Con Ed Rip Off of $3.8M Results in Time Served For Cooperator Bendel 7 Years For Farchione

By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon

SDNY COURTHOUSE, June 27 – Louis Bendel and John Farchione together ripped off the utility company Con Edison for $3.8 million. Farchione pled guilty on the verge of trial and was sentenced by U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge J. Paul Oetken to seven years in prison. On June 27 Paul Bendel, who cooperated with the government, got time served and a curfew for six months, to visit his grandchilden in Floral Park and Fresh Meadows.

   Neither Bendel's 5K1.1 letter, nor either side's sentencing submission, is part of the public docket. Yet the sentencing was in open court, described as a proceeding of interest. The case is USA v. Bendel, 17-cr-640 (Oetken).

  The government wants it known that cooperators are rewarded. 

  But they don't want too much known, as Inner City Press reported the day before on June 26 when the sentencing submission for cooperating UN briber Vivian Wang was mostly redacted, and the Assistant US Attorney declined to say what assistant Wang had given, given that the implicated UN officials were never prosecuted.

Vivian Wang, who as money manager for convicted UN briber Ng Lap Seng's South South News made payments to disgraced President of the UN General Assembly John Ashe, was given a time served sentence on June 26 by U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge George B. Daniels.

   Wang's lawyers at Goodwin Proctor, in a heavily redacted sentencing submission, stated that her deceased husband Forest Cao "was 57 years old adn had no known health problems of medical conditions. No autopsy was performed."

 It also says, as to UN President of the General Assembly John Ashe, that while awaiting trial on UN bribery charges "his death was reported as the result of a 'weightlifting accident' after a barbell apparently crushed his throat."

  After the sentencing, Inner City Press with covered the Ng Lap Seng trial before SDNY Judge Vernon Broderick daily asked Wang's lawyer Derek A. Cohen if he was implying that Forest Cao and John Ashe were killed, and why he had so heavily redacted this sentencing submission.

 "It speaks for itself," Cohen said by the elevators. Likewise the Assistant U.S. Attorney on the case Daniel C. Richenthal declined Inner City Press' question about who beyond Ng Lap Seng Ms. Wang had cooperated against.

 Judge Daniels did not preside over the trial of Ng Lap Seng. He accepted the government's recommendation of time served with very little inquiry. 

  He said as if by rote that corruption of the UN is a serious matter. But if so, why should a person who paid bribes in the UN get such a light sentence with little public showing of the benefit of their cooperation?

   Corruption has continued at the UN since the prosecution of Ng Lap Seng, resulting in his four year prison sentence. A second, separately prosecution was brought against Patrick Ho of CEFC China Energy, an entity which also tried to buy the oil company of Lisbon-based Gulbenkian Foundation which employed current UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres as a compensated board member. 

  Neither in the Ho nor Ng Lap Seng cases where any of the UN Secretariat officials implicated in the bribery schemes prosecuted. 

  This laxity can be contrasted with another SDNY proceeding a mere hour later, in which Judge P. Kevin Castel looked behind the U.S. Attorney's Office's 5k1.1 cooperation letters and imposed jail time on the four siblings, the Seggermans, who evaded taxes. That underlying case was USA v. Little, 12-cr-647 (Castel). This bifurcated case is USA v. Wang, 16-cr-495 (Daniels).

 Vivi Wang helped bribe the UN, and on June 26 she got a time served sentence for undefined cooperation. Judge Castel looked behind the government's 5K1.1 letter but Judge Daniels did not. And the UN continues corrupt. Inner City Press will have more, much more, on this.

In SDNY Carpenters Union DeFalco Released To Home Detention With No Cell Phone and Stationary Job

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive Patreon

SDNY COURTHOUSE, June 27 – While many even most cases in the Magistrates Court of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York are sealed, on June 27before Magistrate Judge Robert Lehrburger one got unsealed, and one of the two defendants after argument got released on $500,000 bond but will home detention and no cell phone.

  In late morning it was announced: "unsealing of an Indictment charging leaders of two local chapters of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America (the “Union”) with accepting tens of thousands of dollars in cash bribes in return for guaranteeing admission to hundreds of prospective union members.  SALVATORE TAGLIAFERRO, the president of the Local 926 chapter of the Union, and JOHN DEFALCO, the vice president of the Local 157 chapter of the Union, were each charged with one count of honest services wire fraud, one count of conversion of union assets, and one count of conspiracy, in connection with their involvement in a scheme to solicit cash bribes in exchange for union membership.  DEFALCO was also charged with one count of witness tampering and one count of obstruction of justice, in connection with his attempts to interfere with the investigation of the scheme.  TAGLIAFERRO and DEFALCO, who were arrested this morning, are expected to be presented later today."

