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In SDNY For 1997 Bronx Murder 9 Guilty Verdicts on 12 Counts After Lengthy Cold Case Trial

By Matthew Russell Lee, Periscope, Photos

SDNY COURTHOUSE, March 29 – After a long trial of two defendants involving the Bronx murder of Alex Ventura 22 years ago on 22 December 1997 before U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Kevin Castel, on March 29 the jury returned nine guilty verdicts on 12 counts. For Defendant Robert Acosta it was guilty on Counts 1 through 5 but non guilty on Count 6. For Defendant Jose Diaz it was non guilty on Counts 1 and 2, but guilty on Counts three through six. Substantial jail sentenced will be imposed, and Inner City Press will be there to report on the sentencing. The case is United States v. Robert Acosta and Jose Diaz, 18 Cr. 80 (PKC). 

On March 27 after the jury went into their room, with marshal in the hall outside, Judge Castel told the seven lawyers they were all welcome to come back and appear before him. That would be, for the government, Laurie Korenbaum, Michael Krouse and Nicholas Chiuchiolo;  for Jose Diaz, Susan Katherine Marcus and Florian Miedel, and for Robert Acosta Bruce D. Koffsky and Barry A. Weinstein. 

Judge Castel said only a grueling work load for lawyers on trial keep the jury trial system going, so the jury service is tolerable in terms of length. Then he added his eight minute rule - that they should not go back to their offices (except maybe the prosecutors, to St. Andrew's Place), so they can return to court on eight minutes' notice in case the jurors send a note out. The US v. Latique Johnson trial Inner City Press has been covering or trying to cover across Pearl Street in 40 Foley Square, it remains unclear if the exhibits will be put online or notice given. Earlier this week Inner City Press dropped by and asked one of the defense lawyers, the one who waved a gun around during summation, if there had been jury notes. Yes, he said. But what did they say? 

In the Bronx cold case, two days before on on March 25 a government witness described how his van was shot at on Thanksgiving 1997 as he drove away from a disco he found too crowded. The defense quizzed him if he had been selling drugs on 26 March 1999 and 29 January 2000 and 2 February 2001 before being deported to the Dominican Republic. "I would just sell them when I needed a couple of bucks," he said. As to who killed his brother, witness Ventura said, "I know who did it." While Inner City Press had to leave to coverthe Michael Avenatti presentment 12 stories higher in the SDNY courthouse, a person watching the entire trial marveled to Inner City Press that "the defendants wife came, she works for Immigration, how is that possible." We'll have more on this ongoing trial. Back on March 21 a former NY police officer now working in Florida testified about stopping a white van with a gun in it on 188th Street and the Grand Concourse on 29 August 1991 and, along with Officer Serge Denecko, arresting for men in the van. Earlier a woman who was shot at and grazed on the chin described seeing a gun sticking out the passenger's side, and that Hinton, her ex boyfriend, sold drugs on 149th Street under the direction of "Rob," presumably the defendant Roberto Acosta a/k/a Mojica. More and more facts are coming in - maybe too many? Back on March 20 a now elderly man who had moved tens of kilos of cocaine in 1998 was cross examined about how much times he has met with the prosecution to prepare this testimony. It got repetitive, as pointed out by U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Kevin Castel. Did he meet Detective Vasquez on January 26, 2018? He couldn't remember the date but yes, many times. Did Detective Vasquez drive him around and take photographs of the sights and stash-houses he pointed out (presumably including 156th and Broadway)? Yes. Later on March 20 there were two forms of testimony about University Avenue in The Bronx. There was the double murder, on 22 December 1997, Carlos Ventura and another. By 1999 there were payments into the prison commissary account of Jose Diaz a/k/a Cano, a full $200 from Joyce Pettaway who lived in Apartment 4-G of 2769 University Avenue from September 1992 to November 5, 2001, according to a stipulation by the landlord Jonah Associated. There was a long sidebar about an objection to double hearsay; there was a reference to two cassette tapes of recorded conversations between Robert Acosta a/k/a Mojica and a person whose name was redacted, and a description of how evidence is destroyed. Two days before, the now-old man testified about picking drugs up in Jackson Heights, Queens and Lodi, New Jersey and cooking it into crack in an an apartment on the aforementioned (and photographed) 156th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. At day's end under cross examination he described in detail buying a kilo of coke for $40,000 and selling it for $125 a gram - a mark up for nearly 300%. The goal seemed to be to get the jury to see the witness as a predator, not exactly difficult, despite how he has aged. 

  He said he would fly to Miami and buy the cocaine from " a Colombia gentleman" named Jose Picardo; he described without objection "un africano" named Mike and two Dominican women paid $10,000 each to flying into Newark from the Dominican with heroin strapped to their bodies. The money to pay them exchanged hands in a restaurant on 155th Street and Edgecombe Avenue, "on the way to Yankee Stadium." Where the old Polo Grounds used to be... 

In SDNY Lawyer Lazzaro Is Cleared in Curcio Hearing to Rep Hernandez with Face Tattoo

By Matthew Russell Lee, Periscope, Photos

SDNY COURTHOUSE, March 28 – When defendant Daniel Hernandez was brought for his Curcio hearing into the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York courtroom of Judge Paul A. Engelmayer on March 28, he was shackled hand and foot, sporting four colored braids and face tattoos and a wide smile. He conference with Dawn Florida, his non-conflicted counsel as the docket puts it, but also with the allegedly conflicted lawyer Lance Lazzaro. Then Judge Engelmayer began his questions, about Hernandez' GED and if he understood and accepted the possible conflict of interest.

  Only that morning co-defendant Kifano Jordan pled guilty. But Faheem Walter, whom Lazzaro also represented in the past, had not pled guilty. The case is U.S. v. Jones et al, 18-cr-00834-PAE, a/k/a Nine Trey Gangster Bloods.

  Hernandez said Kifano Jordan had referred him to Lazzaro on a state case (in the elevator afterward when Inner City Press asked about this case, the answer was that it has been dismissed); he became aware Lazzaro had represented Faheem Walter when Lazzaro made an appearance for Walter sometime in October or November 2018. He said he understood the conflicts and accepted them. Judge Engelmayer said he accepted it. Lazzaro is back. Minutes later in the sunshine outside 500 Pearl Street Lazzaro was working his phone on another case. And so it goes in the SDNY.

