Inner City Press





In Other Media-eg New Statesman, AJE, FP, Georgia, NYTAzerbaijan, CSM Click here to contact us     .



These reports are usually available through Google News and on Lexis-Nexis
,



Share |   

Follow on TWITTER

Home -

These reports are usually available through Google News and on Lexis-Nexis

CONTRIBUTE

(FP Twitterati 100, 2013)

ICP on YouTube

More: InnerCityPro

BloggingHeads.tv
Sept 24, 2013

UN: Sri Lanka

VoA: NYCLU

FOIA Finds  

Google, Asked at UN About Censorship, Moved to Censor the Questioner, Sources Say, Blaming UN - Update - Editorial

Support this work by buying this book

Click on cover for secure site orders

also includes "Toxic Credit in the Global Inner City"
 

 

 


Community
Reinvestment

Bank Beat

Freedom of Information
 

How to Contact Us



In Blakstad's Illumina Insider Trading Trial US Cites NFL Player, Defense Says Witness Bought

By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC - Guardian UK - Honduras - ESPN

SDNY COURTHOUSE, June 25 – The insider trading trial of Donald Blakstad is ongoing in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, but the transcript of cooperator Martha Bustos' guilty plea is still sealed, as as she testifies, it emerged on June 16, see below.

  On June 17 in the trial, the trades including of call options in Illumina by Sapphire Bay, Sutton View Equity Partners and even Mid-Continental Petroleum, Inc. of Las Vegas, Nevada were detailed, as to timing and amount, from the glassed-in witness box. The accented witness explained for the jurors being "out of the money" versus "deep in the money."

On June 22, the US Attorney's Office filed a letter opposing the introduction of DX-AG, which without submitting it described as a 97 page exhibit with "billing records issued by at least five separate law firms, including a law firm related in Israel." It said one "legal bill reflected the matter name 'Magic Jack' 'for legal services rendered, without describing what 'Magic Jack' is."

On June 25, closing arguments began but did not finish before the 2:30 pm cut-off. Inner City Press live tweeted it, here:

AUSA: Blakstad went out for $7000 dinners, with money stolen from investors. There are receipts. Blakstad cannot deny it happened... Remember Blakstad traded on August 1, 2017 and met Patty Bustos after and he handed over cash? 3 cash withdrawals, 5, 6 and 7 thousand

AUSA: [NFL player Corey] Liuget hasn't gotten his money back to this day [$150,000]

Now Blakstad's defense lawyer. "The prosecution's closing was good. But it was not fair." China has a Constitution that looks good on paper. The problem with this case is that the prosecution came into the case with a template.

Blakstad's counsel: They walk about CC-4, excuse me for using this jargon. It's Co-Conspirator Number 4, whom they say is Cipriani. [It's 2:15 now, & Judge Ramos has said there's a hard-stop at 2:30. So US Attorney's Office final argument will be after the weekend

 Blakstad's lawyer hits 2:30 pm cutoff slamming prosecutors paying witness Hinton, and essentially telling him what to say. Multiple uses of the word "lie." Judge Ramos: OK, we're done for the day.

    Back on June 16, Bustos was on the witness stand for the second day, now facing cross examination including quotes from her plea allocution before SDNY Chief Magistrate Judge Gabriel W. Gorenstein.  

 Inner City Press, live tweeting the cross examination here and below, went into the docket of Bustos' case, 19-cr-482.

But there things ended on February 28, 2021 with a deleted document; previously there was an order "placing this matter under seal /delayed docketing."  

  Delayed for how long? It is no long a secret that Bustos is a cooperator. The last substantive entry in her docket is the waiver of indictment, now on Patreon here. It has it was subject to delayed docketing, but we have it. So where are the documents after that? We'll have more on this.

Here was some of the thread: now in insider trading trial of US v. Donald Blakstad , government witness Martha Patricia Bustos formerly of Illumina is being cross examined. The question are about the trip to New York that the witness testified about yesterday.  On cross, she's being asked if she was hung-over. 

Q: Were you taken off the email distribution on this?  A: It was late 2018 I was taken off.

[From July 2019: "the unsealing of charges against MARTHA BUSTOS, a CPA formerly employed by Illumina, who pled guilty on June 28, 2019, and is cooperating with the Government.] 

 Q: Did you consider the internal mood to be confidential information? A: Yes.

 Q: You would ask Mr. Blakstad his opinion on whether you should sell you stock? A: Not that I recall specifically. Q: Did you ask Mr. Blakstad if you should quit your job there? A: Don told me, Don't quit, it's a really good company.

Q: You did discuss selling or buying Illumina stock in your chats, right? A: I may have.

Q: You talked about the price of the stock. In texts, like "I sold so much at $160," in 2018? A: I may have.

 Q: And he said he had sold at $200 a share earlier in the year? 

Q: Ms. Bustos, you pled to conspiracy? Bustos: Yes. 

Q: With an overt act in October 2016, receiving inside information? Bustos: I don't recall. Q: In your plea you admitted to being part of a conspiracy, right? Bustos: I don't recall. 

Q: What about CC-1 and CC-2? You did not look at the mention of other persons? Bustos: I know there were other people involved. 

Q: Let me discuss with you the entry of your guilty plea, in open court, before Magistrate Gorenstein. You were asked questions... 

Q: You said you received a trip to New York, right? Bustos: That I received gifts and entertainment. 

Then Inner City Press went to read the transcript Bustos is being asked about -- and in her case, it is still sealed. 

This case is US v. Blakstad, 19-cr-486 (Ramos)

***

Your support means a lot. As little as $5 a month helps keep us going and grants you access to exclusive bonus material on our Patreon page. Click here to become a patron.

Feedback: Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
SDNY Press Room 480, front cubicle
500 Pearl Street, NY NY 10007 USA

Mail: Box 20047, Dag Hammarskjold Station NY NY 10017

Reporter's mobile (and weekends): 718-716-3540



Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.

 Copyright 2006-2021 Inner City Press, Inc. To request reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com