  Inner City Press asked, but presentments are not scheduled. This one occurred after 2:30 pm and it was a doozy. The government represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jarrod Schaeffer and Thomas McKay emphasized the DeFalco tried to obstruct the investigation, urging people to lie, using burner cell phones and "spoofers." Judge Lehrburger after a break allowed DeFalco out on $500,000 bond but he can only have a "stationary" job and no cell phone. Install a land line, he ordered, giving DeFalco two weeks. 2:

Earlier on June 27 a defendant pled guilty to wire fraud for embezzlement and the case number was given: 19-mj-2954.

  Cynthia Jordan, now 61, was arrested in March for stealing from the Wall Street firm in which she worked in the accounting department, to the tune of $688,142. Only $73,000 of this was by wire transfers, it emerged in the Mag Court with Inner City Press the only media present. There were also 59 false overtime payments, 111 paychecks and other hard copy checks. But it's all under wire fraud. The maximum sentence in 20 years in prison but there is a plea agreement, with the sentencing set for October 3. Inner City Press will continuing to follow this and other Mag Court cases.   u

    On June 25 Magistrate Judge Lehrburgerordered detained a defendant named Martinez charged with 33 kilograms of cocaine, a first name - Eliot - and a case number were provided: 19-mj-5950.

  But by 5 pm, even after Judge Lehrburger had detained Mr. Martinez and set a July 8 hearing, PACER said "Cannot find case 19-mj-5950." So Inner City Press reports: Judge Lehrburger said he did not find a risk of flight, but given the heavy weight of coke, and that Martinez violated the terms of his probation in New Jersey, he would be detained. This came four hours after an appearance before Judge Castel of a defendant accused of offenses against children, a defendant who unlike Martinez was allowed free on bond, to his mother's house in Freehold, New Jersey...  

On Cameroon Now Ireland Wants To Partner With Biya For UNSC Seat Shameful Like SG Guterres

By Matthew Russell Lee, Video

UNITED NATIONS GATE, June 27 – Afterthe UN Security Council held belated "Arriaformula" session about Cameroon on May 13, an informal one with no outcome on which even co-sponsors Germany and the UK refused to answer Press questions, hypocrisy and cover up of the UN's failure remain evident. Video by banned Inner City Press here.

  Ireland is a wanna-be member of the Security Council, and it is already bowing cravenly before Paul Biya's goverment looking for a vote, like Guterres. "A special envoy of the government of Ireland was on June 24 at the Ministry of External Relations to present the candidacy of his country.  The Minister Delegate to the Minister of External Relations in charge of Cooperation with the Commonwealth, Felix Mbayu on June 24, 2019 received in audience the special envoy of the government of Ireland, Ambassador Kenneth Thompson during which both personalities discussed on deepening cooperation ties and he presented Ireland's interest in becoming a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. Ambassador Kenneth Thompson was accompanied to the audience by the Ambassador, Head of European Union Delegation to Cameroon, Hans-Peter Schadeck. Speaking to reporters after the audience, Thompson said the reason he was in Cameroon and at the Ministry of External Relations was because Ireland is looking for a sit as a non-permanent member of the Security Council of the United Nations for the years 2021 and 2022. "But this campaign that we are running for the Security Council is important for us also as a way of getting Ireland better known in the world. It is true in Cameroon and in Francophone Africa, Ireland is not well known but we are working to improve these relations. We are very anxious that we are being seen as good partners of countries like Cameroon in the United Nations. " he stated. The special envoy noted that he listened to the very effective statement by the Minister Delegate on the problems that Cameroon is facing and on Cameroon's perspective towards the United Nations. "Cameroon of course has always been a strong defender of the multilateral system like Ireland and we will expect that if we are elected to the Security Council, we will be listening very carefully to the concerns of the government of Cameroon during that time and we will do everything that we can to make sure the that views of all the member States of the United Nations are reflected in any debate. We will always maintain an open dialogue," Thompson stated. While appreciating the model adopted by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) towards the promotion of certain values, trying to find human solutions to issues, taking into account differences in the society and upholding the values of peace, the special envoy equally stated that bilateral relations between both countries will be considerably improved."  Shameful.

