Judge wants U.S. to protect Trump associate’s secret history
ASSOCIATED PRESS / JAN. 2008
Construction workers gathered across from the Trump Soho hotel-condominium where they were working in New York. A U.S. judge is urging the Obama administration to protect from public disclosure federal court records involving the once-secret criminal history of a former Donald Trump business partner.
WASHINGTON » A federal judge has asked the Obama administration to shield from public disclosure court records related to the once-secret criminal history of a former Donald Trump business partner.
In an unusual order prompted by an unsealing request from The Associated Press, U.S. District Judge Brian M. Cogan said that unless the Justice Department acts before April 18, he will decide whether to make the court files public under the assumption that federal prosecutors don’t care.
The case involves Felix Sater, a Trump business associate who pleaded guilty in a major Mafia-linked stock fraud scheme in the late 1990s and cooperated with the government. The AP reported in December that, even after learning about Sater’s background, Trump tapped Sater for a business development role in 2010 that included the title of senior adviser to Trump, and had an office in the Trump Organization’s headquarters.
Sater’s criminal past initially drew attention because of his ties to Trump, now the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. But legal disputes over information related to Sater’s efforts to cooperate with the government — which was ongoing during the period he worked with Trump — also raises questions about court secrecy.
“It seems to me that the government has a unique interest in keeping documents that relate to cooperation agreements under seal,” Cogan wrote in his order. “The government should speak and assert its position as to whether the public’s right to access each document in the record is outweighed by a compelling need for secrecy.”
Lawyers for the AP had asked the judge to justify sealing a five-year criminal contempt proceeding in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
Not only did Cogan seal all documents in the contempt case, he also initially censored the AP’s request that he unseal his justification for being withheld from public view. When The New York Times asked the judge to make public the AP’s request to release the documents, that request was kept secret, too. Late last week, the judge also made requests by the AP and the newspaper publicly accessible — but ordered that the parties to the case file any responses to them under seal.
The defendants in the contempt case, Frederick Oberlander and Richard Lerner, are attorneys the government said revealed once-secret court records about Sater’s crimes and cooperation. Sater’s lawyers — who once included Leslie Caldwell, now the head of the Justice Department’s criminal division — have said that Sater’s cooperation was vital to national security and disclosures about his past put him in danger.
Oberlander and Lerner said they never revealed sealed records. Some of what they had been ordered not to disclose is already publicly available in the Congressional Record, they said.
Also at issue in the case are statements that U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch — formerly the top prosecutor in Cogan’s district — made about Sater’s case before the Senate confirmed her last year. Oberlander and Lerner said the government improperly permitted Sater to use his status as a secret cooperator to commit new crimes and avoid paying restitution to past victims, who are owed millions of dollars.
In February 2015, Lynch told Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah that information about Sater’s restitution “remains under seal,” and that the Justice Department would never waive victims’ right to restitution as part of a cooperation agreement. Court records publicly available at the time showed Sater was not ordered to pay back the victims. One of Sater’s attorneys said at the time that the lack of restitution, and the $25,000 fine, reflected the difficulty of identifying specific victims and the government’s gratitude to Sater.
A Justice Department spokeswoman, Melanie Newman, told the AP that Lynch’s comments were accurate because some documents related to restitution in Sater’s case remain private.
Oberlander told the AP that the original cooperation agreement Sater signed in 1998, which has been publicly available since 2013, said Sater acknowledged that the penalty for his crime included roughly $60 million in restitution payments to victims.
The New York judge has twice asked the Justice Department to pursue contempt charges against the two lawyers who revealed Sater’s cooperation. In both cases, local federal prosecutors recused themselves over unspecified conflicts of interest after consulting with Justice Department officials in Washington. They referred the case to federal prosecutors in Albany, New York, who likewise did not act.
Sater’s attorney, Robert Wolf, said the judge was right for urging the government to take action against Oberlander and Lerner. He said his client provided information that “potentially saved tens of thousands, if not millions, of our citizens’ lives.”
31 responses to “Judge wants U.S. to protect Trump associate’s secret history”
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Hate rules America, in all directions.
Good job Bill Clinton! I knew he wasn’t sitting idly in that Harlem office and had to be plotting something to take down Trump. And, next, in retaliation Trump will have Yoko Ono testify to her Lesbian relationship with Hillary, when Hilary was an undergrad, etc., etc., ad naseum… And, all that effort just to obtain the Cuban Cigar concession for the USA… (I think “Monica” is now too old looking to be a promo-model for Cuban Cigars..(?))
