An Indian diplomat accused of lying about how much she paid her housekeeper was ordered out of the United States on Thursday after she was indicted on two criminal charges and Indian authorities refused to waive her immunity, authorities said.
Devyani Khobragade, who had been strip-searched when arrested, left the country by plane Thursday night after being charged by a federal grand jury with visa fraud and making false statements in a case that has triggered an outcry in India, a senior U.S. official said. She's accused of fraudulently obtaining a work visa for her New York housekeeper.
A U.S. government official in Washington who wasn't authorized to speak about the case publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity said the U.S. accepted India's request to accredit her to the United Nations, which confers broader immunity than what she enjoyed as a consular official. It would be almost unprecedented for the U.S. to deny such a request unless the diplomat was a national security risk.
The United States asked the government of India to waive the immunity, but the Indians refused, so the U.S. then "requested her departure" from the country, the official said.
At a court hearing late Thursday involving only lawyers in the case, U.S. District Judge Shira A. Scheindlin was told by Khobragade's lawyer, Daniel Arshack, that he had told Khobragade not to board a flight Thursday afternoon until he had informed the judge presiding over her case that she has diplomatic immunity and had been ordered by the Department of State to leave the country.
The judge said it seemed odd that bail conditions continued to contain language that Khobragade could not leave New York when the Department of State had ordered her to do so.
"If she wants to go from India to China or something, it is not anybody's business right now. To say you may not travel outside the Southern District is kind of silly at this point," the judge said. "They have ordered her out and agreed she has diplomatic immunity now."
The judge said Khobragade "is permitted to obey the order of the State Department without any adverse consequence to her and her sureties," though she said Khobragade could be arrested and forced to answer the indictment if she returned to the United States without diplomatic immunity.
Arshack said Khobragade, whose nighttime flight from Kennedy Airport was delayed a couple of hours before finally taking off, was "pleased to be returning to her country."
"Her head is held high," the lawyer said. "She knows she has done no wrong and she looks forward to assuring that the truth is known."
Authorities say Khobragade claimed to pay her Indian maid $4,500 per month but gave her far less than the U.S. minimum wage. The indictment said Khobragade had made multiple false representations to U.S. authorities, or caused them to be made, to obtain a visa for a personal domestic worker. She planned to bring the worker to the United States in September 2012 when she worked at the Consulate General of India in New York, according to the indictment.
Her arrest last month sparked outrage in India after revelations that she was strip-searched and thrown in a cell with other criminal defendants before being released on $250,000 bail.
The maid, Sangeeta Richard, said in her first public statements on Thursday that she had decided to come to the U.S. to work for a few years to support her family and then return to India.
"I never thought that things would get so bad here, that I would work so much that I did not have time to sleep or eat or have time to myself," she said in a statement released by the anti-trafficking group Safe Horizon.
She said she tried to return to India because of how she'd been treated but her request was denied.
"I would like to tell other domestic workers who are suffering as I did — you have rights and do not let anyone exploit you," said Richard, who has been vilified in India and accused of blackmailing her employer.
Khobragade, India's deputy consul general in New York, has maintained her innocence.
In a letter to the judge on Thursday, prosecutors said there was no need for an arraignment because Khobragade had "very recently" been given diplomatic immunity status; they also mistakenly said she'd already left the United States.
A spokesman for prosecutors later clarified that the mix-up came because the Department of State advised that she was to have left the country Thursday afternoon.
The charges will remain pending until she can be brought to court to face them, through a waiver of immunity or her return to the U.S. without immunity status, the letter from the office of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said.
Arshack said he was pleased the Department of State had recognized Khobragade's diplomatic immunity.
He said the confusion over whether his client had left the country was "emblematic of the series of blunders which has contributed to the false charges brought against her." He said Khobragade did not make any false statements and paid her domestic worker what she was entitled to be paid.
Showing posts with label release. bail. Show all posts
Showing posts with label release. bail. Show all posts
Friday, January 10, 2014
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Four hurt as gunfire hits US military plane sent to evacuate Americans from South Sudan
Four U.S. military personnel were injured early Saturday when a plane being sent to help evacuate Americans from strife-torn South Sudan was struck by gunfire.
