By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Podcast Order
SDNY COURTHOUSE, July 28 -- For scam crypto currency OneCoin, Sebastian Greenwood who co-founded the company with Ruja Ignatova was sentenced to 20 years in prison by U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Edgardo Ramos on September 12, 2023. Inner City Press was there and live tweeted, thread here
Inner City Press had sought the unsealing of Greenwood's 33 sentencing letters but with him opposing (citing a Mafia case) and the US Attorney's Office inappropriately taking no position, it was denied. Judge Ramos' order is here.
On October 10, Inner City Press filed Notice of Appeal of the sealing of all of Greenwood's letters.
On July 28, 2025, Inner City Press won: "Before: Parker, Park, and Nathan, Circuit Judges. Appellant Matthew Lee appeals from an order of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Ramos, J.) denying his motion to unseal and unredact Defendant-Appellee Karl Greenwood’s sentencing submission. On appeal, Lee argues that he enjoys a right of access to Greenwood’s sentencing memorandum and sentencing exhibits. We conclude that a First Amendment right of access attaches to Greenwood’s sentencing memorandum and sentencing exhibits and therefore requires the district court to make individualized findings to justify sealing those materials. Although the district court’s findings adequately justified the narrowly tailored redactions in Greenwood’s sentencing memorandum, the district court did not adequately justify its decision to seal Greenwood’s sentencing exhibits. Accordingly, we VACATE in part the order of the district court and REMAND for further proceedings consistent with this opinion." Opinion here.
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