by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE, Nov 3 – On a daily basis, defendants are brought into court and either get appointed counsel or choose to pay a private attorney, if they can.
But this system can be gamed.
March 30, 2023 saw "charges against DIONISIO FIGUEROA, a/k/a “Dionicio,” an employee of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (“the SDNY District Court”), and TELESFORO DEL VALLE, JR., a/k/a “Ted,” a criminal defense attorney practicing in the SDNY District Court and elsewhere, for their participation in a scheme in which FIGUEROA referred criminal defendants to DEL VALLE and encouraged those defendants to retain DEL VALLE as counsel in exchange for cash payments from DEL VALLE to FIGUEROA."
Inner City Press, which closely covers the Magistrate Court, had in 2022 reported the investigation against Del Valle.
Now on November 3 Inner City Press first reports the De Valle's Albany-based counsel has informed Judge D'Agostino that Del Valle "has decided to plead guilty to counts 1, 3, 5 and 7" and requests a Pimentel estimate of sentencing guidelines.
The case is US v. Figueroa et al.. 23-cr-161 (D'Agostino)
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