by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE, April 8 – The day after fentanyl and China were denounced by all eight GOP candidates in their debate in Milwaukee, two defendants were brought shackled into a federal courtroom in New York, charged with conspiracy to important at least 200 kilograms of fentanyl precursors. Inner City Press was there.
Qingzhou Wang had recently changed lawyers, from a free Federal Defender to retained counsel Daniel Arshack.
Citing the change of counsel, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Paul G. Gardephe set another court date in the future, October 24 at 10 am.
The Assistant US Attorney described trying to brute-force crack the defendants' cell phones, two each.
Also charged in the case is the company Humbei Amarvel Biotech Co. LTD, which is unrepresented in the docket like a Last Name Unknown co-defendant also known as Er Yang or Anita.
Back on June 28 , counsel to co-defendant Yiyi Chen asked Judge Gardephe, "I've spoken to representatives of the Chinese Consulate. They're here in court today. They'd like to know if they can have a brief non-contact visit with Ms. Chen and the co-defendant if it's okay with the Court and the marshals."
On September 5, now Yiyi Cheng brought in as retained counsel Shaoming Cheng (whose only SDNY case this is).
On October 12, counsel to Qingzhou Wang wrote to Judge Gardephe complaining about the government's delay in providing funds for translations to Mandarin (initially justified by the possible government shutdown). Counsel remains "available" on October 24, though.
On October 24, Inner City Press was on the 7th floor of 40 Foley Square when the two defendants would brought up by elevator, in MDC tan, by Marshals. Afterward, "Status Conference as to Qingzhou Wang held on 10/24/2023... "the parties will submit a joint letter addressing whether appropriate resources at the Metropolitan Detention Center have been made available to Defendant Chen to permit her review of the discovery materials."
On April 8, 2024, Judge Gardephe sent a trial date - in 2025: "ORDER as to HUBEI AMARVEL BIOTECH CO., LTD., Qingzhou Wang, Yiyi Chen, FNU LNU: This case will proceed to trial on January 13, 2025, at 9:30 a.m. The following schedule will apply to pre-trial submissions: 1. Motions in limine, proposed voir dire, and requests to charge are due by December 13, 2024. 2. Responsive papers are due by December 20, 2024. The next conference in this case will take place on May 23, 2024, at 10:00 a.m."
The case is US v. Humbei Amarvel Biotech Co. LTD, et al., 23-cr-302 (Gardephe)
More details on Substack here
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