The day before on March 27 after a long trial for a Bronx murder 22 years ago in 1997, SDNY Judge Kevin Castel read instructions for the jury and told them, "And with that, you may discuss the case among yourself." After the jury went into their room, with marshal in the hall outside, Judge Castel told the seven lawyers they were all welcome to come back and appear before him. He said only a grueling work load for lawyers on trial keep the jury trial system going, so the jury service is tolerable in terms of length. Then he added his eight minute rule - that they should not go back to their offices (except maybe the prosecutors, to St. Andrew's Place), so they can return to court on eight minutes' notice in case the jurors send a note out. The US v. Latique Johnson trial Inner City Press has been covering or trying to cover across Pearl Street in 40 Foley Square, it remains unclear if the exhibits will be put online or notice given. Earlier this week Inner City Press dropped by and asked one of the defense lawyers, the one who waved a gun around during summation, if there had been jury notes. Yes, he said. But what did they say? In the Bronx cold case, two days before on on March 25 a government witness described how his van was shot at on Thanksgiving 1997 as he drove away from a disco he found too crowded. The defense quizzed him if he had been selling drugs on 26 March 1999 and 29 January 2000 and 2 February 2001 before being deported to the Dominican Republic. "I would just sell them when I needed a couple of bucks," he said. As to who killed his brother, witness Ventura said, "I know who did it." While Inner City Press had to leave to coverthe Michael Avenatti presentment 12 stories higher in the SDNY courthouse, a person watching the entire trial marveled to Inner City Press that "the defendants wife came, she works for Immigration, how is that possible." We'll have more on this ongoing trial. Back on March 21 a former NY police officer now working in Florida testified about stopping a white van with a gun in it on 188th Street and the Grand Concourse on 29 August 1991 and, along with Officer Serge Denecko, arresting for men in the van. Earlier a woman who was shot at and grazed on the chin described seeing a gun sticking out the passenger's side, and that Hinton, her ex boyfriend, sold drugs on 149th Street under the direction of "Rob," presumably the defendant Roberto Acosta a/k/a Mojica. More and more facts are coming in - maybe too many? Back on March 20 a now elderly man who had moved tens of kilos of cocaine in 1998 was cross examined about how much times he has met with the prosecution to prepare this testimony. It got repetitive, as pointed out by U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Kevin Castel. Did he meet Detective Vasquez on January 26, 2018? He couldn't remember the date but yes, many times. Did Detective Vasquez drive him around and take photographs of the sights and stash-houses he pointed out (presumably including 156th and Broadway)? Yes. Later on March 20 there were two forms of testimony about University Avenue in The Bronx. There was the double murder, on 22 December 1997, Carlos Ventura and another. By 1999 there were payments into the prison commissary account of Jose Diaz a/k/a Cano, a full $200 from Joyce Pettaway who lived in Apartment 4-G of 2769 University Avenue from September 1992 to November 5, 2001, according to a stipulation by the landlord Jonah Associated. There was a long sidebar about an objection to double hearsay; there was a reference to two cassette tapes of recorded conversations between Robert Acosta a/k/a Mojica and a person whose name was redacted, and a description of how evidence is destroyed. Two days before, the now-old man testified about picking drugs up in Jackson Heights, Queens and Lodi, New Jersey and cooking it into crack in an an apartment on the aforementioned (and photographed) 156th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. At day's end under cross examination he described in detail buying a kilo of coke for $40,000 and selling it for $125 a gram - a mark up for nearly 300%. The goal seemed to be to get the jury to see the witness as a predator, not exactly difficult, despite how he has aged. 

  He said he would fly to Miami and buy the cocaine from " a Colombia gentleman" named Jose Picardo; he described without objection "un africano" named Mike and two Dominican women paid $10,000 each to flying into Newark from the Dominican with heroin strapped to their bodies. The money to pay them exchanged hands in a restaurant on 155th Street and Edgecombe Avenue, "on the way to Yankee Stadium." Where the old Polo Grounds used to be... 

   Earlier in the day there were hearsay objections made to Judge Castel which he took to the sidebar. The courtroom was relatively full, but apparently no media other than Inner City Press. The testimony was specific: the cocaine was driving from Texas to the Lodi NJ car mechanic shop owned by a man named Wilmer. The cocaine was welded into the floor of a truck. Roberto Acosta's cars all had traps for drugs, money and guns. The now old man was paid, not by the week, but by the job: how much was moved. He used his apartment in Yonkers and the parking place that came with it. Acosta recruited him in 1997, the year of the underlying murder, in La Estrella #2. The old man couldn't remember what kind of cell phone Acosta used in those days, only that it was small.

In SDNY After Rifle Waved Around Latique Johnson Blood Hound Brims Found Guilty Little Transparency

By Matthew Russell Lee, Periscope, Photos

SDNY COURTHOUSE, March 28 – For weeks the trial of US v. Latique Johnson et al plodded along in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Courtroom 318 in 40 Foley Square; on March 20 a defense lawyer was giving his summation, waving around a rifle before SDNY Judge Paul G. Gardephe. Inner City Press, while the jury was out, asked him if there had been any jury notes. He said yes, but that was it. Requests to be informed when the jury came back were unavailable, despite talk of general deterrence. Now on March 28, about March 27, this: "LATIQUE JOHNSON, a/k/a “La Brim,” a/k/a “Straight 2 Business,” a/k/a “Breezy,” a/k/a “Boss Dog,” BRANDON GREEN, a/k/a “Light,” a/k/a “Moneywell,” and DONNELL MURRAY, a/k/a “Don P,” were found guilty yesterday of racketeering conspiracy, narcotics trafficking conspiracy, and firearms offenses in connection with their membership in the “Blood Hound Brims” (“BHB”), a violent street and prison gang that operated in New York City, upstate New York, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere.  

