| In EDNY Coronavirus Mask Fraud Case
Judge Asks If Trying to Lure Is Enough
Briefs to July 6
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
FEDERAL COURT,
June 5 – Amid the Coronavirus
pandemic, the US Attorney for
the U.S. District Court for
the Eastern District of New
York has filed a complaint
against Donald Allen regarding
fraud in the offer of face
masks.
On June 4
Allen had his preliminary
hearing before EDNY Magistrate
Judge Roanne L. Mann. Inner
City Press live tweeted it:
Judge Mann says
US has one witness to be
questioned by EDNY AUSA Nathan
Reilly - it's John Carrano,
IRS Special Agent. He cites
International Commerce &
Investment Group as "falsely
representing that since 2014
ICIG worked closely with
global traders to supply PPE."
Carrano says
Allen said he was "flipping
masks" and would soon have a
million surgical masks, the
kind "everyone is wearing
today out there in the
world." Judge Mann: This
was a recorded phone
conversation? Carrano: Yes.
And I listened to it.Now
Allen's lawyer AL does brief
voir dire with Carrano: did
you see the website on or
before April 18?
Carrano:
Only after that. AL: We
object - by April 18 Allen was
already arrested. AUSA: Allen
was not arrested until April
27. The search warrant was
April 17.
Judge Mann:
The defense objections go to
weight of evidence, not
admissibility. So I'll admit
Government Exhibit 3.
Carrano: The telephone number
on the website, when we called
it, went to an adult service.
Carrano: Then
Donald Allen told the
undercover that he would show
him the masks in his "man
cave" or auxiliary office in
Rancho Cucamonga, California.
[Inner City Press note: that
why they need the server in
EDNY for venue.]
Carrano: At
a warehouse in Rancho
Cucamonga, they said there
were 2 million masks in an
inaccessible area of the
warehouse. Then they went to a
warehouse in the LA area.
[Note: Allen wasn't present at
either of the 2 warehouses-
only co-defendant Manuel
Revolorio]
Judge Mann
chides one of the participants
for "loud scrolling." He
responds, "I'm sorry, I'm a
very loud scroller." Now back
to the exhibit: an invoice for
payment, as described in Para
35 of the Complaint - now says
email was sent by "Kent
Bullock," not Allen.
Carrano turns to
April 17 search warrant: most
of the boxes were empty.
Shrink-wrapped but empty, with
3M labels taped on. The boxes
were doctored up to look like
3M boxes. This was in Donald
Allen's man cave, in "a
residential house in a
residential neighborhood"
Now the
cross examination of Carrano
by Allen's lawyer, who took a
5 minute break to confer with
him. Q: Mr. Carrano, you've
never met Mr. Allen, correct?
A: Correct.
Q: How do you
know that the Santa Ana
warehouse, which you never
visited, wasn't in fact a real
distribution center?
Now Judge Mann
asks, Is it enough if they
fraudulently lured the
investors in? AUSA: The
question of intent is always
going to be complex. We can
only figure out intent by the
totality of the evidence.
Should we have wired out $4.5
million, to see if he took it?
Judge Mann:
My curiosity is piqued. Was
his phone seized? AUSA: Yes.
But shipping evidence cross
country is not easy. We
understand our Brady
obligations. Judge Mann:
I was wondering if there are
communications between the
defendants to show intent.
Judge Mann: I
think they made misleading
statements... The boxes...
They wanted to lure in
customers. But there is a
legal issue: whether that in
and of itself would constitute
conspiracy to commit wire
fraud. Mr. Allen is out on
bail, so there's not urgency.
Judge Mann: These
could be three to four page
letters. I did not come into
the hearing thinking it would
go this way. AUSA: June
19?
Judge Mann: Fine.
Defense gets a week. Week for
reply. July 4? Let's make it
July 6.
The case is US v.
Allen, Inner City Press aims
to continue to cover it, as it
has other EDNY cases, like
here.
***
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