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Transcript: Presentment, Arraignment and Bail Hearing — United States v. Amos Mundendi
Summary
A 26-page transcript of remote presentment and arraignment proceedings held May 12, 2021 in United States of America v. Amos Mundendi, Docket #21cr247, before Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, filed May 25, 2021 as Document 24. The Court notes the proceeding is by telephone under the CARES Act, Section 15002 and standing orders of the Chief District Judge, and takes the defendant's waiver of the right to appear in person. It advises him of his rights, approves appointment of counsel, and reads the four-count indictment charging conspiracy under Title 18, Section 371, major fraud against the United States under Section 1031, wire fraud conspiracy under Section 1349, and wire fraud under Section 1343. The Court then discusses release conditions with Pretrial Services, including remaining in the Northern District of Texas.
Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used
No. 1:21-cr-00247-PAE · Doc. 24 · Docket on CourtListener
Full text
Case 1:21-cr-00247-PAE Document 24 Filed 05/25/21 Page 1 of 26
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
In re: :
Docket #21cr247
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, : 1:21-cr-00247-PAE-3
Plaintiff, :
- against - :
AMOS MUNDENDI, : May 12, 2021
New York, New York
Defendant. :
------------------------------------ : REMOTE PRESENTMENT
AND ARRAIGNMENT
PROCEEDINGS BEFORE
THE HONORABLE SARAH NETBURN
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
APPEARANCES:
For Plaintiff: UNITED STATES ATTORNEY’S OFFICE
BY: DINA MCLEOD, ESQ.
One Saint Andrew’s Plaza
New York, New York 10007
For Defendant: FEDERAL DEFENDERS OF NEW YORK INC.
BY: TAMARA GIWA, ESQ.
52 Duane Street, 10th Floor
New York, New York 10007
ALSO PRESENT: Pretrial Services Officer
Transcription Service: Carole Ludwig, Transcription Services
155 East Fourth Street, #3C
New York, New York 10009
Phone: (212) 420-0771
Email: Transcription420@aol.com
Proceedings recorded by electronic sound recording;
Transcript produced by transcription service.
Case 1:21-cr-00247-PAE Document 24 Filed 05/25/21 Page 2 of 26
INDEX
E X A M I N A T I O N S
Re- Re-
Witness Direct Cross Direct Cross Court
None
E X H I B I T S
Exhibit Voir
Number Description ID In Dire
None
1
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1 3
2 HONORABLE SARAH NETBURN (THE COURT): Good
3 afternoon, everyone, this is Judge Netburn.
4 THE CLERK: Good afternoon, Your Honor . This
5 is the matter of the U nited States versus Amos
6 Mundendi, 21cr247. And starting with the government,
7 could you please state your appearance for the record.
8 MS. DINA MCLEOD: Good afternoon, Your Honor,
9 this is Dina McLeod f or the government.
10 THE COURT: Good afternoon.
11 MS. TAMARA GIWA: Federal Defenders of New
12 York by Tamara Giwa for Mr. Mu ndendi, good evening.
13 THE COURT: Good evening. Mr. Mundendi, can
14 you hear me?
15 THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
16 THE COURT: Okay, because of the pandemic
17 we’re conducting this proceeding remotely by
18 telephone. Ordinarily, you would appear in person
19 before the Court, but under the authority provided by
20 the CARES Act, Section 15002, and the standing orders
21 of our Chief District Judge, you can waive your right
22 to appear in person and consent to proceed by
23 telephone. Have you discussed with your lawyer
24 whether you agree to continue with this proceeding by
25 telephone?
Case 1:21-cr-00247-PAE Document 24 Filed 05/25/21 Page 4 of 26
1 4
2 THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
3 THE COURT: And do you, in fact, agree to
4 continue with this proceeding by telephone?
5 THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
6 THE COURT: Okay. I’ll note for the record
7 your consent to appear by telephone and your voluntary
8 waiver of any right to appear in person. Can I have
9 the date and time of the defendant’s arrest?
10 MS. MCLEOD: Yes, Your Honor, the defendant
11 was initially arrested on April 22 n d in Dallas and he
12 was first presented in the Northern District of Texas
13 on April 23 r d . He arrived in the Southern District o f
14 New York on a marshal transport in the afternoon, May
15 11 t h .
