By Matthew Russell Lee, CEFC Video, Scope
SDNY COURTHOUSE, Sept 7 – On March 26, 2019 when Eleonora Podilska appeared for a jail sentence prior to being deported to Ukraine, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New YOrk Judge Loretta Preska was told how Podilska made Christmas ornaments in the MCC jail and saw her dream of opening a dance school in the U.S. crushed by her guilty plea. The government's sentencing letter said, "Podilska pleaded guilty on December 20, 2018, to a one-count indictment (the “Indictment”) charging her with racketeering conspiracy. Podilska was charged with her limited role in a credit card theft conspiracy and her more principal role in a scheme to seduce and rob men identified as targets by members of the Shulaya Enterprise. The Government respectfully submits that a sentence within the stipulated Guidelines range of 15 to 21 months is appropriate in this case." In the end Judge Preska, who the day before heard of UN briber Patrick Ho playing the violin the MCC, went slightly below, at one year and one day. She wished Podilska well, with her special needs son and what her lawyer called the bad conditions in Ukraine.
Jump cut to September 7, 2021, when co-defendant Avtandil Khurtsidze is coming up for re-sentencing. His lawyer complains that he is the only one for whom the US Attorney's Office is asking for an above-guidelines sentence. He's been a model inmate, it's said. He flew to America from the Republic of Georgia hoping to continue his "rising boxing career." Then he was arrested for his participation in aspects of the Shulaya Enterprise.
The case was United States v. Shulaya, 17 Cr. 350 (LAP).
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