Wednesday, February 8, 2023

WERE BRADY DISCOVERY LAPSES IN THE ALI SADR CASE INTENTIONAL, TO GIVE A COOPERATING DEFENDANT AN EXIT RAMP?

I am still questioning the official version of the story in the case against Iranian businessman (and Pilatus Bank owner) ALI SADR HASHEMINEJAD, whose conviction, after a jury found him guilty, was dismissed in what most observers consider an abject failure of America's criminal justice system. Was the true reason that the US Attorney's Office in New York (SDNY) neglected to pass on to the defendant's counsel Discovery assembled by by FBI agents assigned to the case a ploy to conceal massive covert cooperation with American law enforcement, and/or the disgorgement and payment of millions of dollars to the United States Treasury? I just cannot believe that the most professional prosecutorial office in the United States would engage in what amounted to to malpractice, forcing a miscarriage of justice, due to the principles of the Brady decision, which provides fatal relief to a defendant, due to prosecutorial misconduct. 

It wouldn't be the first time a wealthy foreign defendant negotiated a large multi-million dollar payment of his wealth to the United States, coupled with Substantial Assistance, resulting in the indictment of major targets of the DOJ, in an arrangement kept out of the public view. Unfortunately, favorable plea agreements which serve the needs of Federal prosecutors are not generally transparent, to the damage and detriment of the financial world at large. Pleadings are often sealed by District Court judges, at the result of Federal prosecutors, which denies this information to compliance professionals performing due diligence, and potential future victims of the defendant.  

Sadr's attorneys have engaged in a very public PR campaign proclaiming his innocence, even hinting that his guilty verdict was somehow a wrongful conviction. Compliance officers will be hard pressed to use his criminal case to deny him access to their banking facility; do they risk civil litigation if they act as gatekeeper? I am a strong supporter of strong enforcement of US money laundering laws, but the Sadr case deserves a hard look to determine what happened below the waterline. 

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