NY DAILY NEWS: Prosecutor tells Brooklyn jury Mexican drug lord El Chapo exported enough cocaine for every American citizen to snort a line

By MOLLY CRANE-NEWMAN , MIKEY LIGHT  and LARRY MCSHANE

NOV 13, 2018 | 12:05 PM

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-metro-el-chapo-trial-opens-20181113-story.html

Mexican drug lord Joaquin (El Chapo) Guzman, as head of a murderous multi-billion dollar empire, exported enough cocaine for every American citizen to snort a line — and then some, a federal prosecutor charged Tuesday.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Fels, in his opening argument at the long-awaited trial of the lethal drug kingpin, promised to expose the staggering breadth and relentless violence of Guzman’s lucrative business.

“Money, drugs, murder — a vast global drug trafficking organization,” Fels told the Brooklyn Federal Court jury. “That is what this case is about, and that is what the evidence in this trial will prove. We are confident you will find that the defendant is guilty of all the crimes charged.” Artwork by Elizabeth Williams AP ( click on image to see larger)

Many of the damning details, the prosecutor promised, would come right from the defendant’s mouth. Text messages, audio recordings and even a video of El Chapo pulling the trigger of a weapon will offer the panel an inside look at the Sinaloa Cartel under the bloodthirsty defendant’s leadership, Fels declared.

“What Guzman did not count on is that for a short period of time, the government was listening — the government was recording,” said the prosecutor. “Guzman left behind a treasure trove of evidence implicating him in (his) drug empire.”

A stoic-looking Guzman, appearing calm and engaged while seated between his translator and defense attorney Eduardo Balarezo, wore a navy suit and a blue-striped tie to the first day of his trial. 

 He waved warmly to his wife, Emma Coronel, as she entered the courtroom — and later popped his head up to gesture goodbye as she left.

Emma Coronel seated in courtroom the first day of trial. 

“I bought him the tie,” his wife proudly told reporters

Guzman, 61, spent the last 22 months in solitary confinement, with a Brooklyn judge even blocking his wife from giving El Chapo a courtroom hug. The defendant famously escaped from a pair of Mexican prisons in 2011 and 2015, two major events in the evolution of his mythic persona.

There was intensive security inside and outside the courthouse for what’s likely the last chapter for the notorious narco-terrorist. Heavily-armed officers stood guard on the Brooklyn streets, and a media horde arrived for the trial’s start.

REUTERS Four found guilty in insider trading case linked to U.S. health agency

Four found guilty in insider trading case linked to U.S. health agency

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-crime-healthcare/four-found-guilty-in-insider-trading-case-linked-to-u-s-health-agency-idUSKBN1I42P4

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two partners at the hedge fund Deerfield Management and two others were found guilty on Thursday of charges stemming from what prosecutors have described as an insider trading scheme based on leaks from within a federal healthcare agency.

Assistant US Attorney Joshua Naftalis presents case to jury

Rob Olan and Ted Huber, partners at Deerfield Management who are on leave, were convicted of counts including wire fraud, securities fraud and conversion of government property, as was David Blaszczak, founder of political consulting firm Precipio Health Strategies.

Christopher Worrall, who worked for the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), was also convicted of wire fraud and conversion of government property, but acquitted of securities fraud. The verdict was handed down by a jury in Manhattan federal court after nearly four days of deliberations, following a four-week trial.

Ted Huber defense attorney,  Barry Berke presents defense case to jury.
Lawyers for Huber and Worrall had no immediate comment. Lawyers for Olan and Blaszczak could not immediately be reached. A Deerfield spokesman declined to comment.





This case is being handled by the Office’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brooke Cucinella, Ian McGinley, and Joshua A. Naftalis are in charge of the prosecution.