In addition, JOHNSON and MURRAY were found guilty of committing assault in aid of racketeering for a 2012 shooting at a fast food restaurant in the Bronx involving an AK-47 firearm.  JOHNSON was found guilty of attempted murder in aid of racketeering for ordering a 2012 shooting of rival gang members in the Bronx.  The convictions followed a five-week trial before the Honorable Paul G. Gardephe.  U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said:  “Latique Johnson, Brandon Green, and Donnell Murray were leaders of the Blood Hound Brims, a ruthless gang, and were responsible for extensive narcotics trafficking and terrible violence.  They now stand convicted of their crimes, and will no longer be able to inflict harm on the people of this city.”  According to court documents and the evidence at trial:  BHB was a criminal enterprise that operated principally in the greater New York area, from 2005 to 2016.  BHB was a faction of the Bloods street gang, which operates nationwide, and is under the New York Blood Brim Army (“NYBBA”).  The BHB operated within and around various locations in New York, including New York City, Westchester County, Elmira, and in Pennsylvania, as well as within and outside federal and state penal systems.  The BHB used a hierarchical structure that was organized, in part, by geography, including New York City, and that was maintained, in part, through the payment of dues.  The founder and leader of the Gang was JOHNSON, and other members and associates of the BHB referred to JOHNSON as the “Godfather.”  The Gang was divided into several “pedigrees,” each of which had its own leadership structure which was approved by JOHNSON.  Other leadership positions included, among others, treasurers who collected dues from members of a particular pedigree, and individuals who performed security and disciplinary functions for the pedigree.  In addition to JOHNSON, GREEN, and MURRAY all held leadership positions within the Gang at different times.  Members of the BHB had regular meetings, sometimes called “pow wows” or “9-11s,” at which members were required to pay dues.  Some of the meetings were among members of a particular pedigree, and other meetings were for all members of the Enterprise.  Word of the meetings was disseminated via text message, word-of-mouth, and flyers.  The BHB’s business, including rivalries with other gangs, shootings, the arrest of gang members, guns, and drugs, was regularly discussed at these meetings.  “Kitty dues” – money that paid for commissary funds, lawyers, guns, and drugs, and that served as tribute to JOHNSON – were collected at these meetings.  The BHB maintained its own rules and constitution that new members were required to learn.  Members of the BHB also used code words and secret phrases to communicate with each other both while in prison and on the street in order to avoid detection by law enforcement.  One of the BHB’s principal objectives was to sell cocaine base, commonly known as “crack cocaine,” powder cocaine, and heroin, which members and associates of the BHB sold throughout the greater New York area and in Pennsylvania.   Members and associates of the BHB engaged in multiple acts of violence against rival gangs.  These acts of violence included assaults and attempted murders, and were committed to protect the Gang’s drug territory, to retaliate against members of rival gangs who had encroached on the territory controlled by the BHB, and to otherwise promote the standing and reputation of the Gang vis-à-vis rival gangs.  These acts of violence also included assaults and attempted murders against members and associates of the BHB itself, as part of internal power struggles within the Gang.  For example, on January 28, 2012, in the Bronx, New York, JOHNSON, aided and abetted by MURRAY, used an AK-47 assault rifle to fire into a restaurant where rival gang members were gathered, injuring two individuals who survived the shooting.  The violence continued in fall of 2012 when JOHNSON ordered the shooting of two other members of a rival gang, who survived." Back on March 22 the courtroom was quiet with six in the audience and the defense lawyers - but not prosecutors - waiting. Inner City Press stopped in and waited, since neither the government nor administration will commit to announcing when the jury comes back. The public has spent much money on this prosecution; the government called it a proceeding of interest. But where are the exhibits? Where is the commitment to notice? What of general deterrence, if it comes to that? Back on March 20 the lawyer asked, Do you think you could stuff this rifle in your pants? And get in the back of a taxi? It's ludicrous. He also mocked a proffered jailhouse confession -- "who does that?" -- and emphasized that government witness Rosario had access to discovery in the case. You've read the book, now you can tell the story, the defense lawyer snarked, telling you jury, You won't lend these witnesses fifty dollars, why should you believe them? The rifle appeared again, (mis) described as a "baby AK" in connection with the "chicken spot shooting." At day's end on March 18, the defense had asked for a ruling on a cryptic note among the 3500 material: "Prince shot  Box kills = beef b/t egp and brims."  Judge Gardephe asked the lawyers, That's some gangster or gang? Well, yes: East Gangster Bloods and bloodhound brims, was the answer, all leading to a shoot out on White Plains Road in The Bronx. Judge Gardephe said, Let the jury decide what it means, if as the government says it's two incidents (Prince being shot and Box being killed) or at the defense surmises, Prince shooting Box to death. Judge Gardephe said he will rule on March 19 on the phone calls Latique Johnson the defendant wants to offer.  The case began with a sealed indictment, signed by Preet Bharara in 2016, alleging the use of a firearm for a drug dealing conspiracy in The Bronx. Preet has moved on, but the trial continues. On March 15 there was talk of sour diesel marijuana packed in vacuum sealed bags, BWM car keys and digital scales. Judge Gardephe said he would not be comfortable with a witness saying he thought the Facebook photo showed marijuana; the relative attributability of Instagram and Facebook pages was discussed, although the companies are commonly owned. During the trial the jury has only sat 9:30 to 2:30; next week it will shift to a full shift to 5 pm if Judge Gardephe has his way. Inner City Press will be there - watch this site. Back on March 8 a shooting in The Bronx in October 2018 was the subject of an ill-attended SDNY conference. Jerome Jackson is described as in a white t-shirt with silver handgun on 2 October 2018 on Freeman Street - but in the SDNY courtroom of Judge Kevin Castel he was in jail house blues and shackles. His lawyer Julia Gatto questioned whether the NYPD detectives who questioned Jackson about the shooting were in fact part of a joint task force with the Feds - no, Karin Potlock for the government said, and on that basis no suppression - and questioned probable cause. There will be a hearing on that on April Fools Day and Inner City Press aims to be there. The case is US v. Jackson, 18 CR 760. A week before on March 1 when Statue of Liberty climber Patricia Okoumou appeared in the SDNY , it was to face revocation of bail for more recent climbs, all to protest the separation of immigrant families. SDNY Judge Gorenstein did not revoke bail but imposed house arrest. He jibed that it appeared Ms. Okoumou could only support herself by donations garnered by climbing. Afterward Inner City Press asked her lawyer Ron Kuby about this argument. He said the judge has it precisely wrong, or in reverse: she raised money because she is an activist, she is not an actively in order to make money. Ms. Okoumou raised her fist, and headed to Staten Island. Photos here. Inner City Press, which interviewed Okoumou on December 5 just after another SDNY decision, in the Patrick Ho / CEFC China Energy UN bribery case, headed out and streamed this Periscope, and this Q&A, with more to come, on this case and others. How guns eject shell casings was the subject of expert testimony in a Bronx gang trial on February 27 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Before Judge Robert W. Sweet, an ATF agent traced a bullet back to Illinois; under cross examination he said a shell casing might eject feet rather than yards unless it bounced on something. Then testimony went back to 2007, a 14-year old with a gun heading from the Millbrook projects to the Mitchell Houses. The defense asked for a mistrial when the name of a second gang was introduced; the prosecution shot back (so to speak) that it came from photos on the defendant's own Facebook page. And so it goes in trials these days. Back on February 25 a prison sentence of life plus five years was imposed for a Bronx murder by SDNY Chief Judge Colleen McMahon on February 25. She presided over the trial in which Stiven Siri-Reynoso was convicted of, among other things, murder in aid of racketeering for the death of Jessica White, a 28 year old mother of three, in the Bronx in 2016. Jessica White's mother was in the court room; she was greeted by Judge McMahon but declined to speak before sentencing. Siri-Reynoso was representing himself by this point, with a back-up counsel by his side. Judge McMahon told him, "You're a very smart man... a tough guy, a calculating person... You are a coward, sent a child to do it for you... Your emissary shot the wrong person, a lovely lady... It was a vicious, evil attack against the good people of that neighborhood." When she imposed the life plus five sentence, a woman on the Jessica White side of the courtroom cried out, yes Ma'am, put the animal away! Later, after Siri-Reynoso ended asking how he can get more documents about the case, a woman on his side of the courtroom said, "No te preocupes, muchacho, Dios sabe lo que hace" - don't worry, God knows what he is doing. But does He? Earlier on February 25 when the government tried to defend its 2018 change of policy or practice on Special Immigrant Juvenile status in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge John G. Koeltl had many questions about the change. He asked, are you saying that all the decisions before 2018 were just wrong, under a policy in place but not implemented at the time? In the overflow courtroom 15C the largely young audience laughed, as the government lawyer tried to say it wasn't a change of policy but rather an agency interpretation of the statute. Shouldn't there have been notice and comment rulemaking under the Administrative Procedure Act? The government said the argument proffered for this was about the Freedom of Information Act (on which, as Inner City Press has noted, the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has similarly reversed its policy 180 degrees without justification). SDNY Judge Koeltl demanded t know if the government is arguing that no juvenile court in New York, California (and maybe Texas for other reasons he said) is empowered to grant relief. The answer was far from clear - but where the ruling is going does seem so. Watch this site. The Bangladeshi Central Bank which was hacked for $81 million in February 2016, on January 31 sued in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. Now the first pre-trial conference in the case has been set, for 2 April 2019 before SDNY Judge Lorna G. Schofield. Inner City Press will be there. 

