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Tag: Witness Tampering

  • Private investigators tried to bribe sex assault victim of former Stockton officer, DA says

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    Two private investigators are accused of tampering with an investigation into a sexual assault case against a former Stockton police officer and attempting to bribe a victim, according to the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office.Officials said Mary Greenberg, 62, and Kramer Greenberg, 34, a mother and daughter, were both licensed private investigators working on behalf of former Stockton Police Department Sergeant Nicholas Bloed. Earlier this year, Bloed was sentenced to eight years in prison for using his position of authority to sexually assault four different women. The district attorney’s office said the Greenbergs allegedly offered one of Bloed’s victims an undisclosed amount of money paid in installments in order for her to be unavailable to testify during the trial. The mother and daughter arranged for transportation for the victim to Southern California. But instead of following the direction of Mary and Kramer Greenberg, the victim contacted the District Attorney’s Office. “There will be zero tolerance for anyone attempting to interfere with the administration of justice in San Joaquin County,” said District Attorney Ron Freitas in a news release. “Anyone attempting to prevent and interfere with the prosecution of criminals that have terrorized the victims of San Joaquin County, will absolutely be met with the full force of this District Attorney’s Office.”Mary Greenberg faces charges of preventing/dissuading a witness from attending or giving testimony, attempting to dissuade a witness from testifying, conspiracy to commit a crime, attending and giving testimony at a proceeding authorized by law, bribery of a witness and offer to bribe a witness. Kramer Greenberg faces charges of preventing/dissuading a witness from attending or giving testimony, conspiracy to commit a crime and attending and giving testimony at a proceeding authorized by law.Anyone with any information about witness tampering or intimidation in this, or any other case, is urged to contact the District Attorney’s Office Bureau of Investigations at 209-468-3620.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

    SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY, Calif. —

    Two private investigators are accused of tampering with an investigation into a sexual assault case against a former Stockton police officer and attempting to bribe a victim, according to the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office.

    Officials said Mary Greenberg, 62, and Kramer Greenberg, 34, a mother and daughter, were both licensed private investigators working on behalf of former Stockton Police Department Sergeant Nicholas Bloed.

    Earlier this year, Bloed was sentenced to eight years in prison for using his position of authority to sexually assault four different women.

    The district attorney’s office said the Greenbergs allegedly offered one of Bloed’s victims an undisclosed amount of money paid in installments in order for her to be unavailable to testify during the trial. The mother and daughter arranged for transportation for the victim to Southern California.

    But instead of following the direction of Mary and Kramer Greenberg, the victim contacted the District Attorney’s Office.

    “There will be zero tolerance for anyone attempting to interfere with the administration of justice in San Joaquin County,” said District Attorney Ron Freitas in a news release. “Anyone attempting to prevent and interfere with the prosecution of criminals that have terrorized the victims of San Joaquin County, will absolutely be met with the full force of this District Attorney’s Office.”

    Mary Greenberg faces charges of preventing/dissuading a witness from attending or giving testimony, attempting to dissuade a witness from testifying, conspiracy to commit a crime, attending and giving testimony at a proceeding authorized by law, bribery of a witness and offer to bribe a witness.

    Kramer Greenberg faces charges of preventing/dissuading a witness from attending or giving testimony, conspiracy to commit a crime and attending and giving testimony at a proceeding authorized by law.

    Anyone with any information about witness tampering or intimidation in this, or any other case, is urged to contact the District Attorney’s Office Bureau of Investigations at 209-468-3620.

    See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

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  • Founder of failed crypto exchange FTX, Bankman-Fried, jailed in New York

    Founder of failed crypto exchange FTX, Bankman-Fried, jailed in New York

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    FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was sent to jail Friday to await trial after a bail hearing for the fallen cryptocurrency wiz left a judge convinced that he had repeatedly tried to influence witnesses against him.

    U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan ordered Bankman-Fried’s bail revoked after prosecutors said he’d tried to harass a key witness in his fraud case last month when he showed a journalist her private writings and in January when he reached out to the general counsel for FTX with an encrypted communication.

    His lawyers insisted he shouldn’t be jailed for trying to protect his reputation against a barrage of unfavorable news stories.

    Kaplan said he had concluded there was probable cause to believe Bankman-Fried had tried to “tamper with witnesses at least twice” since his December arrest.

    A defense lawyer said an appeal of the incarceration order would be filed and asked for an immediate stay of the order.

    The 31-year-old has been under house arrest at his parents’ home in Palo Alto, California, since his December extradition from the Bahamas on charges that he defrauded investors in his businesses and illegally diverted millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency from customers using his FTX exchange.

    Bankman-Fried’s $250 million bail package severely restricts his internet and phone usage.

    Two weeks ago, prosecutors surprised Bankman-Fried’s attorneys by demanding his incarceration, saying he violated those rules by giving The New York Times the private writings of Caroline Ellison, his former girlfriend and the ex-CEO of Alameda Research, a cryptocurrency trading hedge fund that was one of his businesses.

    Prosecutors maintained he was trying to sully her reputation and influence prospective jurors who might be summoned for his October trial.

    Ellison pleaded guilty in December to criminal charges carrying a potential penalty of 110 years in prison. She has agreed to testify against Bankman-Fried as part of a deal that could lead to a more lenient sentence.

    Bankman-Fried’s lawyers argued he probably failed in a quest to defend his reputation because the article cast Ellison in a sympathetic light. They also said prosecutors exaggerated the role Bankman-Fried had in the article.

    They said prosecutors were trying to get their client locked up by offering evidence consisting of “innuendo, speculation, and scant facts.”

    Since prosecutors made their detention request, Kaplan has imposed a gag order barring public comments by people participating in the trial, including Bankman-Fried.

    David McCraw, a lawyer for the Times, had written to the judge, noting the First Amendment implications of any blanket gag order, as well as public interest in Ellison and her cryptocurrency trading firm.

    Ellison confessed to a central role in a scheme defrauding investors of billions of dollars that went undetected, McGraw said.

    “It is not surprising that the public wants to know more about who she is and what she did and that news organizations would seek to provide to the public timely, pertinent, and fairly reported information about her, as The Times did in its story,” McGraw said.

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