   Belgium is a member of the Security Council,and heard what was said in the UNSC on May 13. Even the sanitized Lowcock and handpicked NGO version was troubling. But on May 25, "friends of Cameroon in Belgium joined officials of the Cameroon's embassy in celebrating the 47th edition of the National Day. The day was celebrated in Belgium on May 25, 2019 with a garden party organized at the courtyard of the residence of Cameroon's Ambassador to Belgium Daniel Evina who said this year's theme of the National Day was carefully chosen by the Head of State with emphasis on unity and living together within the present context where these virtues are seriously threatened especially in the North West and South West Regions of our great Fatherland. "This clearly shows that peace, unity in diversity and living together constitute cardinal values constantly preached by the Head of State, Paul Biya, the architect of our national unity and a leading peace crusader. Despite the security threats, our country has continued to follow its determination towards emergence in 2035," he stated. During the garden party, images on the touristic potentials of Cameroon, ongoing and accomplished projects were being projected on a giant screen with the Ambassador promising at the end to constantly make available verifiable and authentic information on the evolution of situations in Cameroon. The guests on their departure from the ceremony were each handed sachets of Cameroon coffee as well as the last four special editions of 'Jeune Afrique Economique' Magazines. Three of these magazines have President Paul Biya at their cover pages with information therein elaborately on an improved image of Cameroon." Wow. We'll have more on this.

And on this: early on the morning of May 6 Inner City Press submitted written questions, this one to the UN Mission of Belgium which has done nothing at all about Guterres' now 312 days of banning Inner City Press: "Press Q re Cameroon, any UNSC meeting, Belgian Mission's position on that and continued banning of Inner City Press from entering UN - To: peter.verbrugghe [at] diplobel.fed.be, isabelle.bardijn [at] diplobel.fed.be, newyorkUN [at] diplobel.fed.be: this is a Press request to the Belgian Mission as a member of the UN Security Council to be informed this morning of your Mission's knowledge of any upcoming UNSC meeting about Cameroon of any kind, including Any Other Business informal consultations, whether May 13 or any other date. Inner City Press wrote to you about this in July 2018, below.     Also, what is your country's position on the situation there and what will / would it seek to accomplish at any UNSC meeting (and if there is no meeting, why not). Relatedly, please explain how it is legitimate for the UN to bar entry to Inner City Press after ousting it while it covered the 3 July 2018 Fifth (Budget) Committee then chaired by Cameroon, and asked about this situation and other under-performance by the UN. Inner City Press' most recent application for re-accreditation to enter and cover the UNSC stakeout, submitted on 15 April 2019, was denied without explanation on April 17. ("Greetings Matthew LEE from ICP     INNER CITY PRESS,  Your media accreditation request, with reference no: M66561081, has been declined.") What has your Mission does, or what will it do, about this?" 25 full days later, after UN noon briefings promoting Guterres' and Dujarric's current European junket, and still no answer. Collusion in censorship - and more...

  On the other hand, publicly (mis) funded Voice of America which has Guterres favored access to the UN ran an article about the Arria meeting not by its UN correspondent but by another, who now writes about the Cameroon military with NO MENTION of its killings in the SW and NW of the country, or even abuses of civilians in the North. This is from VOA: "A Cameroon military engineering corps compactor is constructing a portion of the road linking its northern border town of Kousseri to the Chadian capital Ndjamena and Borno state in northeastern Nigeria.  Colonel Jackson Kamgain, director of Cameroon military engineering corps, says they re-launched the World Bank-sponsored project in March 2018 after it had been abandoned for four years.  He said since independence in 1961, the Cameroon military engineering corps has participated actively in the development of all localities and insures that major projects in conflict zones are not abandoned unlike in many other countries where military engineering departments concentrate only on making access easy for troops in areas of war or conflicts." Why are taxpayers funding this?Or VOA after it lobbied UN Stephane Dujarricto oust Inner City Press, here?

The May 13 meeting ended without any outcome, after Paul Biya's longtime Ambassador Tommo Monthe lashed out at social media as UNSG Antonio Guterres does. Monthe told Inner City Press, as it asked about Biya cutting the Internet in the Anglophone zones, that Inner City Press could get thrown out of the UN. And it was, by Guterres, now 332 days and counting.

 (Inner City Press went and began interested at the Ambazonia / Southern Cameroonsdemonstration in the 47th Street park, in the rain, video here.)

  More here.