In Dhaka, the Criminal Investigation Department which failed to submit its probe report into the heist on time has now been ordered by Metropolitan Magistrate Sadbir Yasir Ahsan Chowdhury to do so by March 13 in Bangladesh Bank cyber heist case. 

In the U.S. District Court for Central California, the unsealed criminal complaint against Park Jin Hyuk lists four email addresses involved in spear-phishing Bangladesh Bank and among others an unnamed "African Bank;" one of these addresses is said to also have communicated with an individual in Australia about importing commodities to North Korea in violations of UN sanctions. 

To the Federal Reserve, Inner City Press has requested records relating to the Fed's role with response due in 20 working days - watch this site. In the SDNY, the case is Bangladesh Bank v Rizal Commercial Banking Corp et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 19-00983. On February 3 in Dhaka Bangladesh Bank's lawyer Ajmalul Hossainsaid it could take three years to recover the money. The Bank's deputy governor Abu Hena Razee Hasan said those being accused -- in the civil not criminal suit -- include three Chinese nationals. Ajmalul Hossain said the Bank is seeking its hacked million plus interest and its expenses in the case. He said US Federal Reserve will extend its full support and that SWIFT, the international money transfer network, also assured of providing all the necessary cooperation in recovering the hacked money.  The Philippines returned $14.54 million in November 2016, so $66.46 million has yet to be retrieved. Now defendant RCBC Bank of the Philippines has hired the Quinn Emanuel law firm to defend it, and it already fighting back in words. RCBC’s lead counsel on the SDNY case, Tai-Heng Cheng, said:  “This is nothing more than a thinly veiled PR campaign disguised as a lawsuit. Based on what we have heard this suit is completely baseless. If the Bank of Bangladesh was serious about recovering the money, they would have pursued their claims three years ago and not wait until days before the statute of limitations. Not only are the allegations false, they don’t have the right to file here since none of the defendants are in the US." But it seems the funds were transferred to and through the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. And as Inner City Press reported in the US v. Patrick Ho case last year, the wiring of funds through New York can confer jurisdiction. Inner City Press will be covering this case. The first paragraph of the 103 page complaint reads, "This litigation involves a massive, multi-year conspiracy to carry out one of the largest banks heists in modern history right here in New York City. On February 4, 2016, thieves reached into a bank account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (“New York Fed”) and stole approximately $101 million (out of the nearly $1 billion they attempted to steal). The bank account was held for the benefit of Bangladesh Bank, which is Bangladesh’s Central Bank. Bangladesh Bank has had a 45-year banking relationship under which it has placed its international reserves with the New York Fed. The New York Fed is a critical component of the United States’ central banking system and its link to the international financial system." Bangladesh's lawyers on the case are "COZEN O’CONNOR John J. Sullivan, Esq.  Jesse Loffler, Esq. Yehudah Gordon, Esq." We'll have more on this.

Debaprasad Debnath, a general manager at the central bank’s Financial Intelligence Unit, Joint Director Mohammad Abdur Rab and Account and Budgeting Department General Manager Zakir Hossain all left Dhaka to head to New York, for the filing of the lawsuit, which Inner City Press will be following. 

They say the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which on January 29 was instructed by the US State Department to allow Juan Guaido to access Venezuelan accounts, will be helping its Bangladeshi counterpart to get to the bottom of the hack.  Those eyed include Philippines’ Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation or RCBC and some of its officials, and Philrem Service Corporation, casino owners and beneficiaries. Ajmalul Hossain QC, a lawyer for the central bank, is with them to file the case. 

It is an interesting twist on the SDNY as venue for the money laundering and FCPA prosecution of Patrick Ho of CEFC for bribery in Chad and to Uganda - in this case, too, the money flowed through New York. Inner City Press intends to cover the case. 

In SDNY Predatory Telemarketers Sentenced to 87 and 52 and Just 12 months Robbing Victims High on Oxy

By Matthew Russell Lee, CEFC Video, Scope

SDNY COURTHOUSE, March 27 – A predatory scheme by drug addled New Jersey telemarketers resulted in three jail sentences imposed over the course of more hours in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York on March 27. First up before SDNY Judge Sidney Stein, starting at 3:30 pm, was relative pawn Ray Quilis, who it was said only working on "fulfillment" for the scam providing useless products sold to the dupes of the scheme. Quilis wept and spoke of each of his three sons, saying that the middle one is "gay or bisexual" and needs him. His youngest son, he said, has autism and can now open the front door and wander out. There was some discussion of how much of his reasons to seek a lower sentence were sealed. But this was said in open court. He got a year and a day and, during his three years of supervised release, 160 hours a year of community service, for example on autism - but, Judge Stein emphasized, not only for his son but for the whole community.

  Next up was Arash Ketabchi, whose father was in the courtroom. His lawyer Mr. Becker contested at least three things in the pre sentencing report - Judge Stein called on of them much ado about nothing "but I'm trying to accommodate you" - and again, the invocation of psychological problems and family ties. Arash Ketabchi, a psychologist has written, gets a rush for ripping people off. One victim, Jane Thomson, was robbed of all her money, then of all she could charge against credit cards - and then was hard-sold debt forgiveness for more. Reference was made to the sentencing of Paul Manaford, which Inner City Press covered in person, and to Arash Ketabchi soliciting oxy "dirty urine" from Andrew Owimrin, the next defendant, in order to get more drugs to sell. Still and all, A.A. was cited and in the audience one Mr. Quinn, who exchanged smiles with Inner City Press the only media in the courtroom. A sentence of 87 months was imposed, after which his father who'd given him candy stores he'd pushed into bankruptcy hugged a range of people in Courtroom 23A. A fifteen minute break was taken.

