| In
Attorney Steering Prosecution
Judge Set November 13 Trial, 2
Weeks on Waiver of FRPI
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
June 6 – On a daily basis,
defendants are brought into
court and either get appointed
counsel or choose to pay a
private attorney, if they can.
But this system
can be gamed.
March 30, 2023 saw "charges
against DIONISIO FIGUEROA,
a/k/a “Dionicio,” an employee
of the United States District
Court for the Southern
District of New York (“the
SDNY District Court”), and
TELESFORO DEL VALLE, JR.,
a/k/a “Ted,” a criminal
defense attorney practicing in
the SDNY District Court and
elsewhere, for their
participation in a scheme in
which FIGUEROA referred
criminal defendants to DEL
VALLE and encouraged those
defendants to retain DEL VALLE
as counsel in exchange for
cash payments from DEL VALLE
to FIGUEROA. FIGUEROA
was arrested, and DEL VALLE
surrendered earlier today, and
both will be presented before
United States Magistrate Judge
Andrew E. Krause in the SDNY
District courthouse in White
Plains, New York."
Inner City
Press, which closely covers
the Magistrate Court, had in
2022 reported the
investigation against Del
Valle, and on March 30
wondered why the defendants
were presented in White
Plains.
On April 10, U.S.
District Court Judge Mae A.
D'Agostino set a November 13
trial date.
On May 22, the
Federal Defender's office for
the Northern District of New
York wrote to Judge D'Agostino
in Albany asking that the
requirement of a financial
responsible person as
co-signer be waived, as
Figueroa while living in East
Harlem with people of "modest
means" is barred from speaking
with SDNY employees who might
co-sign.
On June 6 a
telephone conference was held
- without any listen-only
public access line included in
the notice: "NOTICE OF HEARING
as to Dionisio Figueroa. A
Telephone Status Conference is
set for June 6, 2023 at 11:00
a.m. before the Hon. Mae A.
D'Agostino. Counsel are
directed to dial-in for the
conference call, using the
teams link provided to counsel
this morning. (Telephone
Conference set for 6/6/2023 at
11:00 AM before District Judge
Mae A D'Agostino)"
Afterward,
"telephone conference was
scheduled today to address the
outstanding issue of this
defendants condition of
release, requiring him to
secure a financially
responsible person to co-sign
his personal recognizance bond
in this case. Multiple
extensions have been granted
to the defendant to secure a
co-signor. To date the
defendant has been unable to
secure a co-signor, and the
defense is now requesting that
the condition for a co-signor
be stricken [Dkt. no. 43]. The
Government objects to the
condition being stricken, but
will consent to a substitute
requirement in its place [Dkt.
no. 44]. The Court agrees,
that there are alternate
conditions that could be
substituted for the co-signor
requirement, as the Government
laid out in their response
papers. The Court will give
the defense 2 more weeks to
secure a financially
responsible person to co-sign
the defendants bond. If the
defendant is still unable to
secure an appropriate and
financially responsible person
to co-sign his bond, the Court
will consider substitute
conditions in its place. The
Defense is to submit a status
report to the Court or before
6/20/23 as to the status of
the co-signor, and/or to
inform the Court which
substitute condition the
defendant would request as a
substitute - electronic
monitoring and/or to secure
the bond."
The case is US v.
Figueroa et al.. 23-cr-161
(D'Agostino)
***
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