16 THE COURT: Thank you. Sir, the purpose of
17 today’s proceeding is to advise you of certain rights
18 that you have, inform you of the charges against you,
19 consider whether counsel shall be appoint ed for you,
20 and decide under what conditions, if any, you shall be
21 released. I am now going to explain certain
22 constitutional rights that you have.
23 You have the right to remain silent. You are
24 not required to make any statements. Even if you have
25 already made statements to the authorities, you need
Case 1:21-cr-00247-PAE Document 24 Filed 05/25/21 Page 5 of 26
1 5
2 not make any further statements. Any statements that
3 you do make can be used against you.
4 You have the right to be released, either
5 conditionally or unconditionally pending trial, unless
6 I find that there are no conditions that would
7 reasonably assure your presence in court or the safety
8 of the community.
9 You have the right to be represented by an
10 attorney during all court proceedings including this
11 one, and during all questioning by the authorities. If
12 you cannot afford an attorney, I will appoint one
13 today to represent you. I have reviewed your
14 financial affidavit. Based on the information
15 contained in that affidavit, I’m approving the
16 appointment of your counsel.
17 Is this case referred for presentment and
18 arraignment?
19 MS. MCLEOD: It is, Your Honor.
20 THE COURT: Sir, you’ve been charged in a four
21 count, I believe it’s four counts, yes, a four count
22 indictment. Count one charges you with conspiracy to
23 commit major fraud against and defraud the United
24 States. That count is brought under Title 18 of the
25 United States Code Section 371. Count two charges you
Case 1:21-cr-00247-PAE Document 24 Filed 05/25/21 Page 6 of 26
1 6
2 with major fraud against the United States. That count is
3 brought under Title 18 of the United States Code Section
4 1031 and 2. Count three charges you with a wire fraud
5 conspiracy. That count is brought under Title 18 of the
6 United States Code Sections 1349 and 2. And count four
7 charges you with the act of wire fraud which is brought
8 under Title 18 of the United States Code Sections 1343 and
9 2.
10 Sir, have you had an opportunity to discuss this
11 indictment with your lawyer?
12 THE DEFENDANT: Yes, just partially but not in
13 full, Your Honor.
14 THE COURT: Okay. You haven’t received a copy
15 though, is that correct?
16 THE DEFENDANT: I have not, I have not seen it
17 but the attorney kind of read it for me.
18 THE COURT: Okay, do you understand the nature
19 of the charges? Sorry, I didn’t hear your answer?
20 THE DEFENDANT: I mean like kind of, Your
21 Honor, but not fully. I mean like it’s (indiscernible)
22 situation, I’ve never, it never happened to me before,
23 Your Honor , so I don’t really, really understand or
24 know what’s really, you know, going on.
25 THE COURT: Okay. You have a right to have me
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1 7
2 read the indictment to you in open court, if you would
3 like I can read it to you if that’s something that
4 would help you?
5 THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
6 THE COURT: You’d like me to read it to you?
7 THE DEFENDANT: Yes.
8 MS. GIWA: I’m sorry to interrupt, this is
9 Tamara Giwa, Federal Defenders. I did speak with Mr.
10 Mundendi about the charges and we did go through all
11 of the charges. Because I spoke to him while he was in
12 the marshals’ custody he wasn’t able to receive a
13 physical copy of the indictment. My understanding of
14 what he is now expressing to the Court, which is what
15 he expressed to me in our conversation, is just that
16 this experience is so overwhelming for him, he’s been
17 detained for quite a period of time, transported
18 across the country, and so he just is overwhelmed by
19 what is happening. And I think that’s what he means
20 when he says that he doesn’t really understand this.
21 We did discuss the charges and I believe that
22 Mr. Mundendi did understand what the charges against
23 him were.
24 THE COURT: Okay, well I’m happy to read him
25 the indictment if he would like, or if he would like
Case 1:21-cr-00247-PAE Document 24 Filed 05/25/21 Page 8 of 26
1 8
2 an opportunity to speak with you privately. I am just
3 going to ask him to enter a plea at this time so if he
4 feels comfortable doing that we can also just proceed.