  With night falling over Chinatown outside, another Ketabchi sentencing was postponed, but that of previously mentioned Andrew Owimrin went forward, with his girlfriend and friends in the courtroom. He was just a salesman, his lawyer Mr. Schmidt argued, who entered the scheme innocent and stayed on for the oxy. And so he said himself, as the clock neared eight pm - he became addicted, keeping the job to keep access to the drugs. When he's released from prison, he said, citing his girlfriend Lizzy and his dog, he will return to manual labor and through it pay back the forfeiture, a flat $100,000. But what will be the restitution? There's sixty days for that. Watch this site.

Earlier on March 27, bribe money taken by then Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo from Taiwan was the subject of an oral argument  before SDNY Judge Loretta Preska. The lawyer for Ortilia Portillo Padua insisted that the government could only show that $2.1 million came from Taiwan, and that there are disputes of fact about the rest. The U.S. government is moving for summary judgment, in a case that stretches back to 2009. Some money flowed through the Banco del Ejercito (Bank of the Army) and Banorte; other money is in Europe. 

Inner City Press, the only media at the March 27 hearing, could not help remarking that Judge Preska in late 2018 heard or saw evidence about bribes to Senegal, from China, to un-recognize Taiwan. Two days earlier on March 25 Patrick Ho was sentenced to 36 months in jail for UN bribery and having "sold weapons enthusiastically," along with a$400,000 fine imposed by Judge Preska. While the UN has yet to even audit the activities of Ho's China Energy Fund Committee in the UN, prosecutor Daniel C. Richenthal in Monday's sentencing proceeding said Ho and CEFC "sold weapons enthusiastically." Afterward Inner City Press, which has asked the UN for its response, asked Ho's defense lawyer Edward Y. Kim if he will appeal. We are considering our options, Kim said. Post-sentencing Periscope video here.

  During the sentencing proceeding it was said that Ho had, in the MCC, mentored another inmate sentenced by Preska. (The odds of that need to be calculated.) The MCC bought Ho a violin; Richenthal said Ho had hidden and liquidated a Swiss bank account while incarcerated. While no Supervised Release was ordered, with the understanding that Ho will be removed from the U.S. once his sentence is up, it has emerged that Ho's passport has expired and has not been renewed. We'll have more on this. 

  While UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was refusing throughout 2018 to begin any UN audit into China Energy Fund Committee, implicated in the UN bribery prosecution US v Patrick Ho, Guterres had a secret: his role on the board of Gulbenkian Foundation which was trying to sell its Partex Oil affiliate to CEFC. See Inner City Press' first exclusive report here.

   Now later of March 25 Ho is set to be sentenced by U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Preska. In the run up, RTHK Television in Hong Kong has broadcast a 21 minute documentary, complete with Guterres refusing to answer Inner City Press' questions about the verdict, here at Minute 17. With 300,000 views in Chinese, it is set to be re-released in English after the sentencing.

  While Guterres continues to ban from entry the Press which asked him about his CEFC links, now in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York the sentencing of Patrick Ho, long set for March 14, has been pushed back to March 25. Now the government has filed its sentencing submission, asking for at east five years imprisonment and a fine of $400,000. It notes Ho's own emails saying that it is the Belt and Road Initiative that is up for sentencing / implicated: " In one email, for example, he stated: “Please tell SH [i.e., Shanghai, the headquarters of CEFC China] that we need solidarity most at this time, and cannot be divided. . . . Please tell SH, if we are on the same line, with their support, I will fight to the very end. For it is not only HO who is on trial, it is [CEFC NGO], the Company, Country and Chinese values are on trial.” And in a phone call, he stated that “they,” apparently referring to the Government, are using him to get to the “big tiger,” and to discredit “The Belt and Road,” an initiative of the Chinese government." But it is the UN too, so corrupted under Guterres there has yet to be an audit of CEFC in the UN, its business with other PGAs and UN officials, its invitation to Peter Thomson and others - and its attempt to buy the oil company of Gulbenkian Foundation which paid money to Guterres. Here from the sentencing submission is an indication of whom and what these UN officials do business with: " the defendant sent his assistant an email stating, “I am going to BJ [i.e., Beijing] this Friday to see [the Chairman of CEFC NGO and CEFC China] on Sat afternoon. The documents I want to send him before hand in separate items are: . . . 7. Iranian connection (brief).”7  Other items in the numbered list included “[a] few PR items in the US with photo of PGA Kutesa,” “Chad President Report (brief),” “Croatia Oil company,” “PAZ Oil company,” and “Husky Oil team (Canada).” On the same date, the defendant sent his assistant another email, attaching a document, which stated, in pertinent part: 7) Iranian Connection . . . Iran has money in a Bank in china which is under sanction. Iran wishes to purchase precious metal with this money. The precious metal is available through a Bank in HK which cannot accept money from the Bank in China which holds the money but is under sanction. The Iranian agent is looking for a Chinese company acting as a middle man in such transactions and will pay commission. (details to be presented orally) The Iranian connection has strong urge to establish trading relationship with us in oil and products . . . . The following year, in June 2015, the defendant received an email that stated, in pertinent part: “The Iranian team will arrive in BJ . . . . See the attached.” The attachment referenced in the email was a PowerPoint presentation entitled “Presentation to Potential Partners Iran Petroleum Investments'"... an individual sent the defendant an email, stating, “I have the list and end user agreement. Pls advise next step.” On the same day, the defendant replied, in pertinent part, “Find a way to pass them onto me and we can execute that right away[].” The individual replied, “Attached. [W]e have the funding and processing mechanisms in place. If it works nice there will be much more. Also for S. Sudan.” The attachment to this email was a document entitled “End User Certificate,” certifying that the user of the goods in question would be the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Libya. The goods listed on the document included numerous arms, including “mortar rounds,” “ammunition,” “anti-tank . . . launcher,” “rocket launchers,” and “grenade launchers.” The following month, the defendant sent an email that stated in pertinent part: “It so turns out Qatar also needs urgently a list of toys from us. But for the same reason we had for Libya, we cannot sell directly to them. Is there a way you could act as an intermediary in both cases?” The person whom the defendant emailed replied: “Qatar good chance bc there is no embargo. Libya is another case bc going against an embargo is tricky.” The defendant responded: “Qatar needs new toys quite urgently. Their chief is coming to China and we hope to give them a piece of good news. Please confirm soonest.” Weapons, new toys for Qatar, the offer of weapons to Chad for oil - all through the UN, unaudited by SG Guterres with his own conflict of interest and financial connection to CEFC. We'll have more on this. Ho  filed a more than one hundred page sentencing submission, the memo accompanying which says "Beginning in 2013, the CEFC Think Tank also held annual symposia at the United Nations (“UN”) devoted to issues raised at the most recent annual political convention in China. In addition, the CEFC Think Tank, in consultation with the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (“UN-DESA”), established and funded the “Powering the Future We Want” grant—an annual $1 million award for a promising sustainable energy project (the “Energy Grant”). The CEFC Think Tank donated approximately $2 million to the UN every year to fund the prize and its administration." And yet Guterres has never audited this, choosing instead to rough up and ban the Press which asked him why he wouldn't audit (the answer seems to be Guterres' paid position with the Gulbenkian Foundation which tried to sell its oil company to CEFC). Ho's sentencing submission index  lists Frederick Tschernutter and former Shell Oil CEO John D. Hofmeister. UNSG Antonio Guterres, of course, has refused to audit Ho's CEFC's activities in the amid his conflict of interest and censorship. In the UN Committee on Non Governmental Organizations on January 21 the US belatedly requested the suspension or dis-accreditation of CEFC from the UN. This is what Guterres has refused to act on for more than a year, while concealing his links to the group. CEFC was given until Friday, January 25 to answer on the issues. The acting chief of the UN NGO branch on Friday afternoon said it had not responded. Pakistan and Russia raised questions if this meant that as a matter of precedent it should have its status withdrawn. On January 28 following a written inquiry by Inner City Press a self-described diplomat on the NGO committee confirmed that "the NGO Committee recommended that ECOSOC consultative status be withdrawn for CEFC.  ECOSOC will decide whether to approve the NGO Committee’s recommendation at its June 2019 ECOSOC management meeting." So they're still in. Guterres' cover up of his link to the group remains unaddressed - with no answers from his spokesmen Stephane Dujarric and for this entire week, Farhan Haq. We'll have more on this.
 Inner City Press on the morning of January 21 wrote to Guterres, Alison Smale and their spokesmen: "January 21-1: Please immediately provide the SG's response on the request made this morning in the UN NGO Committee to disaccredit China Energy Fund Committee whose Patrick Ho was indicted and convicted of UN bribery, explain why SG Guterres never even started a OIOS audit of CEFC and why he omitted his paid directorship in Gulbenkian Foundation from his UN Public Financial Disclosure form covering 2016, and on Gulbenkian trying to sell its Partex Oil to CEFC China Energy in 2018." There's been no answer - as there have been no answers from Guterres and Smale and Dujarric for two weeks despite promises to UNSR David Kaye and on camera. And the UN's "meeting summary" omitted even Patrick Ho's name, much less the UNSG Guterres never audited CEFC as it tried to buy Partex Oil from the Gulbenkian Foundation Guterres was a paid board member of while omitting it from his public financial disclosure covering 2016. Here is the entirety of the UN meetings coverage on this: "The representative of the United States, expressing regret that some organizations come to the United Nations to perpetrate fraudulent and illicit activities, said her delegation wrote to the Committee last week requesting that the special consultative status granted in 2011 to the China Energy Fund Committee be withdrawn, after one of its officials was convicted by a United States federal court in November 2018 on corruption, money laundering and conspiracy charges.  The Committee must take prompt action, she said, adding that if the organization in question wishes to respond, it should do so before 25 January." 