Sounds like AG Loretta Lynch has some explaining to do:
…Lynch told Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, of the Senate Judiciary Committee that information about Sater’s restitution “remains under seal,” and that the Justice Department would never waive victims’ right to restitution as part of a cooperation agreement. Court records already publicly available at the time showed that Sater was not ordered to pay restitution and the government never requested it.
No, she doesn’t. You should speak with a lawyer before trying to cobble together a legal argument. The fact that the government did not mandate specific restitution is different than the government disallowing it. A victim has a path to civil recovery unless an order specifically bars that. Not all cases like this include prosecutorial-mandated restitution.
“It seems to me that the government has a unique interest in keeping documents that relate to cooperation agreements under seal,” the judge wrote in his order. The judge has it backwards: The public has a right to know whom the presidential candidates associate with.
whs1966–agree. And that should include Chelsea’s father in law!!!
Chelsea or her father in law is not running for POTUS.DUH.
Exactly, Hilary is, so what is the difference. Hillary and Bill are real tight with Chelsea’s father in law and he was convicted of running a ponzi scheme. Clinton’s should be careful for what they wish for. They have as much dirt on them as Trump maybe even more since they have been career politicians.
davcon – So if someone is “real tight” with an in-law family member, that is the same as hiring a known criminal? That’s quite an analysis! “I love the poorly educated!” Go Trump!
Yep, can’t deny that being “real tight” with folks is different than hiring them, although “Travelgate” came pretty close. The entire Whitewater thing, including Foster and “Filegate”, sure raised some questions though. And, remember, with a Clinton in power, if you keep your mouth shut like Mcdougal, you’ll get a pardon. Good old boys, and girls, know how the game is played.
Chances are Bill is not Chelsea real father, more like Webster Hubbell. Side by side pictures of the two before all of Chelsea’s plastic surgery is quite revealing.
Yes, and public has a right to see the college records of a candidate for president. When will Obama’s college records be unsealed?
Ronin006 – Of course, the public has no such right. None. You just made that up – obviously. Like you always do.
The public may not have a constitutional right to see the college records, tax returns, birth certificates or whatever of candidates for president, but such candidates do have a moral responsibility to be open and transparent with the public. It should be made a legal requirement.
Ronin006 – You do have your fantasies! The Constitution sets out the qualifications required to be President. The Congress cannot add, subtract or change that with a law.
Yes, Klastri, the Constitution prescribes the qualifications to be president, but it does not prohibit states from requiring candidates for president to prove that they meet the qualifications before listing on state election ballots. If you are a lawyer as you claim to be, you would know that.
Klastri, I am still waiting for your reply.
No presidential candidate that will possibly lead the USA, can with hold past history from WE THE PEOPLE. All info is fair game. Sex,drugs,crime associates.
College transcripts?
Did he graduate? A college transcript does not equate to Sex,drugs or crime or illegal activity.
Gee, I thought you said “all info is fair game”…
If I was going to ask for help keeping something secret… I would definatly ask President Obama… he’s been abel to hide lots of his personal stuff. LOL LOL LOL
I’m sure the Justice Department wouldn’t object to the public release the records. After all, Obama has no desire to protect Trump.
Mr. Obama is probably hoping for Mr. Trump to be the Republican nominee. He understands that would lead to the transfer of control of the Senate to the Democrats. That is certainly more worthy a goal than hurting Mr. Trump prior to the convention.
“Anonymous” the Hacker is licking his/her/their chops on this.
More flak from the Trump Camp. Trump will not make a great President. Trump will be defeated, either at the Republican National Convenfion or in November. Trump is trouble, and he’s got to be kept out of The White House.
So what if Trump had a business associate with a criminal past? The crime was a stock fraud scheme. Obama associated with convicted domestic terrorists Bill Ayers and his wife, Bernadette Dohrn. Their crime was participating in bombings of the New York Police Department Headquarters in 1970, the United States Capitol in 1971 and the Pentagon in 1972. Despite their criminal past, Obama launched his political career and held a fund raiser in the living room of Bill Ayers’ home. What Trump’s business associate did pales in comparison to what Obama’s political associates did.
In 1970 Obama was a 4th grader in Hawaii. Did he go to NYC with Ayers during his lunch period? Your silly.
Yes, NanakuliBoss, Obama may have been a 4th grader when Ayers and his terrorists were setting off bombs around the country, but he chose to hang out with them when he came of age. And by the way, did Trump go with Sater to help him with his stock fraud scheme? Your comment is nonsense.
funniest political ad yet this year:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMZqS7q7voY
since i first posted this there has been a terrorist attack on the airport in brussels, belgium. the ad now looks frighteningly truthful.