The Osprey CV-22 was damaged while approaching the city of Bor. The mission was aborted and the aircraft diverted to Entebbe, Uganda, a military official told NBC News. The injured servicemen were later taken to a hospital in Nairobi, Kenya, where they were in stable condition Saturday. None of their wounds was considered life-threatening.
The shooting came two days after three U.N. peacekeepers were killed in South Sudan. The Indian soldiers are among 500 people killed and 800 wounded in South Sudan since Sunday night, when gunbattles erupted between army factions loyal to the country's president and his former vice president, who are members of different tribes. The conflict has deepened divisions in the two-year-old nation.
South Sudan's military spokesman, Col. Philip Aguer, told The Associated Press that government troops were not in control of Bor, so the attack on the U.S. aircraft has to be blamed on renegade soldiers.
South Sudan President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, said this week that an attempted coup triggered the violence now pulsing through the country. He blamed the former vice president, Riek Machar, an ethnic Nuer.
Some analysts fear the violence may descend into the kind of ethnic bloodbath not seen since Rwanda in the 1990s.
Roughly 34,000 people have sought refuge in U.N. camps, and the U.S. and other countries are evacuating non-essential embassy staff and citizens.
Earlier this week, President Barack Obama said in a letter to Congress that 45 military personnel had been dispatched to South Sudan on Wednesday to protect U.S. citizens and property.
In a statement released Friday, Secretary of State John Kerry said that the international community was "laser-focused on the deeply alarming violence in South Sudan."
Kerry added: "Now is the time for South Sudan's leaders to rein in armed groups under their control, immediately cease attacks on civilians, and end the chain of retributive violence between different ethnic and political groups. The violence must stop, the dialogue must intensify."
The Osprey CV-22 was damaged while approaching the city of Bor. The mission was aborted and the aircraft diverted to Entebbe, Uganda, a military official told NBC News. The injured servicemen were later taken to a hospital in Nairobi, Kenya, where they were in stable condition Saturday. None of their wounds was considered life-threatening.
The shooting came two days after three U.N. peacekeepers were killed in South Sudan. The Indian soldiers are among 500 people killed and 800 wounded in South Sudan since Sunday night, when gunbattles erupted between army factions loyal to the country's president and his former vice president, who are members of different tribes. The conflict has deepened divisions in the two-year-old nation.
South Sudan's military spokesman, Col. Philip Aguer, told The Associated Press that government troops were not in control of Bor, so the attack on the U.S. aircraft has to be blamed on renegade soldiers.
South Sudan President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, said this week that an attempted coup triggered the violence now pulsing through the country. He blamed the former vice president, Riek Machar, an ethnic Nuer.
Some analysts fear the violence may descend into the kind of ethnic bloodbath not seen since Rwanda in the 1990s.
Roughly 34,000 people have sought refuge in U.N. camps, and the U.S. and other countries are evacuating non-essential embassy staff and citizens.
Earlier this week, President Barack Obama said in a letter to Congress that 45 military personnel had been dispatched to South Sudan on Wednesday to protect U.S. citizens and property.
In a statement released Friday, Secretary of State John Kerry said that the international community was "laser-focused on the deeply alarming violence in South Sudan."
Kerry added: "Now is the time for South Sudan's leaders to rein in armed groups under their control, immediately cease attacks on civilians, and end the chain of retributive violence between different ethnic and political groups. The violence must stop, the dialogue must intensify."
Friday, November 1, 2013
Co-Owner of Company That Originated $30 Million in Fraudulent Mortgages Pleads Guilty
NEWARK, NJ—owner of a mortgage company that was responsible for a long-running, large-scale mortgage fraud that caused losses of more than $30 million today admitted his role in the scheme, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Lester Soto, 57, of Freehold, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Esther Salas in Newark federal court to an information charging him with two counts of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
According to the information and other publicly-filed documents:
From September 2006 to May 2008, Soto and others, including fake document creators, a complicit lawyer and paralegal, and numerous loan officers, engaged in two related mortgage fraud conspiracies through a company called Premier Mortgage Services (APMS). Soto and his conspirators targeted properties in low-income areas of New Jersey. After recruiting straw buyers, Soto and his conspirators used a variety of fraudulent documents to make it appear as though the straw buyers possessed far more assets and earned far more income than they actually did.
