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 stolen 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 massive financial fraud and members of La Cosa Nostra. For that reason, his case was initially sealed.”
Sater’s attorneys, Robert Wolf and Michael Beys have claimed in court that, Lerner, Oberlander, and Kriss have illegally used sealed documents—which the courts found to have been stolen from Sater—in order to extort 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 claim this extortionate lawsuit—based on a 20- year-old crime—was a contrived shakedown sought 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 also claim, as part of their scheme, Oberlander and Lerner filed a series of frivolous lawsuits over the past six years and then upped the ante by going after Loretta Lynch herself with baseless 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 in attacking Loretta Lynch, among other things, was to claim retaliation by the Department of Justice should the pending criminal 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 retribution 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 stolen from our client, Felix Sater and the Bayrock Group, or face imprisonment, we believe justice has prevailed.”
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Michael P. Beys, Esq.
United States
Press Release Service by Newswire.com
Original Source: Loretta Lynch's Confirmation As Attorney General Yields Added Victory For Felix Sater
