In SDNY Jeremy Reichberg Role In Vegas Private Jet Debated De Blasio Cited Sentencing To Come

By Matthew Russell Lee

SDNY COURTHOUSE, April 4 – Donor to and fundraiser for NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio Jeremy Reichberg had been scheduled to be sentenced for bribery on April 4. But as his way, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Gregory Woods very deliberately asked for more information, specifically Reichberg's lawyers' objections to the pre-sentencing report. One dispute involves whether the full $60,000 cost of a private jet to Las Vegas should be counted, since Jona Rechnitz claimed he owned the plane. Assistant US Attorney Bell said it should, that mere first class air fare to McCarran in Vegas wasn't the same. Judge Woods, so often with the underdog, seemed torn: is this defendants really an underdog? The proceeding was moved from Woods' usually empty courtroom 12C up to the larger 23A and it was almostfull. Reichberg's lawyer will be out of the country from April 16 to nearly the end of the month. But the sentencing will happen - and Inner City Press will be there, watch this site.Inne on tnearlpm  

Also on April 4, as if in the parallel universe, a long time petty criminal was brought shackled into the SDNY, after serving three years in state penitentiary for stealing appliances from a department store. This was deemed a violation of supervised release, and the Assistant US Attorney argued for no bail. But Stanley Bamber was born in Newark and still has family in New Jersey. He could live with his brother, his assigned lawyer argued, pending arguments before SDNY Judge Alison Nathan, occupied the same day with Elon Musk. It was finally agreed that if Probation approves andradio frequency electronic monitoring is in place, the 60 year old Bambury may see the light of day. Between 1976 and 2000, the prosecutor said, Bamber was charged withcrimes 35 times. His was the last case of the day; in the elevator Inner City Press asked theAUSA about his record and got a Have a good night. Okay then - just another day in the SDNY. Johnny Morgan is suing the United States for a rectal search he endured in the Metropolitan Correctional Center at 150 Park Row, right next to the SDNY. On April 4 before SDNY Magistrate Judge Debra Freeman, the government presented an expert Roy Lubit who said that Morgan is a "malingerer" and blamed his pain on abuse suffered earlier at the hand of his own mother. But even government expert Lubit said that the rectal entry should not have happened. It is, in fact, an outrage. Inner City Press was the only media in the smallish courtroom, compared to dozens of reporters two hours later for Elon Musk. While some might question taxpayer money going to pay damages for what happened to Mr. Morgan, what about public money for an expert witness to insult the torturee? We'll have more on this. The Federal Defenders scored a big win in a misdemeanor proceeding that only Inner City Press attended and covered on April 2. They defeated the U.S. Attorney's Office which argued that the simple assault they agreed to on a dispute on a cruise ship required allocution to actual physical conflict. There was case law on the Federal Defenders' side, and a plea to making a threat on the cruise ship - in "international waters" -- was found sufficient. The case was United States v. Batista, 18 Cr. 730 (NRB). The Federal Defenders lawyer was Sabrina P. Shroff, whom Inner City Press has previously covered in the UN bribery cases of Patrick Ho (new Hong Kong documentary here), getting bail for Cheikh Gadio, and of Ng Lap Seng, representing hapless Jeff Yin. The issue in Batista was whether simple assault requires the defendant to "strike or choke." Ms. Shroff cited the US v Denis and US v Chestaro cases, and the matter was quickly disposed by Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald in her relatively small courtroom on the 21st floor of 500 Pearl Street. The question is why the U.S. Attorney's Office in this case had not researched basic case law - and whether the defendant Carlos Batista, Junior, from the Dominican Republic, must now be deported. We hope to have more on this.

Earlier on April 2, in 40 Foley: "I was a street drug dealer in from of my building in the Bronx," a defendant told U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Paul A. Engelmayer on April 2. Defendant Gonzalez was pleading guilty to a lesser included charge, with a guideline sentence of between 120 and 150 months in jail. But he won't be sentenced until July 11 at 2:30 pm, after the Probation Department does its interview and issues a Pre Sentencing Report that will remain sealed until, somehow, Gonzalez appeals. We'll have more on this - there were no family members in the courtroom, no media other than Inner City Press. Back on March 28 an insider trading action by the SEC was under heavy fire in SDNY courtroom of Judge Richard M.Berman. The SEC had in 2017 grand alleged that "Ariel Darvasi and Amir Waldman were in possession of material nonpublic information about the impending acquisition when they purchased Mobileye securities" just prior to its acquisition by Intel. But on March 28 the defendants' lawyers, moving for summary judgment, mocked the arguments. They said Waldman was "not a direct insider;" they said suspicious trades are not enough, mere contact with an insider is not enough. The SEC lawyerresponded with tales of MobileEye's founders private jet flight to New York to nail down the Intel deal. Much of the argument came down to whether a response by Waldman during deposition, that he had been aware of the trip - "yes" - before the words, for the merger, were said, should go to a jury. The defendants insisted on their video. There was no other media in the court room but Inner City Press, still without its electronics. So what of general deterrence? What of transparency? In the SDNY there is no comprehensive calendar, and for now the Press that seeks to report on as much as possible is still restrained. We'll have more on this. 

