Airbit Membership defendant Pablo Renato Rodriguez isn’t having a good time in jail.
After his arrest and preliminary denial of bail, Rodriguez contracted COVID-19 in pre-trial custody.
This noticed him topic to a two month lockdown.
Upon launch from lockdown and switch to the Erie County Correctional Facility in New York, Rodriguez then received right into a dispute with a “violent inmate”.
The stoush resulted in
a number of fractures of Pablo’s jaw, requiring hospitalization (in addition to 40 days within the jail infirmary), surgical procedure, and his mouth being wired shut for a number of weeks.
In consequence, Rodriguez claims he’s suffered “immense bodily and psychological abuse”.
On September fifteenth Rodriguez requested launch by way of a $10 million greenback bond package deal.
The DOJ have pushed again, citing Rodriguez as a “vital flight danger” with entry to ‘tens of tens of millions of {dollars}’ price of just about unrecoverable and untraceable cryptocurrencies’
Rodriguez is hoping to safe launch by a $10 million greenback bond.
Belongings securing the bond include a enterprise and 7 properties within the US, plus a further six properties in Mexico and Guatemala if required.
Rodriguez claims he owns two of the properties. The remaining belong to relations and buddies.
The enterprise is an accounting agency owned and operated by a good friend of Mr. Rodriguez (in addition to being his good friend’s principal supply of revenue) and is valued at roughly $750,000.
Data from the SEC investigation present the person and his
spouse managed a checking account held within the title of Vizinova Processing that was used within the Vizinova scheme, making him basically a co-conspirator in Rodriguez’s prior Ponzi scheme.
Rodriguez may also be topic to residence confinement, GPS monitoring and give up of his journey paperwork.
The DOJ opposes Rodriguez’s request.
The Authorities respectfully submits that the defendant’s proposed bail package deal can not adequately guarantee his look in court docket in mild of the defendant’s vital ties to Guatemala, his seemingly entry to tens of tens of millions of {dollars}’ price of just about unrecoverable and untraceable cryptocurrencies, and the truth that he faces sturdy proof of his guilt.
Following his arrest, Rodriguez signaled he was prepared to cooperate with the DOJ.
Rodriguez indicated a willingness to cooperate with the Authorities in alternate for leniency at sentencing on this case.
In reference to Rodriguez’s efforts to cooperate, the Authorities requested Rodriguez to switch any Bitcoin he managed personally, in addition to any Bitcoin representing Airbit Membership’s investor holdings, to an HSI-controlled Bitcoin pockets.
Rodriguez agreed, and allowed the Authorities to switch roughly 1,323 Bitcoin, at present valued at over roughly $57 million, to an HSI-controlled pockets in or about January 2021.
Nearly instantly following this switch, Rodriguez’s counsel requested if the Authorities would conform to a bail package deal.
When the Authorities refused to conform to bail Rodriguez, his efforts to cooperate ceased, and he retained new counsel.
Studying between the traces, it appears Rodriguez believed handing over $57 million would get him launched.
Upon launch, the plan then might have been escaping to Central America and residing off stolen investor funds.
The DOJ’s investigation into extra funds Rodriguez has stashed away continues.
As of September 2021, right here’s the place they’re at;
On Might 25, 2021, HSI executed a search warrant within the Central District of California on the residence of Jorge Alejandro Rodriguez, the defendant’s youthful brother and one of many defendant’s proposed co-signers.
Throughout the search, brokers discovered paper Bitcoin wallets in a secure in Alejandro Rodriguez’s bed room, which Alejandro Rodriguez disclosed had been offered to him by Rodriguez and got here from “the workplace” in Guatemala (which the Authorities understands refers to Grasp Group).
One of many major corporations by which Rodriguez laundered the Airbit Membership proceeds was Grasp Group S.A. (“Grasp Group”), a Guatemalan firm owned by Rodriguez and operated by his older brother who resides in Guatemala.
As well as, brokers discovered an internet browser window open on Alejandro Rodriguez’s pc displaying a further pockets containing Bitcoin that Alejandro Rodriguez indicated belong to the defendant, in addition to extra documentary proof confirming that Alejandro Rodriguez had, the day gone by, transferred greater than $1 million price of Bitcoin in addition to proof of extra transfers between January and Might 2021 of greater than $7 million price of Bitcoin.
