By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell book
SDNY MAG COURT Exclusive, Feb 24 – In the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on February 24, a bail or detention proceeding was held by Magistrate Judge Valerie Figueredo on a man charged with stealing $4.4 million from the company where he worked, through unauthorized credit card charges and false invoices.
Inner City Press covers the SDNY Mag Court(s). Related Mag Court live-tweeted thread (more on Patreon here) vlog here
The Assistant US Attorney based his argument on risk of flight, emphasizing that just after the company sent a private investigator to get their laptop back, its hard drive was "punctured" and the defendant Bhaskarray Barot flew to India. He returned three weeks later and was arrested on the morning of February 24.
It emerged, first off the record then on, that the defendant had misled the arresting officers about his need for medication; a friend in the courtroom, the defendant lawyer told Judge Figueredo, had been given the medication "in a plastic bag."
Judge Figueredo, who after a break had ordered the defendant detained, noted that a FIT (fitness) examination at the hospital was necessary now, at 5 pm on a Friday. There was some back and forth that Inner City Press is voluntarily not reporting. So far there is only a complaint, not yet an indictment.
The case is US v. Barot, 23-mj-1351 (Figueredo) - the case was still listed as "under seal" after the proceeding.
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