Alleged Ringleader of A Pharmaceutical Counterfeiting and Theft Ring Portrayed in the Award-Winning Book by Katherine Eban “Dangerous Doses”
September 12, 2011
Alleged Ringleader of A Pharmaceutical Counterfeiting and Theft
Our client was charged with multiple counts of racketeering and other charges alleging he was counterfeiting cancer and AIDS drugs, re-packaging lower doses of the same drug and mislabeling the boxes and bottles to reflect a much greater dosage. All but one charge was dismissed or dropped. Our client pleaded to one count resulting in no criminal conviction and three months of probation.
All-American Defensive Back and First-Round NFL Draft Pick Accused of DUI After Blowing Above the Legal Limit
September 12, 2011
NFL Defensive Back DUI
The defensive back acknowledged he had been to a party on South Beach but said he was not impaired and did not have trouble driving his Cadillac Escalade. The jury acquitted him.
Miami Man Accused of Burning an Apartment Building after Confessing Three Times to Igniting the Blaze
September 12, 2011
Miami Man Accused of Burning an Apartment Acquitted
Our client was charged with burning the apartment of his girlfriend and the building she lived in. He confessed to the first police officers who showed up, the detectives on the scene and later on tape to the lead arson detectives. At trial it was shown that the client confessed only to protect his girlfriend, a clerk in the court house, from being charged with the arson. The jury acquitted our client.
Miami Man Accused in Taped Drug Smuggling Sting in Tampa
September 12, 2011
Drug Smuggling Sting in Tampa
Our client’s partner negotiated on recorded calls for several weeks to sell two kilograms of cocaine in Tampa to an informant and undercover agent before doing bigger business with them. Our client and his partner drove from Miami to the Tampa hotel room where the exchange was to take place. Our client brought in the duffle bag containing the two kilograms of cocaine and tossed it to the undercover agent who opened the bag and cut into the cocaine for testing. It was all captured on video. In spite of the video, the defense turned down a plea offer that would have meant 15 years in prison. We argued that our client drove to Tampa because his partner’s license was suspended and our client believed there was going to be criminal activity taking place but not a drug transaction. The jury acquitted our client.
Illinois Man Charged in Four Separate Cases Involving Pensacola Real Estate Deals
September 12, 2011
A real estate entrepreneur who was currently under contract to publish a book on real estate transactions and purchasing distressed mortgages from banks was charged in four separate cases in Pensacola. He was accused of trading worthless land in Oklahoma for FEMA trailers, misrepresenting and trading unbuildable lots in Pensacola for homes and land, selling properties without a license, helping buyers obtain fraudulent mortgages to purchase his inventory of properties by wiring large cash deposits into their accounts to qualify them and selling properties he had a contractual right to purchase before he owned them. In addition to the four cases, the State attempted to bring in evidence of prior bad acts he had been investigated for eight years earlier by the FBI and HUD in Lehigh Acres, Florida. He had been investigated for intentionally destroying HUD homes so he would weed out any competitive bidders, selling homes purported to be income producing by stocking his properties with fictitious renters and creating false land values by controlling areas of land.
He came to the attention of Pensacola prosecutors when several people independent of each other went to the authorities complaining they had been defrauded.
After an extensive investigation, we were able to show the prosecutors that in one case the alleged victim was a highly sophisticated real estate investor who purchases and sells land in several states and the purported maps had been doctored by him instead of our client. In the second case we were able to show that it was a business deal where one party made out better than the other and that both cases were civil in nature; they dismissed both.
The third case went to trial and the client was acquitted of all counts. The state dismissed the fourth case shortly after the acquittal notifying the court in a pleading that there was no likelihood of conviction due to the acquittal.
Middle Eastern Man Accused of Smuggling Bulk Cash to Egypt
September 12, 2011
Middle Eastern Man Accused of Smuggling Cash
Our client, a businessman who owned several convenience stores, was stopped at the airport because a cash sniffing dog apparently alerted to him. Though he had declared that he had less than $10,000 with him, he had well in excess of the declaration. The government moved to seize all the money and charged him with three separate counts of smuggling cash. He was acquitted of all counts and the government had to return all of his money.