5 MS. GIWA: Your Honor, this is Tamara Giwa, I
6 don’t think it’s necessary for you to read out the
7 indictment. And Mr. Mundendi will be entering a plea
8 of not guilty, so I think we can proceed with that.
9 THE COURT: Okay, are you satisfied w ith that,
10 Mr. Mundendi?
11 THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
12 THE COURT: Okay, so I’ll enter a plea of not
13 guilty on your behalf.
14 I understand that the government is seeking
15 detention in this case. Counsel, are you prepared to
16 make a bail application?
17 MS. GIWA: Yes, Your Honor , this is Tamara
18 Giwa, I am.
19 THE COURT: All right, I’ll hear from the
20 government first.
21 MS. MCLEOD: Thank you, Your Honor. So the
22 basis for our detention motion is primarily risk of
23 flight, although I do think there is a basis to
24 consider the defendant a danger to the community.
25 First, I want to talk a little bit about the
Case 1:21-cr-00247-PAE Document 24 Filed 05/25/21 Page 9 of 26
1 9
2 defendant’s incentives to flee. The defendant is
3 facing significant exposure in this case. As the
4 indictment notes, the attempted loss was well over $14
5 million, it will likely end up being higher than that.
6 The actual loss was well into the millions, as well.
7 He’s likely to be subject to an enhancement for
8 sophisticated means, not taking into account the
9 defendant’s criminal history, but even assuming he has
10 a category one criminal history he would be looking at
11 63 to 78 months in prison guidelines with a plea, and it
12 seems likely that he is not in category one for criminal
13 history. So in terms of the defendant’s intentions,
14 you know, he is facing significant -- significant
15 prison time.
16 He has substantial ties abroad. He, the
17 status, the immigration status I think is a little
18 unclear in the United States, but he’s not citizen, he’s
19 not an LPR and he was born in the Democratic Republic of
20 the Congo. So he, you know, certainly could return home
21 where he, you know, has citizenship. I understand he came
22 to the United States I maybe 2005/2006 time period. So
23 that’s the first sort of concern is the incentive to flee.
24 What really compounds the government’s concern
25 here is the number of identification documents that the
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1 10
2 defendant has in different names, and his professed
3 rejection of government authority over him. The defendant
4 claims to be a Moorish citizen. You can see that in the
5 photo that the government sent to the Court where he has
6 an ID which talks about being, you know, a Moorish
7 national. He’s also been recorded on a phone call with a
8 source saying that he, El Ashile Mundi is his Moorish
9 name, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, you
10 know, Moorish citizens believe, you know, like other
11 sovereign citizen movements that individual citizens are
12 independent of the authority, of federal and state
13 governments, that they have immunity from authorities.
14 That, you know, this perceived immunity grants them the
15 rights to do various things. I’m not imputing every belief
16 of, you know, a sovereign citizen movement to Mr.
17 Mundendi, but this is consistent with what he told the
18 officer, according to a police report and an arrest report
19 that happened in December, where he told an officer that
20 he didn’t have to follow the speed limit because the
21 government was a corporation and cannot tell people what
22 to do.
23 He also said that he didn’t need a driver’s
24 license, a license plate or car insurance because he
25 didn’t belong to the government. So the idea that he is
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1 11
2 going to follow Court order and Pretrial supervision,
3 seems inconsistent with his rule belief which is that he
4 is not subject to the authority of the United States
5 government or any statement government. He is a member of
6 the Moorish Nation and, as such, is immune from that
7 authority.
8 In addition, in the sort of text chains that the
9 government provided to the Court and to defense counsel in
10 which he sent that photo of his various IDs, he stated, “I
11 can go anywhere in the world without a visa.” So he also
12 talked somewhat about, he referenced a Moroccan passport.
13 So whether or not that’s true, whether or not he can go
14 anywhere in the world without a visa, it’s certainly a
15 belief he’s professed to a codefendant that that’s a
16 possibility for him, which compounds the government’s
17 concern.
