| Mustafa Abdel Wadood Gets
Cooperation Agreement and Lays Blame for
Abraaj on Arif Naqvi
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
June 28 – The government has
given a cooperation agreement,
and prospectively a 5K1.1
letter, to Mustafa
Abdel-Wadood of Dubai-based
Abraaj. At his plea proceeding
before Magistrate Judge
Gabriel
Gorenstein of
the U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York on
June 28,
Abdel-Wadood
laid the blame
on Abraaj
founder Arif
Naqvi. He
cried, once,
as he read an
allocution
that his
lawyer had
shared in
advance with
the
government.
Judge
Gorenstein
asked if he is
a citizen of
the US - he is
not, but
rather of
Egypt and
Malta - and if
his
misstatements
of Abraj's
financial
condition were
material. But
of course. He
is out on $10
million bond,
his family is
in town and he
wants to roam
Manhattan from
7 am to
midnight. Life
is good when
you have money
and the
government
gives you a
5K1.1 letter.
The case is US
v.
Abdel-Wadood,
19-cr-233
(Kaplan).
The US
quietly filed a criminal
antitrust case against Banca
IMI trader Larry D. Meyers -
who quietly pled guilty and
agreed to cooperate on June 27
before Judge Paul A.
Engelmayer of the U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York,
Inner City
Press can
report.
The case
involves
violations
with the
Sherman Act
with respect
to American
Depository
Receipts. It
is a quiet
part of a larger
case. On June
27 the
representative
of DOJ's
Antitrust
Division said
Meyers will
get a 5K1.1
letter if he
fully
cooperates.
She then said
the sentencing
could be set
for October 7
at 2:30
pm. So
will all of
the
cooperation be
by then?
Judge
Engelmayer
asked Meyers
to explain
what he did.
Meyers, going
beyond the
script
prepared for
him by his new
lawyer Mr.
Alvarez, said
that only a
few had access
to the
pre-release
ADRs and had
become a "cozy
community." He
said, "We
became too
friendly." Not
anymore...
The plea
almost got
delayed again
because Meyers
old lawyer had
not yet
formally
withdrawn;
Judge
Engelmayer
said a Curcio
hearing might
be needed then
decided not.
He asked Ms.
Brown of DOJ
if anything
was needed
with regard to
the
transcript,
presumably to
seal it.
We don't think
that's
necessary, Ms.
Brown told
Judge
Engelmayer. So
the
cooperation is
entirely
public now, in
this cozy
community.
Inner City
Press will
continue to
follow these
cases and
others in the
SDNY: see
@InnerCityPress
and the new
@SDNYLIVE.
Back on 9 May
2019 DOJ
Antitrust
Division
criminal chief
James J.
Fredricks
signed a
"Notice of
Intent to File
An
Information"
against
Meyers.
Through
so-called
"Wheel B" it
was assigned
to SDNY Judge
Engelmayer, by
Magistrate
Judge Ona T.
Wang.
On
June 5 - it is
not clear
where -
Meyers and his
attorney Dan
Portnov
"waive[d] in
open court
prosecution by
indictment and
consent[ed]
that the
proceeding may
be by
information
instead of by
indictment."
That way,
instead of
through the
more public
Magistrates
Court, Meyers'
presentment
was before
Judge
Engelmayer,
with a Docket
Number listed
as "19-CR-
[blank],"
quickly
released on
$100,000 bond,
travel
restricted to
the US and
Ireland unlike
most
defendants
confined to
two or three
US Districts.
This is the
VIP aisle of
indictments,
with the DOJ
helping to
avoid any
possible perp
walk.
And so it was
that while the
week's SDNY
"Civil and
Criminal
Proceedings
Calendar" for
the week of
06/17/19
listed on June
19 at 5 pm a
plea before
Judge
Engelmayer in
USA v. Meyers,
19-cr-[blank],
the courtroom
of Judge
Engelmayer
where Inner
City Press had
been earlier
in the day on
a Hobbs Act
robbery trial
was empty.
There was no
sign on the
door
explaining
why, as was
done for
example on the
door
of Judge
Deborah Batts
about Michael
Avenatti.
There are VIP
lines, and vip
lines. Watch
this site -
and for more,
see its
Patreon, here.
***
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