By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC - Guardian UK - Honduras - ESPN
SDNY COURTHOUSE, June 22 – The insider trading trial of Donald Blakstad is ongoing in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, but the transcript of cooperator Martha Bustos' guilty plea is still sealed, as as she testifies, it emerged on June 16, see below.
On June 17 in the trial, the trades including of call options in Illumina by Sapphire Bay, Sutton View Equity Partners and even Mid-Continental Petroleum, Inc. of Las Vegas, Nevada were detailed, as to timing and amount, from the glassed-in witness box. The accented witness explained for the jurors being "out of the money" versus "deep in the money."
On June 22, the US Attorney's Office filed a letter opposing the introduction of DX-AG, which without submitting it described as a 97 page exhibit with "billing records issued by at least five separate law firms, including a law firm related in Israel." It said one "legal bill reflected the matter name 'Magic Jack' 'for legal services rendered, without describing what 'Magic Jack' is." Watch this site.
Back on June 16, Bustos was on the witness stand for the second day, now facing cross examination including quotes from her plea allocution before SDNY Chief Magistrate Judge Gabriel W. Gorenstein.
Inner City Press, live tweeting the cross examination here and below, went into the docket of Bustos' case, 19-cr-482.
But there things ended on February 28, 2021 with a deleted document; previously there was an order "placing this matter under seal /delayed docketing."
Delayed for how long? It is no long a secret that Bustos is a cooperator. The last substantive entry in her docket is the waiver of indictment, now on Patreon here. It has it was subject to delayed docketing, but we have it. So where are the documents after that? We'll have more on this.
Here was some of the thread: now in insider trading trial of US v. Donald Blakstad , government witness Martha Patricia Bustos formerly of Illumina is being cross examined. The question are about the trip to New York that the witness testified about yesterday. On cross, she's being asked if she was hung-over.
Q: Were you taken off the email distribution on this? A: It was late 2018 I was taken off.
[From July 2019: "the unsealing of charges against MARTHA BUSTOS, a CPA formerly employed by Illumina, who pled guilty on June 28, 2019, and is cooperating with the Government.]
Q: Did you consider the internal mood to be confidential information? A: Yes.
Q: You would ask Mr. Blakstad his opinion on whether you should sell you stock? A: Not that I recall specifically. Q: Did you ask Mr. Blakstad if you should quit your job there? A: Don told me, Don't quit, it's a really good company.
Q: You did discuss selling or buying Illumina stock in your chats, right? A: I may have.
Q: You talked about the price of the stock. In texts, like "I sold so much at $160," in 2018? A: I may have.
Q: And he said he had sold at $200 a share earlier in the year?
Q: Ms. Bustos, you pled to conspiracy? Bustos: Yes.
Q: With an overt act in October 2016, receiving inside information? Bustos: I don't recall. Q: In your plea you admitted to being part of a conspiracy, right? Bustos: I don't recall.
Q: What about CC-1 and CC-2? You did not look at the mention of other persons? Bustos: I know there were other people involved.
Q: Let me discuss with you the entry of your guilty plea, in open court, before Magistrate Gorenstein. You were asked questions...
Q: You said you received a trip to New York, right? Bustos: That I received gifts and entertainment.
Then Inner City Press went to read the transcript Bustos is being asked about -- and in her case, it is still sealed.
This case is US v. Blakstad, 19-cr-486 (Ramos)
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