18 In addition, it’s not just that he has multiple
19 IDs, I mean that’s a major problem, these are multiple IDs
20 in different names, the government knows that he has used
21 multiple IDs to travel in the United States. So we have
22 obtained records from a major domestic airline for a
23 flight that the defendant took to Ft. Lauderdale and back
24 and on one leg, he used an ID for Amos Mundendi and on the
25 other leg he used an ID for El Ashile Mundi. Because if
Case 1:21-cr-00247-PAE Document 24 Filed 05/25/21 Page 12 of 26
1 12
2 you look at the manifest you can see that that was the
3 name. So clearly these IDs are sufficient for him to get
4 on an airplane and he’s using them, he’s using different
5 ones. So that’s a serious, serious concern.
6 We also know that as part of the fraud scheme he
7 was in communication or at least told the source that he
8 was in communication with someone who was essentially
9 going to doctor documents for these fraudulent loan
10 applications, again, suggesting that he has contacts who
11 have these capabilities. He apparently has some capability
12 to either make or obtain various ID cards, because, as you
13 can see in the photo, he has several, and those aren’t
14 even the ones, the IDs in the photo aren’t even all of the
15 IDs because clearly he showed different ones to the
16 police officer because some of the IDs referenced in
17 the police report are not in that photo.
18 This is also consistent with his rap sheet,
19 which is not, not insignificant, some of these are
20 misdemeanors, but I think there’s a, there are some
21 concerning items here. There’s a couple of, a couple
22 of assault charges. There is, in 2014, a theft of
23 property over $100,000 which was a felony. There was,
24 in July, 2020, he was arrested for fraud, use,
25 possession of identifying information, items numbering
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1 13
2 10 to 50. I don’t have the police report for that but
3 the charges seem to suggest that he was possessing a
4 number of IDs in that itemized, in the 10 to 50 number
5 range.
6 Also troubling is that in 2020 he was arres ted
7 three times. It’s a little unclear from both the rap
8 sheet the government has, which has been provided to
9 defense counsel and from the Pretrial Report, exactly
10 what the conditions of bond were for these arrests.
11 It’s a little unclear when or if he was on bond for
12 these arrests. However, the last arrest that was just
13 like December 28, 2020, suggests that there was a
14 bench warrant for him, it just says March 9, 2021,
15 warrant which, again, would be sort of consistent with
16 this failure to comply with condi tions and, frankly,
17 the law.
18 He has in the April 29, 2012, arrest, it also,
19 he had a charge of failure to appear, it’s a little
20 unclear if that means failure to appear in court. So
21 that, I think these are sort of, again, compounding
22 the government’s conce rn that there’s this, there is a
23 world view which the defendant has expressed
24 specifically to law enforcement that he is not
25 required to comply with government authority. That he
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1 14
2 has multiple fake ideas. Well, again, I don’t know if
3 they’re fake, he has multiple IDs in different names of
4 himself, that’s his photo on them. he has used those
5 ideas, different ideas to travel on airplanes. He believes
6 himself to be able to travel anywhere in the world without
7 a visa, and he has, he’s facing significant exposure and
8 he has times to the Democratic Republic of Congo. And the
9 incentive here just might be, well, if I’m going to get
10 convicted anyway, I might as well just leave. So that’s,
11 I think that’s the concern.
12 I can touch briefly on the strength of the
13 government’s case, I think which is also a factor, which
14 is relevant to the Court’s consideration. The strength of
15 the government’s case is quite strong. I know we typically
16 say that, but in this case we have multiple recorded phone
17 calls and screenshots of what that message is between the
18 defendant and a cooperating witness, discussing fraudulent
19 PPP loan applications. That was among the conversations
20 that they had were the one I was referencing earlier where
21 the defendant, you know, said I’ll send document that you
22 sent me over to this guy who will fix it up in sum and
23 substance. And, you know, various sort of like handling
24 logistic type things of sending things for, sending
25 documents back and forth for the loan applications. So the
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1 15
2 evidence is quite strong, we have, again, recorded
3 conversations and text messages specifically about the
4 fraud. So, again, I think that also sees into the
5 incentive here, which is that the government’s case is
6 very strong and the sentencing exposure is very, is
7 significant.
8 So unless the Court has any questions, those are
9 the government’s concerns and why we’re seeking detention.