  Inner City Press also wrote to three at the US Mission to the UN: "I noticed in the UN NGO Committee this morning that USUN belatedly requested a review of China Energy Fund Committee, whose Patrick Ho was indicted for UN bribery, FCPA and money laundering in 2017, convicted in 2018.    This is a Press request for a copy of the USUN statement read out in the NGO Committee, for the materials reference there in and distributed to Committee members, and for the Mission's / Amb Cohen's and Amb. Currie's comment on it, why it took so long, and on UNSG Antonio Guterres having not disclosed his paid directorship of Gulbenkian Foundation in his UN Public Financial Disclosure form covering 2016 and refusal to start any OIOS audit of CEFC, which was trying to buy Partex Oil and Gas from Gulbenkian in 2018.     Also, on Guterres and Alison Smale's ongoing ban on US-based investigative Inner City Press even entering the UN, without hearing or appeal, see 2 January 2019 Kaska-eque denial of accreditation, below." USUN Spokesperson John Degory responded, so far, with the text of Deputy Rep to ECOSOC Courtney Nemroff's remarks including: "Last week, we sent a Diplomatic Note to the Committee’s outgoing Chair and to all members of this Committee with our request that this Committee recommend withdrawing the ESOCOC special consultative status of the NGO China Energy Fund Committee, or CEFC, which was granted in 2011.  This request was carefully considered and is being made in the first session of this Committee following the conviction of an individual in U.S. federal court on serious criminal charges relating to his use of the organization as a platform for criminal activity, the details of which are provided in the Diplomatic Note. It is a shame to see an NGO subvert and manipulate its ECOSOC accreditation in this manner, so it is with deep disappointment that we bring this situation to the attention of the Committee today. We are making this request before the full Committee in the full interest in due diligence, transparency, and openness. We believe it is important that the Committee carry out its responsibility to protect and ensure the continued integrity of the ECOSOC accreditation process by taking prompt action to address this case.  CEFC is registered in both Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China and in the State of Virginia in the United States as a not-for-profit or charitable organization. CEFC received ECOSOC special consultative status in 2011.  On December 5, 2018, a jury in a Manhattan federal court found Chi Ping Patrick Ho, CEFC’s Deputy Chairman and Secretary General, guilty of taking part in a multi-year, multimillion-dollar scheme to bribe foreign leaders in exchange for business advantages for CEFC China Energy a Shanghai-based corporate entity that was the primary financial benefactor of the CEFC. Mr. Ho was convicted of violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, international money laundering, and conspiracy to commit both. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, he utilized CEFC’s ECOSOC special consultative status to access UN resources and people and advance commercial goals, including through bribery schemes. We also have been unable to document any activity by this organization out of its Virginia-based location since Mr. Ho’s arrest in 2016, and note that it has not filed the requisite tax documents required of not-for-profit organizations in the United States since that date. We have provided all NGO Committee members with further details on the case, including a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice on the conviction, and are prepared to provide member states with any additional information they may require.  ECOSOC resolution 1996/31 governs the process for ECOSOC consultative status. Article 57(a) of 1996/31 stipulates that the consultative status of non-governmental organizations shall be suspended up to three years or withdrawn “if an organization, either directly or through its affiliates or representatives acting on its behalf, clearly abuses its status by engaging in a pattern of acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.”  Article 57(b) of 1996/31 further stipulates that consultative status be suspended up to three years or withdrawn “if there exists substantiated evidence of influence from proceeds resulting from internationally recognized criminal activities such as the illicit drugs trade, money-laundering or the illegal arms trade.”  In view of the conviction of Mr. Ho on money laundering charges and the use of the organization for criminal activity and bribery activities that involved the use of the organization’s consultative status and other organizational resources, the United States has determined that a request to withdraw consultative status in accordance with Article 57 of ECOSOC resolution 1996/31 is appropriate and necessary. We believe the Committee has a responsibility to ensure that ECOSOC special consultative status is not misused as a platform for criminal activity.  We understand, per ECOSOC resolution 1996/31, that CEFC has the right to respond to the request to recommend withdrawal of its consultative status. We request that the Secretariat inform CEFC of its right to respond immediately. We further request that if CEFC chooses to respond, that the Secretariat request it do so before the tenth meeting of this Committee on Friday, January 25, to then allow this Committee sufficient time to consider the U.S. request further. We also remain prepared to provide additional information regarding this matter to the Secretariat, and encourage the Committee and the Secretariat to handle all proceedings in this case as openly and transparently as possible." But will the US administration, or if necessary individual members of Congress, ensure that Guterres is held accountable for the cover up and proliferation of corruption and censorship during his tenure? CEFC has until January 25 to respond. China did not respond in the ill-attended Committee meeting which Inner City Press, banned from entry by Guterres, never the less covered. Watch this site.

