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Attorney Steering Case Guilty
Verdicts on Dionisio Figueroa Now
US Asks for 41 Months
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
March 18 – 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."
Inner City
Press, which closely covers
the Magistrate Court, had in
2022 reported the
investigation against Del
Valle.
On November 3
Inner City Press first
reported the De Valle's
Albany-based counsel has
informed Judge D'Agostino that
Del Valle "has decided to
plead guilty to counts 1, 3, 5
and 7" and requests a Pimentel
estimate of sentencing
guidelines.
On November 16,
De Valle did in fact plead
guilty, in the run up to
Figueroa's trial: "TELESFORO
DEL VALLE, JR., a/k/a “Ted,” a
criminal defense attorney who
has appeared in cases in the
U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York
(“SDNY District Court”) and
elsewhere for more than 20
years, pled guilty to charges
of conspiracy, bribery, paying
illegal compensation to a
court employee, and making
material false statements to
law enforcement to conceal his
crimes."
On November 28,
Figueroa's counsel filed his
list of exhibits, including
about particular cases and
defendants: Perez Rosso, Abreu
Gil, Pura Rosso Garcia, and
Simon and Duverge proffer
notes.
On November 30,
the US filed its exhibit list
from which we reverse engineer
some of the cases at issue,
but find many sealed documents
in the dockets: Silva (Judge
Edgardo Ramos 2012),
Perez-Rosso (Judge Castel,
2018) and Gil (misspelled
Gill), 2022 Kimba M. Wood,
many sealed filings.
On December 7,
Figueroa's lawyers filed a
Rule 29 memo arguing among
other things that "the
government's evidence at most
establishes that Figueroa
referred people (not
Figueroa's clients) to
consider retaining Del Valle.
It seems unlikely that
Congress intended the statute
to reach so far as to raise
the prospect of a criminal
violation when a court clerk
(non-lawyer) refers people
(not clients) to an attorney
to represent the client's
interest...."
On December 11,
guilty verdicts, put into the
docket: "Defendant GUILTY on
Counts 1,2,4, and 6.
Sentencing is April 8, 2024 at
12:00 p.m. in White Plains.
The parties are advised that
the Court is NOT inclined to
seal sentencing memorandums
and that if incarceration is
ordered, the defendant will be
remanded on the day of
sentencing."
On December 27
Figueroa's Federal Defender
wrote in to ask for a
modification to allow him to
"have direct and/or third
party contact with current or
former employees" of the SDNY
court, to "seek and obtain
character letters." The
prosecutors do not object.
On March 18, the
US Attorney's Office asked for
41 months, in the run-up to
the April 8 sentencing, saying
the defendant "undermined the
integrity and impartiality of
the SDNY Clerk's Office" and
shows a "complete lack of
acceptance of responsibility."
The case is US v.
Figueroa et al.. 23-cr-161
(D'Agostino)
***
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