| Ruless Pierre Convicted of
Embezzlement & Fraud Despite Simpson
Thatcher CJA Defense
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
May 27 – Ruless Pierre has
been convicted of securities
fraud and embezzlement. Inner
City Press covered the trial,
see below.
Now on May
27, U.S. Attorney Audrey
Strauss said: “Today,
Ruless Pierre was brought to
justice for callously lying to
investors." The
Franchise Investment
Fraud
Beginning in or about November
2018, PIERRE began to offer
investors, including some
individuals who invested in
his Promissory Note Fraud, the
opportunity to purchase
partnership interests in a
partnership that would run
three fast-food franchise
locations... In total,
PIERRE raised at least
$200,000 by selling the Silent
Partnership Agreements to at
least 18 investors. Some
of the investors were paid
their 5 percent monthly
distribution, but the vast
majority of the investors were
not made whole. The
fast-food franchise went out
of business in December
2019. Note: it was
Planet Wings
On May 17,
U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York
Judge Sidney H. Stein began an
in-person jury trial in the
case.
Assistant
U.S. Attorney Robert Boone
said Pierre defrauded his
Haitian compatriots and
devoted the money to expensive
meals.
The witness
worked for a hotel in
Palisades, New York,
embezzlement from which Pierre
is charged.
On Marcy
18, with the trial paused for
a day, Inner City Press ]
reported on the record that
the US Attorney's Office
offered Pierre a plea
agreement with a stipulated
guidelines range of 51 to 63
months' imprisonment. It was
rejected.
On May 20, AUSA
Boone was questioning a victim
of Pierre's, who seemed to say
she was compensated from
bringing in more victims. She
was to withdraw $43.05 as a
test, she said.
On May 24,
Pierre's CJA lawyer Brooke
Cucinella of Simpson Thacher
cross examined at length about
charts showing Pierre's
finances, including his
purchase of a Planet Wings
franchise, and payments over
Zell.
Judge
Stein asked the witness, to
friendly laughter from the
jury, Do you have a Zell
account? He told the lawyers,
including AUSA Drew Skinner
who did the re-cross, to
"chill."
There is a mystery as to May
25 on which we hope to have
more. The only thing filed in
the docket was an additional
notice of appearance for
Ruless Pierre, by Jacob
Lundqvist.
On the
morning of May 26, AUSA
Skinner gave the government's
summation, including using
slides to detail each charge,
concluding with "the Planet
Wings Scheme." He said Ms.
Pamphile was charged hundreds
of thousands of dollars for a
store that cost only $50,000,
and then was told to delete
her text messages. The jury
was escorted down to lunch
together, presumably not
Planet Wings but rather than
often name-changing 8th floor
cafe.
In the
afternoon, Pierre's lawyer Brooke
Cucinella
emphasized
that her
client didn't
suddenly pay
off his debts,
for example to
Ally for the
Porsche, and
had sent bills
to those who
traveled with
him each year
to Miami for
Haitian Flag
Day, staying
in the
Fontainbleu
(said
Fountain-Blue)
hotel. Hold
the government
to its burden,
she said.
Watch this site.
The case is
US v. Pierre, 19-cr-783
(Stein)
***
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