Along with UN Impunity, Its Censorship Inconsistent With NY Law and Values

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 6 -- When Mayor Bill de Blasio's Commissioner for International Affairs Penny Abeywardena took questions about the United Nations' impact on New York City on December 6, there was an initial joke about parking tickets, as if that would be the extent of issues New Yorkers might care about. 

But while the City's study enumerates people directly employed by the UN Community, their lack of labor and other rights due to immunity was not acknowledged in the study.

   Inner City Press covers both the UN and its headquarters city, New York, and routinely receives complaints from diplomats' domestic workers and drivers about work place abuse and lack of benefits, and the lack of any recourse. Due to immunity, not only defrauded workers but those subject to physical abuse are left without rights. 

  Inner City Press asked Abeywardena what the de Blasio administration proposes to do about that - for example, diplomat Joachim Haubrichs punched his wife Henna Johnson, 35, in the face and was not subject to arrest at all. Abeywardena said, in essence, that Johnson could get counseling. UN Video.

   What about the UN having brought cholera to Haiti and killed 10,000 people, leaving sorrow and economic harm in many New York City communities - does the de Blasio administration have a position on that? Abeywardena did not answer, leaving the question for the UN moderator Cristina Gallach.

    But Gallach, as mentioned even in the New York Times, is responsible for the ouster and eviction of the investigative Press from the UN, and its confinement to minders to cover events on the UN's second floor for the past nine months and for the foreseeable future. 

Gallach is giving Inner City Press' longtime shared UN office to an Egyptian state media, Akhbar al Yom, which rarely comes into the UN and never asks any questions.

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    Abeywardena answered Inner City Press' second round of questions by saying the City works with the UN on such issues as testing for Legionnaires Disease - something legally required for (other) buildings in New York.   

We question whether the City administration is doing or should do anything to ensure that the UN lives up to the basic principles, applicable right outside the UN's gates, of press freedom and due process.

Gallach's pretext for throwing Inner City Press out and restricting it since was Inner City Press' attempt to cover an event in the same UN Press Briefing Room on January 29, as part of its coverage of the ongoing Ng Lap Seng UN bribery case set for trial in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York in January 2017. 

Inner City Press left the briefing room - which had no “closed” sign on it - as soon as a single UN Security officer said to, at the request of UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric. But three weeks later, without once speaking with Inner City Press, Gallach ordered it out on two hours notice.

  When Inner City Press was physically thrown out onto First Avenue on Gallach's orders on February 19, 2016 (audio here) and its laptop thrown onto the sidewalk, it called the New York Police Department, which said it had no recourse at all, the UN controls even the sidewalk in front of it. 

While the UN certain does some good work, is this censorship and impunity something New Yorkers should be represented as supporting? We'll have more on this.

As UN Food Workers Face Layoff, Bill de Blasio's IDNYC Pop-Up Not For Them, But Only UN Staff and Diplomats with Immunity?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 30 -- When the UN hosted a new “pop-up” enrollment site for the New York City ID card, launching it with Mayor Bill de Blasio and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon getting an ID card, Inner City Press went because it wanted to ask if this site was for regular New Yorkers, or only for UN staff and diplomats, who have immunity. 

  But no questions were taken. Inner City Press had in mind, for example, those who work in food service inside the UN, who have approached it saying they face lay offs due in part to NYC's refusal to close down a lane of the FDR Drive off-ramp, deemed a threat to the cafeteria and closing it.

  So later on June 30 Inner City Press put both questions to UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq, video here:

Inner City Press: Two maybe inter-related questions.  One, on this idNYC pop-up shop, is it exclusively limited to diplomats and UN staff, or are other New Yorkers who are in the building able to use it?

Deputy Spokesman Haq:  I believe the City of New York has a press release on this that we can share with you that's got the various details.

Inner City Press: And I wanted to ask you, also, the people that work for, I guess, Culinary in both the Delegates' Dining Room and the cafeteria…

Deputy Spokesman Haq:  Culinart?

Inner City Press:  Culinart.  Basically, they say many of them are going to be out of a job beginning 13 July.  They say the Delegates' Dining Room will be closing for at least the rest of the summer, and the large cafeteria will be moved to other locations, and they're not sure if there will be as many jobs.  Can you… what is the impact on actual… the people that work in the building of these two moves?  

