By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
SDNY COURTHOUSE, August 28 – A firm specializing in children's apparel, bags and luggage products got a Temporary Restraining Order against Chinese shopping portal Alibaba to stop infringing on its copyrighted designs - but on August 28 before U.S. Southern District of New York Judge Gregory H. Woods, Alibaba simply didn't show.
Inner City Press went to cover the Show Cause hearing but found on the door Judge Woods SDNY courtroom a sign that if the Alibaba defendants in 19-cv-6655 (AKH) showed up they should call Chambers. They did not show up.
Inside Judge Woods courtroom, in the half light, the Greenberg Traurig lawyers for Ningbo Mizhihe I&E Co, LTD were trying to get a Preliminary Injunction signed. Judge Woods was dubious of the lay-out of the order, allowing as it would for signatures to be added. But he said he was willing to sign a similar order.
According to the plaintiff's counsel, Alibaba's in-house had simply refused to come, unless the plaintiff did things not required by absent Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein's Temporary Restraining Order. It was Chinese business arrogance meeting the formality of an SDNY courtroom. Now what will happen? Inner City Press will continued to follow this case.
When DISH Network and Sling TV sued Asia TV this year, they wanted much of it secret. On August 6 Inner City Press while covering criminal proceedings in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York happened on the trial before SDNY Judge Vernon S. Broderick. On August 7, when it entered Judge Broderick's courtroom to find five lawyers at both the plaintiffs' and defendants' tables, another lawyer sitting in the jury box passed a note to his colleague: there is Press coverage. Why so shy?
It turns out in the docket, 19-cv-21, that DISH has been redacting many of its submission, with Judge Broderick signing off. (In full disclosure, Inner City Press previously covered the UN bribery case of Ng Lap Seng and Vivi Wang in which affable Judge Broderick let Ng out on bond; now Wang is getting her diamonds back, see below).
The questioning on August 7 involved whether Asia TV USA Ltd had let its subscribers know that they would no longer be able to access content except from their homes. Judge Broderick told the corporate cabal that while he sought to accommodate then he had an appointment at 2:30 pm that could not be changed. Maybe we should have started at 7 am, he said. They laughed, but not really - they are using the SDNY courthouse while not wanting any transparency. Inner City Press opposes this - watch this site, and Patreon, here.
In a case that also began before Judge Broderick, Vivian Wang, who as money manager for convicted UN briber Ng Lap Seng's South South News made payments to disgraced President of the UN General Assembly John Ashe, was given a time served sentence on June 26 by U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge George B. Daniels.
Now on August 7, the US Attorney's Office is returning to Vivi Wang her watches, filing this: "WHEREAS, on or about March 18, 2016, JULIA VIVI WANG, a/k/a “Julia Vivian Wang,” a/k/a “Wang Wei” (the “defendant”), was arrested on Complaint 16 Mag. 1798; WHEREAS, on or about March 25, 2016, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) executed a judicially-authorized search warrant of the defendant’s residence in New York, New York, during which the FBI seized, among other things, (1) $40,200 in United States currency, approximately $82,000 in Hong Kong dollars (approximate value as of the date of seizure), approximately $8,000 in Euros (approximate value as of the date of seizure), approximately $18,000 in Chinese currency, of various types (approximate value as of the date of seizure), approximately $665 in United Kingdom pounds (approximate value as of the date of seizure), approximately $580 in Dominican Republic currency (approximate value as of the date of seizure), approximately $1000 in South African currency (approximate value as of the date of seizure), and approximately $25 in United Arab Emirates currency Case 1:16-cr-00495-GBD Document 75-1 Filed 08/07/19 Page 1 of 6 (approximate value as of the date of seizure) (collectively, the “Seized Currency”), and (2) several watches and diamonds (collectively, the “Seized Watches and Diamonds”); WHEREAS, on or about March 30, 2016, the defendant’s conditions of release pending trial were modified to require her to post $150,000 cash (the “Bail Funds”), which were subsequently posted and remain on deposit with the Clerk of Court (receipt number 465401149486); WHEREAS, on or about April 4, 2018, Superseding Information S1 16 Cr. 495 (GBD) was filed, to which the defendant pleaded guilty the same day, including one count of subscribing to false and fraudulent tax returns (Count Three); WHEREAS, on or about June 26, 2019, the defendant was sentenced to time served and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $629,295 to the Internal Revenue Service, the victim of the offense charged in Count Three; WHEREAS, on or about June 26, 2019, the Court entered a restitution