Grand Larceny

Published on: July 7, 2012

Second Indictment of Defendant Nullifies First Indictment

by Stephen Bilkis

The People of the State of New York are the plaintiffs in this case. The defendant of the case is Gus Franco. The case is being heard in the criminal term of the Queens County Supreme Court in the state of New York.

The defendant has moved to have the instant indictment against him dismissed. The defendant basis his argument on the grounds that there is a legal impediment for the conviction of the crimes that he is being charged with. This motion is necessary at this point in the case as there has been an issue of evidence being re-submitted in the case. The District Attorney is seeking re-submit evidence to a second grand jury and this has resulted in no true bill on all counts of the indictment.

Case History

Published on: July 2, 2012

Defendant Contends Cruel and Unusual Punishment in Sentencing

by Stephen Bilkis

The defendant of this case is Irone Bradford. The plaintiff in the case is the People of the State of New York. The case is being heard in the Trial term of the Supreme Court located in New York County. Judge Jack Rosenburg is overseeing the case.

The defendant has pled guilty to the crime of second degree robbery and is now awaiting his sentence. The defendant is making an attack on the constitutionality of section 60.05 of the Penal Law.

Case Arguments and Decisions

Published on: June 24, 2012

Court Decides if Rape Trauma Syndrome Applies

by Stephen Bilkis

The Facts:

Defendant is charged with two counts of grand larceny in the third degree arising out of a homosexual incident between the complainant and defendant.

The People allege that the incident was consensual in nature and that defendant thereafter extorted money from the complainant by threatening to expose him as a homosexual and to bring charges of homosexual rape.

Published on: February 16, 2012

Defendant Charged with Multiple Sex Offenses

by Stephen Bilkis

On October 16, 1997, a male identified only as C.B. made a videotaped confession to a Bronx Assistant District Attorney following his arrest. During the confession, C.B. discussed numerous criminal offenses and described on at least 11 different occasions on which he had entered private residences unlawfully and in some cases, masturbated onto a sleeping female victim. He also claims to be an exhibitionist and states that he needs help because he has a problem or illness that made him repeatedly commit the sex crimes.

C.B.’s criminal defense attorney subsequently filed a motion with the Bronx County Supreme Court to exclude statements made in the confession that related to the charges he was arrested on. According to a New York Criminal Lawyer, the motion also included a request to exclude testimony from the victims and the minutes of the Grand Jury proceedings. Specifically, defense counsel argued that the victim should be precluded from testifying at trial since the statements offered would be irrelevant; that the videotaped confession should be excluded since it contains evidence of unrelated and uncharged crimes; that the videotape itself was prejudicial; and that C.B. was not competent to testify as to his own mental capacity.

An Article 10 hearing was scheduled on April 9, 2009, to determine whether the tape confession should be admitted. Defense counsel also argued that the tape’s admission would violate C.B.’s constitutional rights and that Grand Jury testimony should be precluded since it was never referenced in the charges or plea allocution and should not be disclosed without a court order.

Published on: December 13, 2011

Hearing set for tax collector accused of stealing

by Stephen Bilkis

An evidentiary hearing has been set in the lawsuit against a former tax collector. A Milford Superior Court judge set Feb. 7 as the date for the hearing, a source was informed. Milford is located in Connecticut.

Both the prosecution and the defense will present their evidence for the trail before the judge. The judge will then decide if there is enough evidence for the lawsuit to continue to a trial. Not only will the judge hear about any physically evidence, but also if there are any witnesses to the supposed grand larceny, the judge will talk with them.

The parties involved have the right to know the claims against them and the evidence that the prosecution has. The evidentiary hearing gives both parties the ability to be on the same page. If the judge decides there is not enough evidence, the lawsuit will be thrown out.

Published on: December 7, 2011

Tennessee Couple Accused of Stealing From Church

by Stephen Bilkis

The one place where money and all other things should be sacred was not so, recently. A Massachusetts couple has been accused of stealing from the First Presbyterian Church in Tennessee in January, alleges a charge. The couple were both acting suspicious and were questioned when they left the church. When the man became rude is when the police were called.

The couple was leaving the church and the man had his coat draped in an unorderly and funny fashion. A woman who was a member of the church spotted the young couple acting weird and questioned what they were holding. The man swore at her and took off out of the church. The police were then alerted, reported a source.

The police took a report from the church and went to look for the couple. It only took a matter of a few minutes before each one was found in a separate location in the town, said the police. They were driving a truck that had been stolen the week before from a New Jersey address. The jug they stole contained a small donation to a charity. The couple faces multiple charges of grand larceny, lying to investigators, lying to police and a few other charges are pending. The male of the couple, who is only 19 years old, is also wanted on other drug and theft charges in other states. A date for their preliminary hearing has not been set.

Published on: November 15, 2011

An international case of fraud involving a major software firm leads to high-stakes charges

by Stephen Bilkis

A former manager of a major U.S. software company was recently indicted on charges of wire fraud, suspicion and money laundering, following an investigation which revealed a multi-million dollar international scam.

