Revealed: George Santos got shady campaign cash from Italian busted for smuggling undocumented migra
Revealed: George Santos got shady campaign cash from Italian busted for smuggling undocumented migrants
The New York Republican accepted campaign contributions from Rocco Oppedisano, who was expelled from the U.S. in January 2019 and then arrested for piloting a yacht loaded with undocumented migrants and $200,000 in cash toward Florida, and the donations are almost certainly illegal, reported The Daily Beast.
Santos appointed Oppedisano's brother Joseph and nice Tina, who operate the upscale Queens restaurant Il Bacco, to his “Small Businesses for Santos Coalition,” and his two campaigns spent $25,443.64 at the eatery since first running for Congress in 2020, and his most recent campaign reported owing Il Bacco $18,773.54 for its 2022 Election Night party.
Legal experts noted that more than a half dozen of those expenses marked "Food and Beverage" were suspiciously reported at $199.99, which exactly one penny below the threshold that would have required them to hold onto receipts of the transaction.
"You can’t structure transfers of money in a way to intentionally get around the law,” said Jordan Libowitz, communications director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “If someone was trying to structure and kind of lazy about it… this is kind of what it would look like.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/revealed-george-santos-got-shady-campaign-cash-from-italian-busted-for-smuggling-undocumented-migrants/ar-AA16ddb5
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Eastern District of New York
SEYBERT, District Judge:
Rocco Oppedisano ("Petitioner"
petitions this Court to vacate his conviction and sentence pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255. For the following reasons, Petitioner's application is DENIED.
BACKGROUND
In 2008, Petitioner was investigated in connection with suspected insurance fraud involving a yacht. (Pet. at 14-15.) Consequently, Postal Inspector Carl Vaccariello signed a search warrant application for the search of several addresses, including an apartment at 1 Bay Club Drive, Apartment 11F, Bayside, New York ("the Bay Club Apartment"
. (Pet. at 14.) Although all of Petitioner's mail was sent to his parents' house at 7-32 Crescent Road, Whitestone, New York, which was also subject to the search warrant, "repeated surveillance . . . reveal[ed] that [Petitioner], in fact, reside[d] at [the Bay Club Apartment]." (4/6/09 Search Warrant, Ex. A of Docket Entry 7-1, at 12.) Further, Mr. Vaccariello stated that, according to his experience, individuals involved in financial and insurance fraud "frequently maintain [evidence] in their possession . . . for substantial periods of time." (4/6/09 Search Warrant at 13.) Thus, Magistrate Judge Michael L. Orenstein found that there was probable cause to search the listed addresses, including the Bay Club Apartment, and approved the application. (4/6/09 Search Warrant.)
Upon execution of the search warrant at the Bay Club Apartment on April 7, 2009, officers discovered white powder and ammunition in a credenza. (Pet. at 16.) The initial search warrant related only to the insurance fraud investigation, however. Thus, the Government sought, and obtained, a second search warrant authorizing it to seize the ammunition and powder. (Pet. at 16.) While executing the second warrant on April 7, 2009, police seized eighty-three .22 caliber bullets and a white powder that tested positive for cocaine. (Tr. at 255; Pet. at 16.)
Before trial, Petitioner's counsel moved to controvert the second warrant, but not the first. (Pet. at 16.) The Court then held a trial on one count of Felon-In-Possession (pertaining to the ammunition) and one count for Possession of Cocaine. (Pet. at 17.) As part of that case, counsel stipulated to the prior felony element of the felon-in-possession count. (12/6/10 Stipulation, Ex. C of Docket Entry 7-1.) Additionally, during his opening statement, counsel mentioned that Petitioner was the subject of an insurance fraud investigation, setting the stage for the defense that the Government, frustrated by a lengthy, and thus far unsuccessful investigation into Petitioner's suspected involvement in an insurance fraud scheme, intentionally placed the ammunition and cocaine in the Bay Club Apartment. (Pet. at 17-18.) Petitioner now argues that these actions constituted ineffective assistance of counsel and infected his trial. (Pet. at
the Ethics Committee. He definitely displays the ethics that have made the republican party such a success.