  Inner City Press continues its exclusive series on some of the CEFC connections in and through the UN that should have been identified in the audit that Guterres corruptly refused to begin, with his conflict of interest. (Even his predecessor Ban Ki-moon ordered an audit after Ng Lap Seng was indicted - Guterres still hasn't after Patrick Ho was convicted.)

  One of the people identified in the Ban Ki-moon audit of Ng Lap Seng and South South News was Ion Botnaru. He was allowed to retire, after changing a UN General Assembly document along with then President of the General Assembly John Ashe, who died under indictment ostensibly crushed by his own barbell, to benefit Ng's Sun Kian Ip group. Botnaru reappears again with CEFC, here. And, crying out for audit, the President of the General Assembly who swore in Guterres, Peter Thomson of Fiji, traveled like Ashe and Vuk Jeremic and Sam Kutesa to meet CEFC's Ye Jianming in Hong Kong. 

  Inner City Press has asked Guterres and his spokespeople, among many other questions, "Beyond the 37 questions from Inner City Press you refused to answer last week, still set forth below for promised answer, this is a request, given that Peter Thomson is the SG's rep on Oceans that you describe in detail Thomson's 2017 meeting with now disappeared Ye Jianming of CEFC, name which UN DSS officials were with him and what reports they filed, what their duties were; what was seen by those accompanying Thomson, at least two of whom are still in the UN (one is with China)."

  Typically, Guterres and his spokespeople did not answer. So here, pending listing those from UN Department of Safety and Security the group which roughs up the Press without accountability and maintains a retaliatory "lifetime" banned from the UN list, are the names: "During his two-day visit, the President of the UN General Assembly was accompanied by his senior advisors Abdelghani Merabet, and Zhang Yi, as well as by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs’s Director of the Division for Sustainable Development, Zhu Juwang." Now, Thomson staffer or embed Zhang Yi has gone (back, or more openly) to working for the Chinese government: "On August 14 [2018], Deputy Director-General of China International Center for Economic and Technical Exchanges Zhang Yi was invited to attend the FOCAC - Africa-China Poverty Reduction and Development Conference, an important sub-forum under the FOCAC hosted by the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development and co-organized by the International Poverty Reduction Center in China and the China Belt and Road Institute for Agricultural Cooperation of China Agriculture University. Attending were more than 300 participants including government officials, international organizations’ representatives, non-governmental organizations’ officials, business leaders, experts and scholars from China, United States, Japan, Denmark and 40 African countries like Angola, Botswana and Mauritius."

  What did they see during Thomson's meeting with now-known briber Ye Jianming? Zhu Juwang  is still with UN DESA; Abdelghani Merabet  is with the current PGA. We'll have more on this: the UN should be answering these questions, now.

  In 2017, the year in which CEFC's Patrick Ho was indicted and arrested for UN bribery, CEFC in the UN engaged at least twice with Lenni Montiel, including for example on 6 July 2017, and also with DESA official Pingfan Hong. Some photos here. Inner City Press before Guterres had it roughed up and banned now 176 days for its inquiries into Guterres' corruption has politely questioned both Montiel and Hong - but Guterres has made that impossible and his Spokesmen refused to answer any written questions, for more than a week now. There are more connections.

  Guterres got favors from Peter Thomson when Thomson was President of the General Assembly. Rudimentary open source research - including on the UN's own website here - finds that Thomson, like implicated Sam Kutesa and John Ashe and Vuk Jeremic, visited CEFC's Ye Jianming in Hong Kong. What was discussed? Inner City Press previously covered, critically but civilly, Thomson. Now corrupt Guterres has had Inner City Press roughed up and banned 175 days, with his Spokesman Stephane Dujarric refusing to answer any questions despite the promise of Guterres' USG Alison Smale. 

   After receiving favors from Thomson as PGA, Guterres gave him a job in his Secretariat, Representative on Oceans. Here is Patrick Ho, interviewed by Guterres' DESA, on Oceans. There should have been an audit. There still should be. Another of Guterres' special advisers, Jeffrey Sachs, after denying Inner City Press' documented report Sachs was on a UN - CEFC board, abruptly closed his Twitter account, story here. Guterres goes on robo-tweeting from parts unknown, spending public money undisclosed. Guterres should explain and / or resign.  We will have more in this series.

   A now-removed Gulbenkian Foundation web page says Guterres continued as a board member into 2018. Archived here. In fact it was on 9 February 2018 that Gulbenian tweeted that Guterres was no longer on the board - AFTER it was reported that Gulbenian was trying to sell, or even had already sold, Partex to CEFC. This is called guilty knowledge. 

 While Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric is refusing to answer Inner City Press' written questions, contrary to promises by Guterres' Global Communicator Alison Smale, it appears Guterres' evasive defense is claiming that he left Gulbenkian in November 2016 and therefore somehow had no conflict of interest in refusing and blocking the obviously needed UN audit of CEFC after the arrest of its Patrick Ho for UN bribery. This defense is dubious.

  Why did Gulbenkian take down its webpagedisclosing that Guterres remained on board into 2018? Why - sixteen months after Guterres ostensibly left - did they wait until February 2018 to tweet that he left? Because their negotiations with CEFC became public (see 2 February 2018 Bloomberg here, and 6 February MacauHub here: "CEFC China Energy buys Portugal’s Partex Oil & Gas.")

  In any event, Guterres' "2017" Financial Disclosure, which explicitly says it covered the year 2016 in which even in this new story he remained on Gulbenkian's board into November, more than 80% of the year - did not disclose his role in Gulbenkian, only on the Club of Madrid. Guterres has had previous financial disclosure omissions, for example in Portugal, here. CEFC was hardly unknown: it bought a Portuguese insurance company in November 2017, here.

    Guterres' failure to disclose and, separately and even more so, his refusal to audit CEFC in the UN was a direct conflict of interest, which he has tried to cover up by roughing up and banning Inner City Press which asked him about it. (See January 2018 press conference here, July 2018 roughing up by Guterres' UN Security here, banning letter via Press Freedom Tracker here.)