Deputy Spokesman:  Well, we… I don't speak for Culinart.  Ultimately, they're the ones who make the decision on who is deployed where.  We have a contract with them to provide services.  I do know that there have been other summers, such as last summer under the previous holder of the contract, where, during the slow period in August, there's a shutdown in some of the facilities.  We hope that whatever decisions Culinart takes it will be short-lived and they'll make appropriate decisions so that staff are treated responsibly.

Inner City Press:  They basically won't have health insurance for the summer.  I wonder, although they're your contractor, is there any practice you're holding them to in this regard?

Deputy Spokesman:  We have contracts that we negotiate with contractors.  And if they don't meet the terms of the contract, then that's a problem for them.  But, ultimately, you know, for things like labour conditions, you're going to have to talk to Culinart.
  Does the UN take the same approach to contractors as far away companies whose clothes are made in Dhaka, for example? And what of the FDR exit ramp in all this? 

  Why a pop-up IDNYC site for diplomats, who not only rarely face issues with the police (Inner City Press covered one exception with St Vincent and the Grenadines) but have immunity such that accused war criminals like Sri Lanka's Shavendra Silva and Palitha Kohona, to whom the current president of the UN Correspondents Association rented an expensive Manhattan apartment, and not for more common people who really need the ID cards?

The new Free UN Coalition for Access, as well as Inner City Press, will have more on all this.

Back on March 13 Inner City Press exclusively reported on theimpending but untransparent closing of the UN cafeteria - then asked the UN Spokesperson to confirm it.

  On March 16, UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq returned with an answer, that due to safety concerns, yes, the UN cafeteria will close in late May or early June. The logistics of replacing it, and how workers would be impacted, were not addressed.

  Previously, Inner City Press reported on fears that the UN there is vulnerable to a terrorist bombing by a vehicle on the FDR Drive off-ramp. The US diverted $100 million in withheld tax payments of US staffers to reconfigure the basement conference rooms for this threat from the FDR Drive itself. 

  But the City has declined to close down the off ramp, instead stationing a police car there apparently with the idea it would serve as a deterrent or marginal early warning system.

  That interim solution apparently not seen as enough, now there's impending closure - and job loss - in July, with some smaller alternative with fewer workers to remain. Watch this site.

  As the UN talks about workers' rights and collegiality, inside the Glass House things can be quite different. On July 31, 2014, Inner City Press reported how the head of the UN Department of General Assembly and Conference Management Tegegnework Gettu calling female critics "emotional," here.

 Now on March 9, multiple sources tell Inner City Press that Gettu told complaining staff "I am warning you," cutting them off while saying We are all equal, including me." Really? Leaked audio exclusively put online by Inner City Press here.

 What will Secretary General Ban Ki-moon do? Under his management, the UN Staff Union in New York has been broken. But is this rantappropriate? Previously, Gettu said, if we all fart together, it doesn't smell. Really?

 Back on July 31 Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced he is shifting Catherine Pollard from the Office of Human Resources Management over to become Assistant Secretary-General for General Assembly and Conference Management (DGACM), replacing Franz Baumann of Germany.

  As Inner City Press previously reported, Pollard had declared herself the poster child of Ban's “mobility” policy, to only hold the same post -- or was it duty station? -- for five years. 

   No matter that, for example, Robert Serry has said on television he's been in his post six years. Pollard has made a lateral move, and Baumann's next move is not yet clear.

  What does DGACM do? As a sample, Inner City Press has already exclusively received a number of complaints about a meeting held by DGACM chief Tegegnework Gettu, also on July 31. According to sources, Gettu used the meeting to tell staff how well he is doing, how objective he is, that he has no personal agenda. (Click here for previous Inner City Press report.)

  But when he opened the floor, the first staff member who dared make a suggestion -- that verbatim is now nearly identical to translation -- was cut off and told that his was only a personal opinion.

  A female staffer who made a criticism was told by Gettu to not be “emotional.” Eventually Gettu was telling the assembled staff that the UN “is good” and “if you don't like it, walk away.”

  In fact, it was in DGACM that the staff member elected vice president of the Staff Union in December was terminated -- Gettu says he didn't re-apply for a job so he clearly didn't need one -- and it was in DGACM that staff members were subjected to bed bugs, among other things, in the Albano Building.

  On July 31, the sources exclusively tell Inner City Press that Gettu told DGACM staff that they may remain in the Albano Building on 46thStreet until 2017 when, he says, the UN may have a “DC5” building, proposed to be built on the Robert Moses playground south of 42ndStreet. Click here for Inner City Press story.

  There are many hardworking staff in DGACM, and even some in management may mean well. 

   But the type of self-serving speechifying at staff described to Inner City Press by sources on July 31 is indicative of the same UN which, for example among the press, evicted the News Agency of Nigeria from its work area claiming a lack of space while giving a large room to its favored UN Censorship Alliance (UNCA) -- which now says it will leave the room empty and locked from August 1 to August 19. We and the new Free UN Coalition for Access will have more on this. We'll have more on this.