10 THE COURT: Thank you. I’ll hear from defense
11 now.
12 MS. GIWA: Your Honor, this is Tamara Giwa. I
13 would ask the Court to release Mr. Mundendi and impose
14 the conditions that were proposed by Pretrial Services
15 in their report. I’d like to really just hone in on
16 this issue of risk of flight, that is what the
17 government has identified as their primary basis for
18 seeking detention, so I just want to clarify some
19 issues for the Court.
20 Mr. Mundendi is now 32 years old and, as I
21 noted earlier, the Court is aware he’s been detained
22 on this case for quite some time. He was arrested on
23 April 22 n d . This case I think has come as quite a
24 wakeup call to him, he’s quite sh ocked by what’s been
25 going on, he’s expressed that to me. That is, as I
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1 16
2 noted earlier, what I think he was trying to express
3 to the Court.
4 Mr. Mundendi is not somebody who can actually
5 leave this country. His immigration status I don’t
6 think is so unclea r. He came to the United States when
7 he was 16 years old and he came as an asylee. His family
8 sought asylum in the United States from the Democratic
9 Republic of Congo because they were fleeing the war.
10 And so they were resettled in the United States and they
11 were resettled in Dallas. And Mr. Mundendi has lived in
12 Dallas since he was 16 years old, since 2005. His entire
13 family lives there, it is the only place that he has ever
14 lived outside of the Democratic Republic of Congo. And his
15 four siblings who are all older than him who have their
16 own families, the live there, his parents live there, his
17 girlfriend lives there. Mr. Mundendi went to high school
18 in Dallas, he attended some college there, that really is
19 his home and he has very, very strong ties to that
20 community.
21 Our office has spoken with both of his parents
22 today and we’ve also spoken with his girlfriend. All three
23 of those people work. His girlfriend is a United States
24 citizen. I think his parents may also be United States,
25 yes, his parents are also United States citizens. His
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1 17
2 parents work, his girlfriend works, and those are three
3 people who we believe would immediately be approved as
4 cosigners on a bond.
5 In addition to his siblings and his parents and
6 his girlfriend, Mr. Mundendi also has an 8 year old son
7 who lives in Dallas. And Mr. Mundendi, although he is
8 separated from his son’s mother, the do co-parent, and Mr.
9 Mundendi sees his son frequently, he has him every single
10 weekend, and his son has autism. And I raise this only
11 because the family has raised this is an issue that is
12 concerning to them, that Mr. Mundendi’s incarceration will
13 have a very significant impact on the development and
14 wellbeing of his son because of his diagnosis and
15 because they are so close.
16 We see that Pretrial has pr oposed two
17 cosigners, but I think that we would be able to locate
18 certainly the three that I’ve identified, and maybe
19 even an additional person if the Court would be so
20 inclined to add cosigners.
21 Prior to his arrest, Mr. Mundendi was working.
22 Once the pan demic hit, he had some trouble finding
23 work, but he has had experience working in marketing
24 and sales, also in Dallas.
25 Your Honor , I also want to point out to the
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1 18
2 Court that Mr. Mundendi here is charged on this
3 indictment with two codefendants. Those two
4 codefendants have already been presented, one before
5 Judge Cave and one before Judge Parker, and both of
6 those people were released. And based on my reading of
7 the indictment, the charges against them in some ways
8 indicate more serious offense conduct, in cluding
9 things like the fact that money was transferred to the
10 bank account of those two codefendants.
11 So I think that given that they were released
12 on conditions, there is no reason that Mr. Mundendi
13 also should not be released. And so I would ask the
14 Court to take all of that into account and then to
15 adopt the conditions that Pretrial proposes with the
16 addition of maybe one or two additional cosigners.
17 THE CLERK: Judge, it’s Rachel, I’m not sure
18 if you have your phone muted.
19 THE COURT: Thank you. Do you wish to address
20 the issue of the multiple identification cards that
21 were located and also the reporting that when your
22 client was arrested by a Texas police officer he
23 suggested, I think quite directly, that he was not
24 subject to the enforcement of tha t police officer’s
25 jurisdiction?
