By Matthew Russell Lee, Periscope video
SDNY COURTHOUSE, August 27 -- Before Norman Seabrook, former head of the NYC Corrections Officers union, was sentenced on February 8, 2019 by U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein to 58 months in prison, a victim's statement to the court cited what it called Seabrook's racist rant on YouTube.
Afterward on Worth Street Inner City Press asked Seabrook about the YouTube video - actually, an audio file with an array of still photographs. Seabrook told Inner City Press they doctored it to make him look bad. His (actual) answer on Periscope here - and here now audio file on YouTube, here.
Now on August 26, 2021, Seabrook's lawyer has renewed his Stillwell demand to the US Attorney's Office, this time citing Michael Avenatti's mistrial in the Central District of California before Judge James V. Selna, photo here. Seabrook's letter concludes, "the sound I hear if the proverbial 'circling of the legal wagons' around One St. Andrews Plaza."
But on August 27, Judge Hellerstein denied it: "MEMO ENDORSEMENT as to Norman Seabrook on re: [417] Letter filed by Norman Seabrook. I write to supplement my July 8th letter moving for reargument of theCourts decision issued in response to Defendants "Stillwell Demand" seeking non-provided Government Brady-Giglio material... ENDORSEMENT...Defendant gives me no reason to change my mind. The issue has thoroughly discussed. Defendant's motion for rehearing is denied (Signed by Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein on 8/27/21)(jw)." Watch this site.
Back on February 25 Seabrook's lawyer asked for an extension of his time to surrender to begin serving his prison sentence until May 3. Seabrook "has been placed on a 'vaccination waiting list' and is "someone who by virtue of a) ethnicity and (b) pre-existing pulmonary disease, [surrender is] a possible Eighth Amendment violation."
Now on March 1, the request has been denied: "MEMO ENDORSEMENT as to Norman Seabrook on re: [363] To request that the Court further postpone Norman Seabrook's surrender date until May 3... The request for still another adjournment of the surrender date is denied. The conditions for sentencing, discussed at the sentencing conference, require reasonable promptness in surrendering to the Bureau of Prisons to begin defendant's custodial sentence. SO ORDERED (Signed by Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein on 3/1/21)."
But now on March 23: "MEMO ENDORSEMENT as to Norman Seabrook on re: [365] LETTER by Norman Seabrook addressed to Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein from Roger Bennet Adler dated March 2, 2021 re: Reargument / Reconsideration. ENDORSEMENT: So ordered. My endorsed order of March 1, 2021 (ECF No. 364) is modified to extend Defendant's reporting date to April 26, 2021, at 2:00 p.m., at the facility designated by the Bureau of Prisons, in order to allow defendant to be vaccinated against the Covid virus. (Signed by Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein on 3/23/2021)." Watch this site.
On February 2 Seabrook filed a motion for return of property, with Susan Seabrook asking for $9000 cash she was at Mohegan Sun in 2013, some of it "Applied Toward Cosmetic Surgery." Included are copies of the FBI's warrant records for 1920 Muliner Avenue, The Bronx, NY.
Now on February 23, Seabrook's lawyer has replied stating that while the US agrees to return "the money seized from his pants" it is refusing "to return the $21,000... found within three T.D. Bank envelopes inside a closed safe in the Defendant's master bedroom." We'll continue to follow this. This case is US v. Seabrook, 16-cr-467 (Hellerstein).
On January 27, Seabrook asked for permission to travel for three weeks to Florida. Now on January 28, this: "MEMO ENDORSEMENT as to Norman Seabrook on re: [352] LETTER by Norman Seabrook addressed to Judge Lewis J. Liman from Roger Adler dated January 27, 2021 re: Defendant Travel Request. ENDORSEMENT: Norman Seabrook's request to travel to the area of Tampa, Florida, between February 8 and 22, 2021, to stay with his daughter is approved, on the condition that he satisfies all Covid-19 protocols, including wearing masks in all public places, provides his precise itinerary in advance to his probation officer, and satisfies all conditions of bail, including reasonable reporting to the probation officer. A defendant, faced with an imminent custodial sentence, has a legitimate interest in spending time with his daughter."
On November 25, 2020, the day before Thanksgiving, Seabrook filed with Judge Hellerstein to avoid starting his jail sentence in December. He cited COVID 19, in an affidavit that left even his age blank.
On December 3, opposition was filed with Judge Hellerstein, from Eric Golub, retired NYC DOC and Celestino P. Monclova - with maskless photos.
Now later in December, Roger Bennet Adler, attorney for Norman Seabrook, has written in to be informed if his clients case was transfered to Judge Lewis J. Liman, like that of co-defendant Murray Huberfeld. He say he has a motion for the return of property. We'll have more on this.
In the SDNY courtroom it was cognitive dissonance: Norman Seabrook who rose from poverty to head of a union with 10,000 members, who endorsed Michael Bloomberg; Norman Seabrook who asked for tens of thousands of dollars to steer union money into a Cayman Islands hedge fund which failed.
Prosecutor Martin Bell referred to a Ferragamo bag visible in Seabrook's house for months. When Seabrook spoke he said it was a gift with cigars, taking a cigar out of his suit jacket.
Seabrook's lawyer Paul Shechtman cited Seabrook's work on the so-called feces bill to make throwing excrement at a corrections officer a felony. On the hand Seabrook was accused of threatening his board members with returning to work in a prison as punishment, and of going after anyone who dared run against or otherwise oppose him. Seabrook felt that it was his time to get paid, that he was bigger than the cause he began fighting for, Bell said.
Shechtman also spoke after the sentencing. Inner City Press asked him about Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein's seeming reversal of an initial position that it would be hard to leave Seabrook out on bail pending appeal. Shechtman replied affably that he had to win something, after the 58 month sentence. Video here.
An issue on a appeal will be whether Seabrook's second jury should have heard about the $19 million loss.
Inner City Press asked Shechtman about the restitution, how much would be paid by hedge funders Murray Huberfeld, Jona Rechnitz and perhaps (Judge Hellerstein indicated) Jeremy Reichberg. Shechtman told Inner City Press, If Norman wins $19 million in the lottery, we'll have about that. For now, $2500 is due in 60 days, through the SDNY Clerk, for the union. We'll have more on this.
Exiting the courthouse after Seabrook, with a bag of Utz potato chips and a copy of the Daily News was New York Knicks icon Charles Oakley. He said that there are others who need to be locked up as well, and that the Knicks need better players. There was no rebuttal. Periscope video here.
Upcoming in the SDNY is a recently-filed complaint by the Bangladesh Central Bank for the $81 million hacking of its funds, which were then wired through the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, a case that Inner City Press will cover. Times change. Watch this site.