During the course of his five-year employment with the software company, the defendant appears to have taken kickbacks from foreign suppliers in exchange for insider information and future plans of the company. The co-conspirators included several suppliers from Singapore and China, as well as other partners in Asia. A the defendant is responsible for approximately $2.25 million in lost revenue for the company which he represented. This amount reflects both personal gains that the defendant gleaned from the shady Asian foreign suppliers, as well as damages to the software company he once served as manager. Potentially he can be charged with Grand Larceny wither in State or Federal Court

A New York Criminal Lawyer observes that the defendant, a native of Sunnyvale, CA, was indicted on August 11, 2010. He subsequently entered into a plea deal, the details of which are summed up in an official statement by a representative of the U.S. Department of Justice: “…(the defendant) admitted to engaging in a scheme to defraud (the company) of its money or property and its right to his honest services while he was employed with the company from 2005 through 2010.” Federal agents scoured the defendant’s home following his detailed conviction, where they found approximately $150,000 cash hidden in shoe boxes. This cash was most like part of the kickbacks he received from the Asian-based suppliers, which constituted a certain percentage of the commerce between the plaintiff company and its foreign suppliers.

Published on: November 14, 2011

SEC Accuses Former Goldman Sachs Director of Participating in Insider Trading

by Stephen Bilkis

A former director of financial firm Goldman Sachs has been accused of providing illegal business tips to the head of the Galleon Group, another financial firm. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleges that Rajat K. Gupta provided information about Warren Buffet’s intentions to invest in Goldman Sachs to Raj Rajaratnam hours before the investment was complete. This tip allowed the Galleon Group to earn $900,000 in profits after the company purchased 175,000 Goldman Sachs shares. Providing tips like this to other business people is illegal and unethical, and is charectarized as White Collar Crime.

According to the SEC, this is not the first time Gupta has provided Rajaratnam with trading tips. Gupta, who also sits on the board of Proctor and Gamble (P&G) alerted Rajaratnam of the company’s quarterly earnings early which prompted the Galleon Group to purchase shares right before quarterly earnings announcements. The Galleon Group earned more than $13.6 million in profits.

Gupta and Rajaratnam met about ten years ago during their work with the Indian School of Business. Since then, the two men have shared thousands of phone calls, lunches and formed business alliances such as the New Silk Route, a financial firm specializing in investment opportunities in India. Even though Rajaratnam’s role in New Silk Route is unclear, as he never took an active role in the firm, the two men are linked to the company, states a New York Criminal Lawyer. Gupta’s lawyer insists that the two men are friends and business colleagues and that Gupta has 40 years of experience in business and has never been accused of any illegal activities during this time.

Published on: October 6, 2011

Ex-Qwest CEO Says That He Will Not Pay for His Lawyer’s Underwear

by Stephen Bilkis

On Wednesday, the former chief executive officer (CEO) of Qwest Communications, filed a lawsuit that alleges the lawyers who represented him during his insider-trading case overbilled him, a New York Criminal Lawyer has learned. The legal malpractice lawsuit was filed in state Superior Court in Newark, NJ, seeks punitive and compensatory damages totaling $25 million plus attorney’s fees. This is widely considered to be Grand Larceny.

The former CEO is currently located at a federal prison in Pennsylvania, serving a 70-month sentence for using insider information as a basis for selling $52 million in stock in his former employer, the NYC Criminal Lawyer was told. An appeals court also ordered him to pay a $19 million fine and to forfeit close to $45 million. His conviction was in 2007.

The former CEO’s current attorney has also informed the New York Grand Larceny Attorney that thanks to the law firm named in the suits failure to follow even the most “basic litigation procedures,” his client received not only strict fines, but also a lengthier prison sentence than what was necessary. The attorney also stated that due to these failures, the trial judge barred the defense’s sole expert witness. He also added that the case is sad, since his client not only received inadequate representation during his trial, but he was also overbilled in the process.

Published on: September 26, 2011

Las Vegas businessman reaches $400,000 settlement in fraud case

by Stephen Bilkis

In a surprising twist of fate, the Las Vegas businessman who was arrested last year under suspicion of an $80 million dollar investment fraud has reached a settlement worth $400,000 with one of his angry investors. Apparently, the man solicited to investors that he was in the process of developing large parcels of land which would turn into big bucks for investors, and he received all kinds of monies that he then never paid back. This rises to the crime of Grand Larceny.

Reports by a New York Grand Larceny Lawyer said that the man had reached a settlement with an angry investor last year that cost him $380,000 and now, suddenly, an unidentified benefactor has agreed to pay in full a new settlement of $400,000 to a different investor who lost their money. No one knows for sure how this businessman knows so many individuals who are willing to bail him out, and some say that the money that he is being ‘gifted’ is really money that he had stashed away in the earlier stages of the land development fraud. These cases are prosecuted by District Attorneys in Nassau and Suffolk Counties.

According to a Criminal Lawyer of NYC, the Las Vegas businessman owns two luxurious and spacious homes in the area, and these homes were worth quite a bit of money. The investigation is continuing into where he managed to get the funds to purchase these high end properties, as well as how he has managed to find benefactors to bail him out almost every step of the way. As for the land development that was supposed to turn into riches for investors, it remains to be seen whether or not that will actually come to pass.