by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
FEDERAL COURT, Jan 7 – Following the seizure of the M/T Skipper after it left Venezuela on Decmeber 10, on December 12 U.S. District Court for the District of Colombia Magistrate Judge Zia M. Faruqui signed an order unsealing his authorization of the seizure, as 25-sz-50.
But when Inner City Press, covering the cases, sought out the case on PACER on the morning of December 13, it was still listed as "25-sz-50 SEALED v. SEALED; Case is not available to the public."
Figuring from the number that there must be at least 49 earlier seizure order in 2025, Inner City Press checked them one by one. Only four were not sealed: one involving SpaceX, others involving domains uses for cryptocurrency scams. But what about the other 45 cases? And now a new sealed one in 2026?
Inner City Press, which often successfully makes such requests in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, and now in the NYS Supreme Criminal Court unsealing exhibits in the Luigi Mangione case, on the morning of December 13 filed with Judge Faruqui, with a copy to the AUSA on one of the four unsealed cases.
On the morning of December 22, the promised-to-be-unsealed M/T Skipper order was still sealed; now there are 25-sz-51 to 56 orders, all sealed, along with the other 45 orders still sealed.
Inner City Press has written to Judge Faruqui, and the AUSA, a second time. And now a third:
On the morning of January 7, after the Bella 1 was boarded, even 25-sz-50 was still sealed, and a new one added (sealed) in 2026. So a third letter has done in.
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