By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Plea Deal
SDNY COURTROOM, July 18 – Eddy Alexandre, charged with commodities fraud in connection with a purported cryptocurrency and forex trading platform named EminiFX, was ordered released on $3 million bond on May 12.
He would be required to hire his own guard for home incarceration in Valley Stream, NY - and not pay the guard with the crypto funds.
The bail decision was reached by U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Magistrate Judge Katharine H. Parker in an hour-long proceeding on the afternoon of May 12. Inner City Press was the only media there, and live tweeted it here and below.
Then was June 14, when Alexandre was arraigned. Inner City Press again went. The court room was full (of supporters), but little to no media. Inner City Press live tweeted here
and below.
On November 18, amid a spat about ex parte filings between the US Attorney's Office and Alexandre's lawyer, ex-US Attorney's Office Emil Bove, there was a protest in front of 500 Pearl Street, demanding dismissal, and end to racism, and largely directed at the receiver, David Castleman. In the docket, the only link to November 18 was to a filing: "The Government shall respond to the arguments in Defendant's letter by November 18, 2022. The Government may make part of its submission ex parte as necessary." Letter on Patreon here.
On February 8, into the docket went Alexandre's intend to plead guilty: "MEMORANDUM TO THE DOCKET CLERK as to Eddy Alexandre. The change of plea hearing for Eddy Alexandre is scheduled for Friday, February 10, 2023 at 3:00 p.m. in Courtroom 12D of 500 Pearl Street, New York, NY 10007." Inner City Press reported it, credited here
And on February 10, it occurred: "Minute Entry for proceedings held before Judge John P. Cronan: Change of Plea Hearing as to Eddy Alexandre held on 2/10/2023. Minute Entry for proceedings held before Judge John P. Cronan: Change of Plea Hearing as to Eddy Alexandre held on February 10, 2023."
Plea deal on Inner City Press' DocumentCloud here
On July 18, Inner City Press live tweeted from the lengthy sentencing at which Judge Cronan imposed a nine year sentence, thread:
OK - now at Eddy Alexandre sentencing. Courtroom 12D is jam packed with people in green T-shirts. But some former supporters have flipped. Inner City Press has covered the case from the beginning and will live tweet
Judge Cronan is running through the (many) submissions he has received, including from both sides under seal....
Eddy Alexandre is about to speak at sentencing, OK - now at Eddy Alexandre sentencing.
Alexandre's (former SDNY prosecutor) defense lawyer Emil Bove: We are asking for a significant variance. Consider how full the overflow courtrooms are.
Judge Cronan: Are there any victims who wish to be heard? The gentleman in the pink shirt?
Mr. Guillaume: I am a victim of Eddy Alexandre. I'm a truck driver. I've been working all my life. He promised to make me a millionaire. I lost $100,000 out of my life savings. I used to sleep in my truck. If you don't sentence him enough, he'll do it again.
Mr. Guillaume: He had opportunity. I did not. If I did, I would be a doctor. He was 7th Day Adventist. I want you to stand up and say you are sorry. Based on what he did to me, punish him the most. I got all the evidence right here. No one paid me to be here
Judge Cronan: Gentleman in the suit? Mr. Batiste: I am here for the victim, who are scared, some have been receiving threats if they come to the court, something may happen to them in the future. I work hard. I suffered. I was a police inspector in Haiti
Mr. Batiste: I arrested corrupt politicians & gang members. Lawyers offered me money to free them. I came here, I mopped floors, I made my way through school. I became a nurse. I failed nursing school because I was working full time. I went back and got my degree
Mr. Batiste: Mr. Eddy Alexandre robbed the Haitian community. People who worked 27 years, he took it all. Mr. Alexandre never took responsibility for his crime. He shouldn't come to to hurt the society. Apply the law in its full strength. He has lied so many times
Mr. Batiste: His sister is here, she was at the Thursday night meetings. Her husband is a lawyer. He never told you Ponzi scheme is illegal? I ask the prosecutors, why the accomplices have not been arrested? They were with the Ponzi scheme. They will do it again
Mr. Batiste: Mr. Alexandre broke the deal after he was released. He tried to start a new Ponzi scheme. The victims are afraid. There is a supporter named Ricardo, he told me he invested $100. Mr. Alexandre asked for more. Judge: Focus on how you were the victim
Mr. Batiste: OK. I spoke to Sophia, the wife of the pastor. She told me to not bring anyone we didn't know. Why? If it's a legal business, anyone can come. Alexandre took my $25,000, my savings for 20 years, for a downpayment on a house. Mr. Alexandre robbed me
Mr. Batiste: I request the full prescription of the law, from 27 to 35 years. Judge Cronan: Any more victims? No? OK, Mr. Alexandre. Eddy Alexandre: Thank you your honor. Courtroom deputy whispers to Judge. Judge: There are more victims.
