Padilla order appealed

Yesterday the Government filed its notice of appeal to contest the dismissal of Count I of the indictment. I suspect this will postpone by quite a bit the January trial date.

Fee disputes....

Julie Kay writes today (pass thru link required) in an interesting and lengthy article about the government trying to forfeit attorneys' fees in the Bankest trial. Here's the intro:

The defense attorneys for the brothers convicted of masterminding the largest bank fraud in Miami history could have to pay back the $757,000 they were paid in legal fees. Federal prosecutors are claiming that money used to pay Ed Shohat and Bruce Lehr was tainted, coming from the sale of a Manhattan condominium that was part of the fraud. In court papers, the attorneys deny that the funds used to pay them were tainted. Shohat worked for Eduardo Orlansky for three years, while Lehr represented Hector Orlansky for 18 months. Both attorneys worked through a 4½-month trial and four weeks of jury deliberations. They also paid for several medical experts to testify about the health of their clients. The Orlanskys, who face 30 years in prison, were convicted in August of massive fraud in their operation of E.S. Bankest, a Miami factoring company. The Orlanskys created fictitious checks, invoices and companies to inflate the value of account receivables by hundreds of millions of dollars to support the fraud targeting Portugal’s Espirito Santo Bank. The nine-year scam allowed the Orlanskys to illegally obtain $167 million from the bank and its clients. E.S. Bankest was a joint venture of the bank and Bankest Capital, which was formed by the Orlanskys. Experts say it’s highly unusual for the government to seek payback of attorney fees, particularly in nondrug cases, and this may be a first for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami. “This is very rare,” said Miami attorney Scott Srebnick, who is also fighting forfeiture claims on behalf of his client, former Hamilton Bank Chairman Eduardo A. Masferrer.

News and notes

1. Apparently I (and my source) was wrong that there was a conviction on all counts in the cigar case. It was guilty on 3 counts according to the comments. Here's the Herald coverage of the verdicts.

2. Dep't of Interior employees won't be reading this blog or any other blog for that matter.

3. Jack Maxwell, a former electrical contractor will start trial Monday, accused of conspiring with the late Miami politician Art Teele to land a $20 million airport deal and then paying him tens of thousands of dollars as a consultant. Here's the Herald article about the trial. We did a lot of blogging on this subject, including debating Prof. Froomkin.

Cuban cigar counterfeitter guilty...

... on all counts. Background story here.

Federal Defenders secure release of "enemy combatant" shepherd

Another SDFLA exclusive!

We scooped the press on the Padilla motions last week here and here. Now we give you this story about Federal Defenders Paul Rashkind and Tim Cone and their victory in the case of Taj Mohammad.

Mr. Mohammad is a shepherd -- a member of the Gudjer Tribe, nomads who herd goats in the border mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Taj was arrested at his home in Afghanistan as a result of an argument and fight he had with his cousin, Ismael. Taj is 27 years-old, has a wife and a young son, who was an infant when he last saw him. Gudjers are a poor and peaceful tribe, who have remained nomads while their country dealt with hostilities, first from the Russians, then from the Taliban. Due to the proximity of the mountain range, Gudjers have moved back and forth into Pakistan for their own safety. Indeed, even though Taj Mohammad is a proud Afghan Gudjer, he was actually born a refugee in Pakistan during the time of the Russian occupation. Herding goats in the mountains is possible only while it is warm enough to do so. In winter, the family travels down the mountain to the valley, the Asadabad area, where they live during the colder seasons. Taj was "on the mountain" during hostilities between the US and Taliban forces. When he returned to the family home in the valley, after the coalition forces declared victory, he learned that his cousin Ismael had laid pipe to supply water to all the homes of his village, except the home lived in by Taj and his family. Taj and Ismael fought about this and Taj hit Ismael with a stick. In anger, Ismael falsely accused Taj of being a Taliban, to have him sent away. What Taj had not known when he fought with his cousin was that Ismael was supplying the water pipes at the U.S. military’s instructions. Four days later, December 9, 2002, Taj was visited at his home by the American military, who questioned him about the fight. They detained him, took him to Bagram, and eventually to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He was detained at GTMO as an "enemy combatant" for nearly four years.

The Defenders began representing Taj about a year ago and, after security clearances were approved, Paul Rashkind began to uncover evidence and develop a strategy to obtain his release. Just 14 days ago, Rashkind and Cone filed a set of classified challenges to Taj's continued detention, explaining why he should be released now. Last night, on the eve of the military hearing, Taj was on a plane back to Afghanistan. He was released to his family earlier today. Rashkind commented, "America was not a safer place while he was detained, but we can certainly feel better about ourselves now that he is home."