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2 MS. GIWA: Your Honor , this is Tamara Giwa. I
3 don’t have any further information about the identity
4 documents, although I, one of the conditions of
5 Pretrial Services, of course, would be to turn in any
6 travel documents and identifications, and not to use
7 any others. And I think the Court could craft some
8 additional language around the issue of the ID cards.
9 In terms of the arrest, again, I also have
10 limited information there, but my understanding is
11 that my client may have b een intoxicated at the time
12 and so I’m really not sure that the Court should give
13 much weight to any statements that may or may not have
14 been made there. And, certainly, I think that any of
15 Mr. Mundendi’s maybe religious or ideological beliefs
16 don’t really have any bearing on whether or not he
17 presents a risk of flight here, Your Honor.
18 THE COURT: Well unless those beliefs suggest
19 that he doesn’t believe he needs to follow a Court
20 order --
21 MS. GIWA: Your Honor , this is Tamara Giwa.
22 I’m sorry, for inte rrupting you, this is Tamara Giwa.
23 I don’t think that really is a concern here. As I
24 stated at the beginning, Mr. Mundendi really is in
25 shock about what has happened, as is his family, and
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1 20
2 we did discuss what all the possibilities here might
3 be. And I thin k that he understands that and I do not
4 have any concerns that he would not be able to follow
5 the Court’s orders.
6 THE COURT: All right, anything further from
7 the government?
8 MS. MCLEOD: Nothing in particular, Your
9 Honor, I guess I would just like to briefly respond to
10 the argument about this case has been a wakeup call
11 for him. I don’t think that that argument would ring
12 true, at least for the government. He’s been arrested
13 on fraud charges before, he’s been arrested on assault
14 charges before, why would this case be a wakeup call
15 for him when none of those other cases where he was
16 convicted before on at least one of those cases, so I
17 don’t see why this case is somehow, you know,
18 strikingly different to him.
19 THE COURT: With whom does he live on Bel Air
20 drive?
21 MS. GIWA: Your Honor , this is Tamara Giwa,
22 Mr. Mundendi lives with both of his parents, his
23 father, Mr. Mundendi, and his mother, Ms. Elonga
24 (phonetic).
25 THE COURT: And you’ve indicated that they are
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2 US citizens?
3 MS. GIWA: Yes, they are both US citizens.
4 THE COURT: Okay. All right, I think we can
5 fashion conditions to release the defendant but he
6 will not be released until they are satisfied. And one
7 of them is that I would like to have either his mother
8 or his father serve as a third party custodian, which
9 means that I’d like to speak with them and explain to
10 them what that means. So that is an important part of
11 any release, that they agree to be a third party
12 custodian and that they understand from the Court w hat
13 that means.
14 In addition, I’m going to set a bond amount of
15 $200,000 that needs to be cosigned by four people. And
16 that condition needs to be met before the defendant will
17 be released. Assuming he satisfies those conditions, he’ll
18 be supervised in his district of residence which is in
19 Texas, and he is ordered to live with his parents, and his
20 Pretrial supervision will be as directed by this Pretrial
21 Services officer, but I am also going to impose a GPS
22 bracelet so that we can track his movements. His travel will
23 be restricted, I don’t know what district he -- oh, I can
24 probably figure that out here.
25 MS. GIWA: It’s the Northern District of Texas is
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2 Dallas.
3 THE COURT: Thank you. His travel will be
4 restricted to the Northern District of Texas and then the
5 Southern and Eastern Districts of New York for purposes of
6 appearance, and any point in between for travel. But I want
7 him to be outfitted with a GPS bracelet. I don’t know if
8 that gets put on by SDNY or by Northern District of Texas,
9 can I ask Pretrial who’s on the line who would put that GPS
10 device on?
11 PRETRIAL SERVICES OFFICER: Yes, Your Honor, it
12 is up to Your Honor if you would like the bracelet to
13 be affixed here in SDNY or for there to be a specific
14 condition stating that the defendant must rep ort to
15 Pretrial in the Northern District of Texas within 24
16 hours of his arrival.