HSI additionally seized roughly 39 Bitcoin (at present price roughly $1.6 million) and roughly 1.8 Ethereum (at present price roughly $6,000) from 5 totally different cryptocurrency wallets in Alejandro Rodriguez’s possession.
In different phrases, opposite to Rodriguez’s assertions throughout his proffers that he had turned over to HSI all of his private Bitcoin, and the Bitcoin belonging to victims of Airbit Membership, Rodriguez and his brother had in truth transferred tens of millions of extra {dollars}’ price of Bitcoin within the months following Rodriguez’s proffers.
The federal government additionally places forth that the $1.5 million in property Rodriguez owns, put up as a part of his bond, will likely be topic to forfeiture.
I.e. they had been bought with funds tied to AirBit Membership.
Primarily based on its monetary and Bitcoin blockchain evaluation, the Authorities has decided that Rodriguez bought at the very least one of many two residences utilizing roughly $2 million in Bitcoin laundered by (Scott) Hughes, making these properties (that are by far probably the most helpful of the properties proposed to safe the bond) forfeitable as proceeds of the charged crime and property concerned in cash laundering.
Whether or not any of the opposite properties had been bought with AirBit Membership funds hasn’t been confirmed.
Primarily based on evaluation by the DOJ nevertheless, it appears extremely seemingly.
Rodriguez used subtle means to maneuver and conceal Airbit Membership proceeds, together with: giant volumes of money, unregulated Bitcoin cost processors, non-public Bitcoin wallets disconnected from any regulated alternate, international financial institution accounts, and international corporations.
To this point, primarily based on a tough calculation, the Authorities has traced that Rodriguez, his corporations, and his relations obtained at the very least roughly $16 million in Airbit Membership proceeds.
This doesn’t account for Airbit Membership funds that by no means touched the U.S. monetary system.
In abstract, the DOJ places forth Rodriguez’s
ties to Guatemala, his monetary sources, and the seriousness of the fees he faces all make the defendant a major flight danger, and the Court docket ought to deny his movement for bail.
In response to the DOJ’s opposition, Rodriguez places forth ‘ties to
one other nation don’t create a chance to flee.’
Actually, each defendant has the chance to flee. A passport gives a chance to flee. Mr. Rodriguez has agreed to show his passport over to the federal government whereas the case is pending.
The vital query is: Will the defendant flee?
As beforehand demonstrated, Your Honor might be moderately assured that Mr. Rodriguez will. [sic]
That final sentence was both an epic personal purpose or, sadly extra seemingly, a typo.
When he thought he was going to give up some bitcoin and get off calmly, Rodriguez
proffered with the Authorities on a number of events between December 2020 and February 2021.
Rodriguez neither professed nor demonstrated his innocence throughout the proffers.
Quite the opposite, Rodriguez acknowledged, amongst different issues, that he personally managed whether or not traders might withdraw funds from Airbit Membership, and that he participated in recruiting traders into Airbit Membership even when he knew the funds mirrored in victims’ Airbit Membership portal wouldn’t really be paid to victims.
That has since modified to
the one technique to clear his title and transfer on together with his life is to exhibit his innocence at trial.
If convicted of the felony costs introduced in opposition to him, Rodriguez faces 21.8 to 27.25 years in jail.
A call on Rodriguez’s launch movement stays pending.
Replace sixteenth February 2022 – As of February 14th Renato Rodriguez stays in jail.
On February eleventh the DOJ filed a letter movement with the court docket, requesting an adjournment of upcoming March fifteenth pre-trial convention.
The cited cause for the delay was correspondence from Rodriguez’s lawyer, who claimed he was experiencing
challenges consulting together with his consumer on the jail on account of COVID restrictions.
On February 14th the convention was pushed again to Might 18th. This additionally prolonged different deadlines in between.
Replace tenth June 2022 – Following from the Might 18th convention, we now have a “tentatively” scheduled Might 1st, 2023 trial date.