US - he is not, but rather of Egypt and Malta - and if his misstatements of Abraj's financial condition were material. But of course. He is out on $10 million bond, his family is in town and he wants to roam Manhattan from 7 am to midnight. Life is good when you have money and the government gives you a 5K1.1 letter. The case is US v. Abdel-Wadood, 19-cr-233 (Kaplan).
The US quietly filed a criminal antitrust case against Banca IMI trader Larry D. Meyers - who quietly pled guilty and agreed to cooperate on June 27 before Judge Paul A. Engelmayer of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Inner City Press can report.
The case involves violations with the Sherman Act with respect to American Depository Receipts. It is a quiet part of a larger case. On June 27 the representative of DOJ's Antitrust Division said Meyers will get a 5K1.1 letter if he fully cooperates. She then said the sentencing could be set for October 7 at 2:30 pm. So will all of the cooperation be by then?
Judge Engelmayer asked Meyers to explain what he did. Meyers, going beyond the script prepared for him by his new lawyer Mr. Alvarez, said that only a few had access to the pre-release ADRs and had become a "cozy community." He said, "We became too friendly." Not anymore...
The plea almost got delayed again because Meyers old lawyer had not yet formally withdrawn; Judge Engelmayer said a Curcio hearing might be needed then decided not. He asked Ms. Brown of DOJ if anything was needed with regard to the transcript, presumably to seal it.
We don't think that's necessary, Ms. Brown told Judge Engelmayer. So the cooperation is entirely public now, in this cozy community. Inner City Press will continue to follow these cases and others in the SDNY: see @InnerCityPress and the new @SDNYLIVE.
Back on 9 May 2019 DOJ Antitrust Division criminal chief James J. Fredricks signed a "Notice of Intent to File An Information" against Meyers. Through so-called "Wheel B" it was assigned to SDNY Judge Engelmayer, by Magistrate Judge Ona T. Wang.
On June 5 - it is not clear where - Meyers and his attorney Dan Portnov "waive[d] in open court prosecution by indictment and consent[ed] that the proceeding may be by information instead of by indictment."
That way, instead of through the more public Magistrates Court, Meyers' presentment was before Judge Engelmayer, with a Docket Number listed as "19-CR- [blank]," quickly released on $100,000 bond, travel restricted to the US and Ireland unlike most defendants confined to two or three US Districts.
This is the VIP aisle of indictments, with the DOJ helping to avoid any possible perp walk.
And so it was that while the week's SDNY "Civil and Criminal Proceedings Calendar" for the week of 06/17/19 listed on June 19 at 5 pm a plea before Judge Engelmayer in USA v. Meyers, 19-cr-[blank], the courtroom of Judge Engelmayer where Inner City Press had been earlier in the day on a Hobbs Act robbery trialwas empty.
There was no sign on the door explaining why, as was done for example on the door of Judge Deborah Batts about Michael Avenatti. There are VIP lines, and vip lines. Watch this site - and for more, see its Patreon, here.
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