17 THE COURT: I think that makes sense. And so
18 what I’m going to do is say that he needs to report to
19 the Northern District of Texas within 72 hours of his
20 release from custody here in the Southern District of
21 New York. So he’s to depart the Southern District of
22 New York upon the satisfaction of his parents, one
23 parent agreeing to serve as a third party custodian,
24 and posting the $200,000 bond cosigned by four
25 financially responsible people. Once he’s been
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1 23
2 released, he needs to report within 72 hours to the
3 Pretrial Services officer in the Northern District of
4 Texas and be outfitted with a bracelet, which will
5 allow the Court to enforce his travel restrictions.
6 He is to surrender all identification
7 documents, passports but also any other identification
8 cards, and he is prohibited from making any new travel
9 or other identification cards. He also may not open
10 any bank accounts and he, or new lines of credit
11 without prior approva l of his Pretrial Services
12 officer. He’s prohibited from having any contact with
13 this codefendants unless in the presence of counsel.
14 He is prohibited from using alcohol excessively. And
15 he is to work with his Pretrial Services officer in
16 his district of residence in order to seek or maintain
17 verifiable employment. And as I indicated, he is
18 directed to reside with is parents, that’s a condition
19 of this bail.
20 Sir, let me warn you that if you fail to
21 appear in court or if you violate any of the
22 conditions of your release, a warrant will be issued
23 for your arrest and you and anyone who cosigned the
24 bond will be responsible for paying its full amount,
25 and you may be charged with a separate crime of bail
Case 1:21-cr-00247-PAE Document 24 Filed 05/25/21 Page 24 of 26
1 24
2 jumping. In addition, if you commit an offense while
3 you are released, you may be subject to a more severe
4 punishment than you would get if you committed the
5 same offense at any other time.
6 All right, anything further from the
7 government?
8 MS. MCLEOD: Yes, Your Honor, the government
9 would, so Judge Engelmayer has set a pretrial
10 conference date of June 15 t h , so the government would
11 move to exclude time from today until June 15 t h in
12 order for the government to get and preparing and
13 producing discovery so that the defendant can begin
14 reviewing that discovery.
15 THE COURT: Any objection from defense
16 counsel?
17 MS. GIWA: No objection, Your Honor .
18 THE COURT: Okay, I’ll exclude time until June
19 15 t h . Anything further --
20 PRETRIAL SERVICES OFFICER: Your Honor ?
21 THE COURT: Yes?
22 PRETRIAL SERVICES OFFICER: I’m sorry, t his is
23 Pretrial Services. I just need a clarification
24 regarding the GPS bracelet, did you want a curfew
25 enforced by GPS so he’s also, his movements are being
Case 1:21-cr-00247-PAE Document 24 Filed 05/25/21 Page 25 of 26
1 25
2 monitored by the GPS technology?
3 THE COURT: I was thinking it would just be to
4 make sure that he is staying in the Northern District
5 of Texas and I would want a blackout zone of airports
6 that within that district.
7 PRETRIAL SERVICES OFFICER: Okay.
8 THE COURT: But at this point I wasn’t going
9 to impose a curfew, I was going to have Pretrial
10 Services as directed. If there’s a reason that he
11 needs to be subject to a curfew, then that could be
12 imposed as appropriate.
13 PRETRIAL SERVICES OFFICER: Okay.
14 THE COURT: Does that make sense?
15 PRETRIAL SERVICES OFFICER: Yes, that does,
16 Your Honor , thank you.
17 THE COURT: Okay, great. Anything further
18 from the government?
19 MS. MCLEOD: No, Your Honor.
20 THE COURT: Anything further from defense?
21 MS. GIWA: Nothing further, thank you.
22 THE COURT: Okay. Thank you, everybody, we’re
23 adjourned.
24 (Whereupon the matter is adjourned.)
25
Case 1:21-cr-00247-PAE Document 24 Filed 05/25/21 Page 26 of 26
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2
3 C E R T I F I C A T E
4
5 I, Carole Ludwig, certify that the foregoing
6 transcript of proceedings in the United States District
7 Court, Southern District of New York, United States of
8 America versus Amos Mundendi, Docket #21cr247, was prepared
9 using PC-based transcription software and is a true and
10 accurate record of the proceedings.
11
12
13 Signature Carole Ludwig
14 Carole Ludwig
15 Date: May 14, 2021
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