Victim 3: Thank you Mr. Alexandre. He created something, a dream. Sometimes in life, dream is not easy. Things happen. You lose some money. He was not strong enough to tell people he was losing. But he had the courage to try to fix it. He ran out of time
Victim 3: A good thing got turned back. Find in your heart, that's all I have to say. Judge: We are at 4:42. We are going to end this proceeding at 5. We may have to continue this tomorrow. Mr. Bove, Mr Folly- I am on trial, a bench trial: AUSA Folly: People traveled a long way to be here. Can we continue later? Judge Cronan: No. How about 9 am tomorrow?
Woman: I'm traveling tomorrow Judge Cronan: I'm speaking with the attorneys. AUSA Folly: The government can make it work.
"Victim" 4: I am here as a supporter of Mr. Alexandre. I was so happy. Mr. Alexandre was very transparent. We used to get paid every Friday. We could invest or cash out. I was so happy. We fill up five room. We come here to support Mr. Alexandre. He help us out
"Victim" 4: We want him to have his life back. He is a father. He has a human inside of him. He loves people. We will continue to support him. I came from Florida. I know when you are honest with yourself, God blesses you. The decision is in your hand. Hear us.
"Victim" 5: I worked all night, I have not slept in 24 hours. I drove to Kentucky to take a flight to come here to support Eddy Alexandre. I came here from Haiti with the Lord and became a nurse. I have 14 relatives in Haiti. I have to do everything for them.
"Victim" 5: He said he would give us 5%, or 9% if the market is good. He spoke everything Thursday. He said he would always tell us the truth. I have to be back at work tomorrow. Take this into consideration. God has the last say, but you are here, decidingJudge Cronan: Mr. Alexandre, you may speak now.
Eddy Alexandre: Thank you your honor. Speaking after the victims, I want to apologize, to Mr. Guillaume, Mr. Batiste. Dear Honorable Judge Cronan, I had a dream, I never imagined I'd be here today in this setting
Eddy Alexandre: I assure you, this experience has been a wake up call for me. I will take the consequences imposed by the court today, or tomorrow. I humbly request your leniency, to rebuilt my journey of redemption. In closing, thank you for justice
Judge Cronan: Thank you Mr. Alexandre. [Silence - you can here a pin drop.] It's 5 o'clock now, we'll proceed to sentencing at this time. Any reason not? Bove: No objection. Judge: I'm going to retire to the robing room and think about it. Feed will continue
OK - Judge Cronan is back, to impose sentence. Judge Cronan: This was a massive investment fraud that victimized 1000s of victims of $50 million. He promised a doubling of money in five months. He was an admired member of the Haitian community. EminiFX was a fraud
Judge Cronan: He said he had a robo-advised account. But the technology did not exist. He pretended the money was being made. He held weekly calls and set up a pyramid, incentives to recruit others. This was a vast fraud. The cases cited include one of 144 months
Judge Cronan: Here the statutory maximum is 120 months, well below the guidelines. Congress set the statutory ceiling. There is a need for deterrence. He only stopped because he was caught. Would-be fraudsters must know there will be real consequences
Judge Cronan: The defense submitted 500 letters, over 750 pages. They say he is a leader in the church, a man of faith. Their trust was betrayed. I will now state the sentence: Mr. Alexandre you are sent to the Bureau of Prisons for 108 months. You may be seated
More on Substack here
Back on July 5, Alexandre's former-SDNY attorney asked for a sentence "substantially below the applicable Guidelines range," citing conditions in Haiti to which Alexandre will be removed.
On July 12, the US Attorney's Office asked for a 10 year (120 month) sentence, quoting a victim that "the community considers Eddy Alexandre a sociopath, a financial terrorist who used the Church and bible to terrorize them."
On July 13, Judge Cronan ordered the US Attorney's Office to respond by the 14th to Alexandre's (former SDNY) counsel's opposition to designating some of the sentencing submission attorneys' eyes only - and withholding it, so far, from the public.
On July 14, the US Attorney's Office wrote in to insist that there should be continued sealing of, among other things, emails between Alexandre and a third party, and an FBI interview of that same third party; also, a summary of a recording of Alexandre speaking to various victims." How can these be sealed?