Three times now Dujarric, his deputy Farhan Haq and Office of the Spokesperson colleagues Marcia Soares Pinto and Keishamaza Rukikaire, as well as Guterres, his chief of staff Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti and Deputy SG Amina J. Mohammed have refused to answer this: "Beyond the 36 questions from Inner City Press you refused to answer last week, still set forth below for promised answer, this is a reiterated request past deadline that you (1) state when SG Guterres left his position on the Gulbenkian Foundation, (2) state why Gulbenkian was not listed on SG Guterres' public financial disclosure which covered 2016; (3) explain how it is not a conflict of interest for SG Guterres to have refused to start an audit of CEFC in the UN, as requested by Inner City Press in January 2018, given CEFC's bid for the oil business of Gulbenkian. Also, again, state why under SG Guterres there have been no updates to the UN public financial disclosures since those filed for 2016. Also, again, explain your refusal to answer any of Inner City Press' questions this week despite USG Smale's statements to GAP, me and UNSR David Kaye." No response at all, even as spokesman Dujarric for example tweets at actor Seth Rogin. Dujarric, as simply one example, on 1 March 2018 evaded Inner City Press' in-person questions about CEFC and Guterres, less than a month after Gulbenkian said Guterres was off the board, amid oil negotiations with CEFC. Video here. Then Guterres and Dujarric had Inner City Press roughed up and banned from the UN. Guterres' wife Catarina Vaz Pinto also worked for Gulbenkian. This is today's corrupt UN.

   For years Guterres received money as a board member of the Calouste Galbenkian Foundation, which despite its name is the 100% owner of Partex Oil and Gas. Partex has operations in Angola, Abu Dhabi, Brazil, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Oman and Portugal. It was to a Portuguese court that Guterres, while justifying no listing some of his income, disclosed in 2016 that he was paid at least € 2735 per month for his position with the Gulbenkian Foundation.

   But while a now deleted Foundation web page (archived here) stated that Guterres continued with Gulbenkian into 2018, Guterres did not list it on his most recent, and so far lone, UN Public Financial Disclosure, which covered 2016 ("Disclosing financial and other interests for the 2016 reporting year"). 

  So why did Guterres disclose his position with the Club of Madrid, but not with the Gulbenkian Foundation / Partex Oil and Gas? It is worth noting that Guterres' wife Catarina Vaz Pinto has also been connected to Gulbenkian.

   Following the roughing up and banning from the UN of Inner City Press which has covered the CEFC scandal throughout, Guterres' head of Global Communications Alison Smale promised UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression David Kaye, who asked, that the UN would still answer Inner City Press' written questions.

   But as 2018 came to a close Guterres' spokesmen Stephane Dujarric and Farhan Haq left unanswered 36 questions in a row from Inner City Press, including this: “Beyond the 35 questions from Inner City Press you refused to answer this week, this is a request on deadline that you (1) state when SG Guterres left his position on the Gulbenkian Foundation,

(2) state why Gulbenkian was not listed on SG Guterres' public financial disclosure which covered 2016; 

(3) explain how it is not a conflict of interest for SG Guterres to have refused to start an audit of CEFC in the UN, as requested by Inner City Press in January 2018, given CEFC's bid for the oil business of Gulbenkian. 

Also, again, state why under SG Guterres there have been no updates to the UN public financial disclosures since those filed for 2016. Also, again, explain your refusal to answer any of Inner City Press' questions this week despite USG Smale's statements to GAP, me and UNSR David Kaye. On deadline.” 

   The question was also sent to the e-mail addresses of Guterres, his chief of staff Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, his Deputy Amina J. Mohammed, and Smale, who earlier in the week told Inner City Press she would take “under advisement” her 17 August 2018 pretextual withdrawal of Inner City Press decade long UN media accreditation.
  It seems clear that Guterres and his team have engaged in censorship for corruption, to conceal a blatant conflict of interest by Guterres. It has been raised by Inner City Press to the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services, and others.  Watch this site.

Back on 5 December 2018 Patrick Ho was found guilty of seven of eight counts of violating the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and month laundering. (He was only not guilty on money laundering in Chad - where the bribe was not through any US bank but in cash, $2 million in a gift box). The evidence showed that the NGO he ran, China Energy Fund Committee, used its ongoing UN consultative status to pay bribes to Ugandan foreign minister - and Ashe's successor as President of the UN General Assembly -- Sam Kutesa.. He was working with precedessor Vuk Jeremicwhile Jeremic was UN PGA. CEFC even offered weapons, tanks and drones, to Chad's long time president Idriss Deby for oil blocks or a stake in the Chad Cameroon pipeline. (Inner City Press published documents here.)

The night of the verdict I asked UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres what he will do to clean up the UN, where he has left CEFC without any audit, still in consultative status with the UN. On his way from his Mercedes to a glitzy fundraiser including George and Amal Clooney, Guterres refused to answer. The next day when asked by another journalist why Guterres had refused to answer banned Inner City Press' question, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric claimed that the UN has “cooperated” with the prosecution. But the bribery group remains in the UN, unaudited.

Why has the case of US versus Ho, and now the guilty verdicts, garnered relatively so little interest, with the corruption of the UN exposed by it scarcely mentioned all? SG Guterres is hoping it goes away. In terms of corruption, he did not disclose and refuses to answer on the African business links of his son Pedro Guimarães e Melo De Oliveira Guterres. He refuses to answer how much he spends in public funds flying to his home in Lisbon at least sixteen times sofar as SG. 

   So CEFC remains an accredited non governmental organization with the UN's Economic and Social Council, while investigative Inner City Press for which I have been covering the case has been dis-accredited by and ousted from the UN, put on a list of those permanently banned without notice, due process or appeal. On December 7 I was informed I am banned from a “UN Human Rights” event on December 10 to be addressed by Guterres and his human rights commissioner Michelle Bachelet. But this reporting will not stop - Guterres' corruption of the UN must be addressed, through oversight or as is discussed elsewhere, impeachment. From the lofty goals of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to Guterres' censorship for corruption is UNacceptable.

  With UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet and her Deputy Andrew Gilmour set to speak in the UN on human rights day on December 10, Inner City Press responded to an invitation and was told, "Thank you for registering to attend the Human Rights Day event at the United Nations on Monday 10 December. On Monday, please come to the UN Visitors’ Gate on First Avenue opposite 45th street starting at 2pm, at which time entry passes will be distributed." 

Then, past six p.m. on Friday, December 7 thisfrom Bachelet's and Gilmour's Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights: "Dear Matthew, We have received notification from UN Security that your name was flagged as "BARRED" on the list we submitted for passes for Monday's event (3pm, ECOSOC Chamber).We will therefore not have a pass for you and are unable to facilitate entry.
Thank you for your interest and best regards,
OHCHR New York Office." Photo of email here.