Soto and his conspirators then submitted these fraudulent documents as part of mortgage loan applications to financial institutions. Relying on these fraudulent documents, financial institutions provided mortgage loans for the subject properties. Soto and his conspirators then split the proceeds from the mortgages among themselves and others by using fraudulent settlement statements (HUD-1s), which hid the true sources and destinations of the mortgage funds provided by financial institutions. The straw buyers had no means of paying the mortgages, and many of the properties entered into foreclosure proceedings. Soto and his conspirators defrauded financial institutions out of more than $30 million. Besides being a part-owner of PMS, Soto also acted as a loan officer on certain PMS mortgage loan applications. Soto took a percentage of PMS’ profits. Soto employed document makers to create false and fraudulent documents and put mortgage brokers at PMS in contact with these document makers to create other false and fraudulent documents. Soto instructed PMS employees to provide him with loan files that PMS employees believed contained suspicious information and then personally shepherded these loan files through to funding.
Other conspirators, including Isaac DePaula, Adilson Silva, and Klary Arcentales were loan officers at PMS. DePaula, Silva, and Arcentales recruited straw buyers, provided false and fraudulent documents to the straw buyers, and incorporated false and fraudulent documents into loan applications to induce financial institutions to fund mortgage loans. The loan officers profited illegally by receiving a commission from PMS for each mortgage loan that they closed and also profited illegally by diverting portions of the fraudulently obtained mortgage proceeds for themselves, often via shell corporations or nominee bank accounts.
Rodrigo Costa created false and fraudulent documents, including Verifications of Deposit (VODs) and Verifications of Rent (VORs). Other defendants, including DePaula and Silva, then submitted Costa’s fraudulent documents to support the fraudulent mortgage loan applications of various straw buyers. For his participation, Costa received a portion of the illicit proceeds from the mortgages.
Michael Rumore was an attorney licensed in the state of New Jersey. Rumore served as the settlement agent on mortgage loans brokered by DePaula, Silva, and Soto for various subject properties. Rumore used his status as an attorney to further the fraudulent scheme, including by convening closings, receiving funds from lenders, and preparing HUD-1s that purported to reflect the sources and destinations of funds for mortgages on subject properties B, when in fact, the HUD-1s were neither true nor accurate. Rumore disbursed mortgage loan proceeds directly to PMS, Soto, DePaula, and Silva, including amounts not reflected on the HUD-1s. Rumore received a fee for each fraudulent loan in which he participated.
Antonio Pimenta owned and managed Kelmar Construction Co. (Kelmar). Kelmar built properties that were then sold to straw buyers utilizing fraudulent mortgage loans brokered by Arcentales.
The counts with which Soto is charged are each punishable by a maximum potential penalty of 30 years in prison and a fine of $1 million. Sentencing is scheduled for February 10, 2014.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford, and special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Shantelle P. Kitchen, for the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea. Fishman also thanked the Social Security Administration-Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Edward Ryan, for its participation in the investigation.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rahul Agarwal and Zach Intrater of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division.
This case was brought in coordination with President Barack Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. The task force was established to wage an aggressive, coordinated, and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. With more than 20 federal agencies, 94 U.S. Attorneys’ offices and state and local partners, it is the broadest coalition of law enforcement, investigatory, and regulatory agencies ever assembled to combat fraud. Since its formation, the task force has made great strides in facilitating increased investigation and prosecution of financial crimes; enhancing coordination and cooperation among federal, state, and local authorities; addressing discrimination in the lending and financial markets and conducting outreach to the public, victims, financial institutions, and other organizations. Over the past three fiscal years, the Justice Department has filed nearly 10,000 financial fraud cases against nearly 15,000 defendants including more than 2,900 mortgage fraud defendants. For more information on the task force, please visit www.stopfraud.gov
Lester Soto, 57, of Freehold, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Esther Salas in Newark federal court to an information charging him with two counts of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
According to the information and other publicly-filed documents:
From September 2006 to May 2008, Soto and others, including fake document creators, a complicit lawyer and paralegal, and numerous loan officers, engaged in two related mortgage fraud conspiracies through a company called Premier Mortgage Services (APMS). Soto and his conspirators targeted properties in low-income areas of New Jersey. After recruiting straw buyers, Soto and his conspirators used a variety of fraudulent documents to make it appear as though the straw buyers possessed far more assets and earned far more income than they actually did.