Back on December 29 Judge Cronan ordered: "ORDER as to Eddy Alexandre. By January 3, 2023, the Government shall file any affidavits relating to its applications for search warrants of EminiFX's office and of the phone seized incident to Defendant's arrest - as referenced in Defendants motion papers. See, e.g., Dkt. 51 at 15. If the Government wishes to submit the affidavits ex parte and for in camera review, it may initially make its filing under seal and ex parte along with a written submission explaining why such treatment is appropriate (Signed by Judge John P. Cronan on 12/29/22)."
And on December 30, the US Attorney's Office did respond - with the search warrants, letter on Patreon here.We aim to have more on this.
Inner City Press remains on the case(s).
Back on August 3, with two overflow courtrooms, more Alexandre and EminiFX supporters / investors, a Curcio hearing and March 27 trial date. Inner City Press exclusively live tweeted here and below.
On October 5, Alexandre and his lawyer Emil Bove, and apparent supporters, appeared before Judge Cronan for argument. Inner City Press was there and files this:
Bove argues the receiver coordinated with law enforcement, had laptop seized for Alexandre's residence. He repeatedly calls the AUSAs "these guys."
Bove tells Judge Cronan, You know better than I do that the State Department can move faster than a year [under MLAT]. Pooled CJA counsel for witnesses?
AUSA: Just because the receiver, the company, gave info to the government doesn't make them part of the prosecution. Echo of US v Trevor Milton, roles of Nikola, Mark Russell... More to follow.
Back on August 5, in the parallel CFTC case, Judge Valerie E. Caproni approved the receivers request for nearly $1 million, a request which included: "Long Island Real Estate Portfolio. Soon after the start of the receivership, the Receiver discovered that EminiFX had entered into 46 separate contracts to purchase residential properties in Long Island out of foreclosure, each in a separate New York state court action with a separate court-appointed referee overseeing the sale. EminiFX also entered into two separate real estate contracts outside of foreclosure. In addition, Alexandre entered into a separate contract for a property using $535,000 in funds traceable to EminiFX customers as a deposit. The total deposits on all properties totaled over $3 million, and the Receiver and his team at Raines Feldman and FDT have been working to recover as much as possible. The total amount recovered to date on the EminiFX contracts for purchase is $575,200. This amount plus the court-ordered turnover of the $535,000 deposit for the Alexandre contract for purchase brings the total recovery to over $1.1 million. The Receiver and FDT are working to recover the remaining deposits." Full letter on Patreon here.
Jump cut to January 4, 2023, when Judge Caproni citing the CFTC ordered the Estate to move out of crypto: "ORDER granting [180] Letter Motion to Expedite. The Court agrees with the CFTC and the Receiver that because cryptocurrencies are highly volatile and because the holdings of the Estate will eventually need to be converted to currency to be distributed to investors, the most prudent approach is to divest from Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. While the Court is sympathetic to the concerns of EminiFx investors that their investments have, on net, lost value as the price of Bitcoin has fallen, this loss highlights the riskiness of Bitcoin as an investment vehicle and demonstrates the need to move these highly volatile digital assets into dollar-denominated, low-risk assets. Neither the Court, the Receiver, nor the investors can know what the future will bring for the value of Bitcoin or the other cryptocurrencies from now until the Estate is distributed to the investors. The value could go up, down, or remain static. In contrast, the Estate's high-yield money market accounts are highly unlikely to decrease in value and will pay interest, Receiver Reply at 2; accordingly, such accounts are a significantly safer and a more appropriate investment vehicle for the assets of the Estate during the pendency of the Receivership. Furthermore, the proposed protocol appropriately mitigates the risk posed by Bitcoin's price volatility by establishing a process for timely liquidation while also guarding against the risk that price fluctuation on a particular trading day will decrease the liquidation price or that the sale of a large volume of Bitcoin over a short time period will depress the price of Bitcoin. Thus, the Receiver's motion to approve the proposed digital asset management protocol is GRANTED. The Clerk of Court is respectfully directed to terminate the open motion at docket entry 180. SO ORDERED. (Signed by Judge Valerie E. Caproni on 1/4/2023)."
More on Patreon here. And vlog here.
More (bonus) on Patreon here.
The civil case is Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Alexandre, et al., 22-cv-3822 (Caproni)
The criminal case is US v. Alexandre, 22-cr-326 (Cronan)
***
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.
