EZjet boss challenges jurisdiction of Florida Court

Sep 28, 2014 News

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…attempts to again withdraw guilty plea ahead of sentencing

Days away from being sentenced to decades in prison for fraud, money laundering and embezzlement charges,

EZjet boss, Sonny Ramdeo, has put up another challenge to his incarceration and imminent sentencing.
Ramdeo has already over the course of his incarceration fired a number of defence attorneys as well as changed his plea on a number of occasions.
Ramdeo this past week filed another motion, this time a 28 page document outlining why the US Court should set aside his guilty plea.
He was found guilty of obstruction of justice when on a previous occasion he attempted to change his plea.
In his latest petition to the Court, Ramdeo is looking to have his guilty plea to the superceding indictment, reversed ahead of the imposition of his sentencing.
In outlining the grounds for the withdrawal of his plea, Ramdeo points to the sixth amendment to the United States Constitution which he says grants the right that “in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a public trial by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed.”
He further noted that the court must allow the defendant to withdraw his guilty plea if he can show a fair and just reason for such a request.
According to Ramdeo, neither the court the government or his attorney recognized, nor was he informed, that he was pleading to a court that lacked jurisdiction and further, that his speedy trial rights were being violated.
He argues that his attorney failed to file speedy trial reports.
In October last year, Ramdeo pleaded guilty but maintains that prior to this his attorney had never handled a wire fraud case before.
He is adamant too that throughout his relationship with that lawyer, Alan Diamond, there was always friction as it relates to the progress of the case.
According to Ramdeo’s motion, “Ultimately, the defendant (Ramdeo) was hauled before the court on October 1, 2013 without being previously advised by counsel that he scheduled a change of plea hearing.”

He noted too that the defence counsel at the time testified to having met him in September prior to the October hearing, but according to Ramdeo, the prison records show differently.
Ramdeo said too that at no point in time did his attorney explain to him how his conduct fell within the charged statutes, “nor did they investigate whether the court had jurisdiction over this matter.”
According to Ramdeo, he had relied on his attorney to reasonably investigate any defects in the indictment and whether the matter was being conducted in keeping with his available rights.
Ramdeo is adamant that after a court accepts a plea, but before imposing sentence, a defendant may withdraw a plea of guilty if he can show just reason for the withdrawal.
Ramdeo in his motion maintains that he clearly received ineffective assistance because of counsel’s errors which prejudiced him.
Ramdeo, who is currently remanded to prison in a Florida Jail, is set to be sentenced on November 14, but is still attempting to defend his innocence and has also filed a motion to have a US Judge grant him access to the evidence to be used against him by the US Prosecutors.
Ramdeo recently filed a motion to the court claiming that the US prosecutors have been withholding evidence from him.
He further claims that none of his previous attorneys ever had a chance to peruse the evidence against him.
Ramdeo further alleges that some of the evidence includes computers and other devices that were seized without a warrant following his arrest.
He is adamant that the evidence he seeks will address numerous issues at his sentencing and has since petitioned the court to direct the US Government through its prosecutors to allow him to inspect, “examine, copy and print materials beneficial to him for sentencing purposes.”
He noted too that his most recent defence lawyer, prior to the termination of his services had shared case information with the prosecution regarding the possible disposition of the charges pending a plea agreement.
Ramdeo is also contesting several pieces of evidence the US prosecutors intend to use against him at sentencing.
Ramdeo, who was behind the failed low cost carrier EZjet, was charged in the US with embezzling millions from the hospital chain he had been employed.
Ramdeo has repeatedly changed attorneys, some of which were provided by the State to represent him.
He has also pleaded not guilty, changed that to guilty and attempted to change it back to not guilty.
Ramdeo was also recently found guilty of obstruction of justice when he had attempted to change his guilty plea to that of not guilty.
Ramdeo’s troubles were escalated further as he was put on notice that at sentencing he should be prepared to address the questions of whether his advisory guideline sentencing range should be increased for obstruction of justice based upon false testimony he presented.
Ramdeo was found to have lied to the court about representation provided to him by court appointed lawyers.
Ramdeo has pleaded guilty to one count each of wire fraud and money laundering, admitting that he stole between US$20M-$50M and using a number of bank transactions, passed the monies through the accounts of EZjet, a low-cost charter that he started up in 2011 and which folded last December, following his arrest in Brooklyn by US federal agents.
According to court documents seen by Kaieteur News, Ramdeo was hired in 2005 by Promise Healthcare Inc., and Success Healthcare Inc., two sister companies that manage hospitals in a number of US states, to work along with its payroll tax systems.
After the contract for the independent company which handled the tax payments for the companies was terminated, Ramdeo informed his employers that he knew a firm that could do the job. What he did not tell them was that Payserv Tax Inc. was a company he created, and in which he had ownership interest.
Investigators found that the original address of Payserv was Ramdeo’s home in Florida.
As a result, Promise Healthcare Inc. transferred millions to Payserv. While employed at Promise, Ramdeo also created and started EZjet GT Inc., a chartered air service providing flights to passengers from New York to Georgetown, Guyana. He also added flights to Toronto.
Ramdeo admitted that he did not seek permission when he transferred millions from Payserv to EZjet. None of the monies he collected from his employers to pay taxes ever ended up with the Inland tax agency of the US. Only Ramdeo had control of the bank accounts. He used some of the monies to finance the operations of the airline.
When questions were raised during an audit of Promise Healthcare, Ramdeo created an email account and sent messages to himself showing that the monies from his employers were paid over.
With the net closing in around him Ramdeo emptied his Florida home of its furniture and disappeared.
Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), tracking his calls, arrested him in a basement apartment in Brooklyn, New York. The apartment was disguised to look like a store room.

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