Soto and his conspirators then submitted these fraudulent documents as part of mortgage loan applications to financial institutions. Relying on these fraudulent documents, financial institutions provided mortgage loans for the subject properties. Soto and his conspirators then split the proceeds from the mortgages among themselves and others by using fraudulent settlement statements (HUD-1s), which hid the true sources and destinations of the mortgage funds provided by financial institutions. The straw buyers had no means of paying the mortgages, and many of the properties entered into foreclosure proceedings. Soto and his conspirators defrauded financial institutions out of more than $30 million. Besides being a part-owner of PMS, Soto also acted as a loan officer on certain PMS mortgage loan applications. Soto took a percentage of PMS’ profits. Soto employed document makers to create false and fraudulent documents and put mortgage brokers at PMS in contact with these document makers to create other false and fraudulent documents. Soto instructed PMS employees to provide him with loan files that PMS employees believed contained suspicious information and then personally shepherded these loan files through to funding.
Other conspirators, including Isaac DePaula, Adilson Silva, and Klary Arcentales were loan officers at PMS. DePaula, Silva, and Arcentales recruited straw buyers, provided false and fraudulent documents to the straw buyers, and incorporated false and fraudulent documents into loan applications to induce financial institutions to fund mortgage loans. The loan officers profited illegally by receiving a commission from PMS for each mortgage loan that they closed and also profited illegally by diverting portions of the fraudulently obtained mortgage proceeds for themselves, often via shell corporations or nominee bank accounts.
Rodrigo Costa created false and fraudulent documents, including Verifications of Deposit (VODs) and Verifications of Rent (VORs). Other defendants, including DePaula and Silva, then submitted Costa’s fraudulent documents to support the fraudulent mortgage loan applications of various straw buyers. For his participation, Costa received a portion of the illicit proceeds from the mortgages.
Michael Rumore was an attorney licensed in the state of New Jersey. Rumore served as the settlement agent on mortgage loans brokered by DePaula, Silva, and Soto for various subject properties. Rumore used his status as an attorney to further the fraudulent scheme, including by convening closings, receiving funds from lenders, and preparing HUD-1s that purported to reflect the sources and destinations of funds for mortgages on subject properties B, when in fact, the HUD-1s were neither true nor accurate. Rumore disbursed mortgage loan proceeds directly to PMS, Soto, DePaula, and Silva, including amounts not reflected on the HUD-1s. Rumore received a fee for each fraudulent loan in which he participated.
Antonio Pimenta owned and managed Kelmar Construction Co. (Kelmar). Kelmar built properties that were then sold to straw buyers utilizing fraudulent mortgage loans brokered by Arcentales.
The counts with which Soto is charged are each punishable by a maximum potential penalty of 30 years in prison and a fine of $1 million. Sentencing is scheduled for February 10, 2014.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford, and special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Shantelle P. Kitchen, for the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea. Fishman also thanked the Social Security Administration-Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Edward Ryan, for its participation in the investigation.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rahul Agarwal and Zach Intrater of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division.
This case was brought in coordination with President Barack Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. The task force was established to wage an aggressive, coordinated, and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. With more than 20 federal agencies, 94 U.S. Attorneys’ offices and state and local partners, it is the broadest coalition of law enforcement, investigatory, and regulatory agencies ever assembled to combat fraud. Since its formation, the task force has made great strides in facilitating increased investigation and prosecution of financial crimes; enhancing coordination and cooperation among federal, state, and local authorities; addressing discrimination in the lending and financial markets and conducting outreach to the public, victims, financial institutions, and other organizations. Over the past three fiscal years, the Justice Department has filed nearly 10,000 financial fraud cases against nearly 15,000 defendants including more than 2,900 mortgage fraud defendants. For more information on the task force, please visit www.stopfraud.gov
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