Loretta Lynch's Confirmation As Attorney General Yields Added Victory For Felix Sater
Attempt To Use Sater In Campaign Failed To Derail Lynch's Confirmation, And Sater's Confidential Documents Have Been Ordered Returned By Federal Magistrate
New York, April 24, 2015 (Newswire.com) - Frederick Oberlander and Richard Lerner, attorneys for Jodi L. Kriss, have been ordered by a Federal Magistrate to return documents taken from Felix Sater and the Bayrock Group or face imprisonment. The court order came just days prior to Loretta Lynch's confirmation as Attorney General. Oberlander and Lerner, had accused Lynch of misconduct in her handling of the Felix Sater case in her role as US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and questioned her nomination for Attorney General.
Ms. Lynch confirmed the propriety of her actions with respect to Mr. Sater's case in testimony to Senator Orrin Hatch at the Senate Hearings. Lynch told Sen. Hatch, "The defendant in question, Felix Sater, provided valuable and sensitive information to the government during the course of his cooperation, which began in or about December 1998. For more than 10 years, he worked with prosecutors from my Office, the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York and law enforcement agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement agencies, providing information crucial to national security and the conviction of over 20 individuals, including those responsible for committing financial fraud and members of La Cosa Nostra. For that reason, his case was initially sealed."
"...Felix Sater, provided valuable and sensitive information to the government during the course of his cooperation, which began in or about December 1998. For more than 10 years, he worked with prosecutors from my Office, the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York and law enforcement agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement agencies, providing information crucial to national security and the conviction of over 20 individuals, including those responsible for committing massive financial fraud and members of La Cosa Nostra."
Loretta Lynch, Attorney General
Sater's attorneys, Robert Wolf and Michael Beys have claimed in court that, Lerner, Oberlander, and Kriss have used sealed documents without authorization -which the courts found to have been taken from Sater-in order to elicit a billion-dollar settlement in lawsuits brought by Kriss (a disgruntled former business associate who was fired by Sater), in partnership with his attorneys.
Wolf and Beys states this lawsuit, based on a 20- year-old crime, was brought about against those who supposedly cooperated with Sater-including Nixon Peabody, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, Akerman Senterfitt, Donald and Ivanka Trump, iStar Financial and a federal prosecutor for the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York.
Wolf and Beys describe, as part of their plan, Oberlander and Lerner filed a series of lawsuits over the past six years and then continued by going after Loretta Lynch herself with accusations.
Oberlander and Lerner's misconduct has been uniformly condemned by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and several Judges from the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. In connection with their conduct in the courts of the Eastern District of New York, they were referred for criminal investigation by Judge Brian M. Cogan, in that district. The investigation is currently pending.
Sater's attorneys believe Oberlander and Lerner's purpose for Loretta Lynch, among other things, was to claim retaliation by the Department of Justice should the pending investigation lead to their prosecution. "Loretta Lynch headed up Eastern District of New York as United States Attorney. We believe Oberlander and Lerner planned to claim that any prosecution was political, in response for their questioning of Ms. Lynch during the confirmation hearing," Beys stated.
Wolf and Beys continued, "We're pleased Loretta Lynch has finally been confirmed as Attorney General. Coupled with the fact that Oberlander and Lerner have been ordered by a Federal Magistrate to return the documents taken from our client, Felix Sater and the Bayrock Group, or face imprisonment, we believe justice has prevailed."
About Michael P. Beys, Esq
Beys Liston Mobargha & Berland LLP, with offices in the heart of New York City, is a boutique law firm specializing in complex business and commercial litigation, general transactional and business matters, alternative investment fund representation.
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