Mexico's ex-top military general charged w/ narco-corruption is due back in court tomorrow in Brooklyn.
Judge Carol Bagley Amon is skeptical of prosecutors asking to keep parts of case under seal, directs acting US Attorney to come explain…
Many high-level Mexican drug cases have been shrouded in secrecy in US federal courts. Tons of stuff in El Chapo's case was kept under seal. So it's interesting to see Judge Bagley Amon pushing back on gov't efforts at secrecy very early w/ Cienfuegos.
No indication what prosecutors are seeking to keep under seal w/ Cienfuegos. The judge's order refers to docket entries 20 and 21, which aren't listed publicly on pacer…
Well, we sure found out what prosecutors wanted kept secret in the Cienfuegos case…
“I expect there to be a fall guy somewhere in the chain that was involved with this. It will be somebody who had no influence and no involvement. It will be someone who makes all the higher-ups feel better.”
Here's my coverage of the Cienfuegos news yesterday, including excerpts from court docs where prosecutors say the US "determined that sensitive and important foreign policy considerations outweigh the government’s interest in pursuing the prosecution…"
To recap: The US spent years secretly investigating a top Mexican general known as "The Godfather," made a surprise arrest that they didn't even tell AMLO about, then, a month later, handed him back to Mexico on assurances he would be prosecuted there. Completely unprecedented.
The documents are still under seal, but court docket entires that are now public show federal prosecutors have already moved to drop all charges against Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda @VICENews
Good morning and welcome to the Genaro Garcia Luna show.
Today's hearing before Judge Cogan starts in about 15 minutes. Will be tweeting live updates to this thread, stay tuned here for updates as things get underway.…
Already problems — lots of people on this conference call, including someone who has a Spanish-language news broadcast blasting. Court interpreter saying she can't hear anything over the background noise. Some people have not figured out how to "mute" yet during the pandemic.