By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive Patreon
BBC - Guardian UK - Honduras - The Source
SDNY COURTHOUSE, Dec 18 – As Inner City Press covered the OneCoin trial in October 2019, a number of names of indicted co-conspirators emerged on which we followed up.
One of them was Gilbert Armenta, who recorded Ruja Ignatova. Inner City Press has repeatedly asked the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York for more information; it continues even now to withhold the exhibits it flashed on the screen at trial. Inner City Press had to file a FOIA request; the Department of Justice denied expedited processing.
Then on August 6, Konstantin Ignatov got himself released from the civil suit, full filing here.
On Sebastian Greenwood, on December 15, three days before a scheduled proceeding, this: "Re: United States v. Karl Sebastian Greenwood, S5 17 Cr. 630 (ER) Dear Judge Ramos: We write with the consent of the defendant to request a 90-day stay of discovery in the above-captioned matter. To date, the Government has produced to the defendant a voluminous amount of discovery, including, but not limited to, two hard drives containing several terabytes of data. In light of the voluminous discovery produced to date, which defense counsel is still in the process of reviewing, the Government would request that the production of discovery be stayed for a period of 90 days."
Inner City Press live tweeted the December 18 Greenwood proceeding, such as it was, here:
AUSA: We have requested a stay, to try to work out a disposition.
Greenwood's lawyer Barket: Correct. Plus, we're going through a lot of discovery material. Meeting my client is difficult, given the circumstances. I don't know how the jail permits who gets visits.
Greenwood's lawyer Barket: I had a few visit, then they stopped. I have three or four other clients in the facility and I can't meet any of them. We speak on the phone - once - and setting up the video conferencing has been difficult. It was easier in the summer
Judge Ramos: You don't object to a stay of discovery? Barket: I don't.
Judge Ramos: So we'll come back in three months to see where we are? AUSA: Yes. Barket: Yes.
Judge Ramos: So, March 26 at 10:30 am. Speedy Trial Act time excluded. We are adjourned.
We'll continue to cover this.
On September 16 in a filing with Judge Caproni more details: Ignatov's cooperation with the civil case plaintiff included calls on September 11 and 16: "Re: Grablis v. OneCoin Ltd. et. al., Case No. 1:19-cv-4074 Dear Judge Caproni: We write on behalf of Lead Plaintiff Donald Berdeaux and Plaintiff Christine Grablis (together, “Plaintiffs”) in the above-captioned matter (the “Action”). Plaintiffs request clarification from the Court regarding: (1) whether Plaintiffs have already received leave to file a Second Amended Complaint based on this Court’s July 24, 2019 Order (the “July 2019 Order,” ECF No. 39), and if not, whether Plaintiffs must seek leave to file a Second Amended Complaint; and (2) based upon the July 2019 Order, whether Plaintiffs must choose to file either a Second Amended Complaint or file an opposition to the Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss... Then-Defendant Ignatov was voluntarily dismissed from this Action without prejudice on August 20, 2020 on the basis of cooperation with Plaintiffs. [ECF No. 118]. Since granting the extension, and due to the issues involved with navigating call schedules with an inmate, Plaintiffs were able to obtain their first interview with Ignatov on September 11, 2020, and their second interview on September 16, 2020. These interviews have produced substantial useful information with which to bolster Plaintiffs’ claims in a Second Amended Complaint."
The willingness to hide Armenta and the case against him, as he continued dubious business presumably for others, has Inner City Press wondering about these individuals it is researching through links to Ruja Ignatova's RavenR:
Thomas Christodoulou
Maria Serbina
Joanna Hilary Alinson
Simon John Longworth
Anna Marie Longworth
Robert Henry Rothenberg
Gary Michael Gilford
Nikolaou Nikolaos
Louca Theocharis
Mary Skoullou
Giannakis Tsiannaros
Svitlana Kolesnyk
Cyprus Development Bank
Vladislav Velkov
We'll have more on this. Here are the Armenta business moves Inner City Press exclusively reported on December 1, 2019, here:
ESOL B.V. LLC was incorporated on July 8, 2019; the manager is Gilbert Armenta and the agent is Giselle Valentin, both of 500 E. Broward Boulevard, PH 2, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33394. See here. And here.
Armenta's Tblisi, Georgia-based money laundering bank JSC Capital Bank had as its parent a company of exactly this name. See KPMG review of Georgia banking sector here. More on Armenta's ongoing companies on Patreon here.
Inner City Press asked, on December 1, 2019: Is the US Attorney's Office allowing its cooperator to keep on money laundering? Or looking the other way while whatever cooperation agreement exists is openly violated?
Perhaps these and other quesitons will be answered in connection with Armenta's sentencing in the too long seal case against him. Watch this site.
More on Patreon here.
***
Your support means a lot. As little as $5 a month helps keep us going and grants you access to exclusive bonus material on our Patreon page. Click here to become a patron.
Feedback: Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
SDNY Press Room 480, front cubicle
500 Pearl Street, NY NY 10007 USA
Mail: Box 20047, Dag Hammarskjold Station NY NY 10017