order; WHEREAS, the defendant’s restitution judgment remains unpaid; WHEREAS, Title 28, United States Code, Section 2044, provides in pertinent part: On motion of the United States attorney, the court shall order any money belonging to and deposited by or on behalf of the defendant with the court for the purposes of a criminal appearance bail bond (trial or appeal) to be held and paid over to the United States attorney to be applied to the payment of assessment, fine, restitution, or penalty imposed upon the defendant. WHEREAS, the defendant consents having the Bail Funds applied to her restitution judgment; WHEREAS, Title 18, United States Code, Section 3613(c) provides in pertinent part: [A]n order of restitution made pursuant to sections 2248, 2259, 2264, 2327, 3663, 3663A, or 3664 of this title, is a lien in favor of the United States on all property and rights to property of the person fined as if the liability of the person fined were a liability for a tax assessed under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. WHEREAS, the defendant has represented, through counsel, that the Seized Watches and Diamonds are property, at least in part, of the defendant’s daughter and/or belonged to the defendant’s late husband; WHEREAS, the defendant consents having the Seized Currency applied to her restitution judgment; IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED AND AGREED, by and between the United States of America, by its attorney Geoffrey S. Berman, United States Attorney, Assistant United States Attorneys, Janis M. Echenberg, Daniel C. Richenthal, and Douglas S. Zolkind, of counsel, and the defendant, and her counsel, Derek A. Cohen, Esq., that: 1. The Clerk of the Court is authorized to and shall apply the Bail Funds, that is, $150,000 in United States currency, to the defendant’s restitution judgment. 2. The FBI is authorized to deposit the Seized Currency in a bank account (after converting it to United States dollars, to the extent necessary) and then to provide a check or wire transfer in the amount of the Seized Currency (less any fees for conversion to United States dollars) to the Clerk of Court, or to provide the Seized Currency directly to the Clerk of Court or its designee, which is authorized to and shall apply the value of the Seized Currency (less any fees for conversion to United States dollars) to the defendant’s restitution judgment. The defendant agrees to execute any paperwork necessary to memorialize and effect such provision, conversion, and/or deposit by the FBI and the Clerk of Court. 3. The Government agrees to effect the return of the Seized Watches and Diamonds to the defendant or her designee." UNreal.
Wang's lawyers at Goodwin Proctor, in a heavily redacted sentencing submission, stated that her deceased husband Forest Cao "was 57 years old adn had no known health problems of medical conditions. No autopsy was performed."
It also says, as to UN President of the General Assembly John Ashe, that while awaiting trial on UN bribery charges "his death was reported as the result of a 'weightlifting accident' after a barbell apparently crushed his throat."
After the sentencing, Inner City Press with covered the Ng Lap Seng trial before SDNY Judge Vernon Broderick daily asked Wang's lawyer Derek A. Cohen if he was implying that Forest Cao and John Ashe were killed, and why he had so heavily redacted this sentencing submission.
"It speaks for itself," Cohen said by the elevators. Likewise the Assistant U.S. Attorney on the case Daniel C. Richenthal declined Inner City Press' question about who beyond Ng Lap Seng Ms. Wang had cooperated against.
Judge Daniels did not preside over the trial of Ng Lap Seng. He accepted the government's recommendation of time served with very little inquiry.
He said as if by rote that corruption of the UN is a serious matter. But if so, why should a person who paid bribes in the UN get such a light sentence with little public showing of the benefit of their cooperation?
Corruption has continued at the UN since the prosecution of Ng Lap Seng, resulting in his four year prison sentence. A second, separately prosecution was brought against Patrick Ho of CEFC China Energy, an entity which also tried to buy the oil company of Lisbon-based Gulbenkian Foundation which employed current UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres as a compensated board member.
Neither in the Ho nor Ng Lap Seng cases where any of the UN Secretariat officials implicated in the bribery schemes prosecuted.
This laxity can be contrasted with another SDNY proceeding a mere hour later, in which Judge P. Kevin Castel looked behind the U.S. Attorney's Office's 5k1.1 cooperation letters and imposed jail time on the four siblings, the Seggermans, who evaded taxes. That underlying case was USA v. Little, 12-cr-647 (Castel). This bifurcated case is USA v. Wang, 16-cr-495 (Daniels).
Vivi Wang helped bribe the UN, and on June 26 she got a time served sentence for undefined cooperation. Judge Castel looked behind the government's 5K1.1 letter but Judge Daniels did not. And the UN continues corrupt. Inner City Press will have more, much more, on this.
