By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell Book
BBC-Guardian UK - Honduras - ESPN NY Mag
SDNY COURTHOUSE, May 11 – Federal prosecutors can supposedly not ask to have a courtroom sealed in a criminal case without getting approval from Main Justice in Washington.
But there are loopholes that get exploited. And currently it is nearly impossible to close the loopholes.
Take for example the stealth guilty plea on no notice of Harlem developer Gerald Migdol in mid-April 2022.
It happened in the Magistrates Court of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, where Migdol will now presumably be deployed or brandished as a cooperator against former NYS Lt Gov Brian Benjamin.
Migdol's white shoe lawyer asked the Magistrate Judge to seal the courtroom. But she confirmed with the Assistant US Attorney that they could only make the request after speaking with Washington.
Still, she said, it seemed there was no one else in the courtroom, and no one else would know since the AUSA would request and get the sealing of the transcript and delayed docketing of the proceeding.
Here's the second and most pernicious loophole. It is generally impossible for the Press and public to even try to unseal a transcript or docket entry if they don't even know it exists. And that is what this process allows for.
In this case, Inner City Press exclusively tweeted and then reported on April 15 that Migdol had been in the Mag Court and had pleaded guilty, with cooperation dangled. Others did not follow up, at least not in print, because it could not be confirmed.
And when weeks later the documents were grandly unsealed, ironically including the "this is not closed" double-talk, the proceeding was dubiously describes as having been closed.
No mention of the DOJ two-step, nor of the previous story. And so the loophole is never fixed, and grows larger. We'll have more on this.
***
Your support means a lot. As little as $5 a month helps keep us going and grants you access to exclusive bonus material on our Patreon page. Click here to become a patron.
