Of Couple Charged with COVID Loan
Fraud Pleading Guilty Wife Got 6 Months
Husband 30
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE,
Jan 14 – A husband and wife
charged with COVID loan fraud
were presented on March 20
before U.S. District Court for
the Southern District of New
York Magistrate Judge Gary
Stein. Inner City Press was
there, the only media in the
SDNY Mag Court.
They had a
row of supporters or at least
family members in the gallery.
The AUSA offered
both of them release on bond:
$250,000 and $100,000
respectively. The return of a
perhaps expired passport from
Kosovo was ordered.
On September 19,
the duo appeared again in
Magistrates court, this time
to plead guilty. The husband
went first; his plea agreement
has a sentencing guideline of
30 to 37 months. Then the
wife, with a lower guideline:
21 to 27 months. She asked to
have her GPS monitoring
bracelet removed but Judge
Robyn Tarnofsky denied it,
noting among other things the
changed motivation, and ties
to another country.
Jump cut to
December 30, when counsel for
Amijet wrote in asking for no
jail time on January 13,
arguing that "while Amijet was
the owner on paper of Luna
Cafe, it was really Musa who
ran the business."
On January 6, the
US wrote in asking for 18
months on Kurtishi.
On January 13
Kurtishi was sentenced to six
months and a fine of $50,000.
On January 14, Demaj got 30
months and a fine of $100,000.
The case is USA
v. Demaj, et al., 1:24-cr-552
(Woods)
***
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
500 Pearl Street, NY NY 10007 USA
Mail: Box 130222 NY NY 10013
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 2006-2025 Inner City
Press, Inc. To request reprint or other
permission, e-contact Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com
|