6/21/2017 Saters ties to Trump raised in New York court hearing

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YESTERDAYby:KaraScannellinNewYork

Lawyers suing a former business partner of Donald Trump have argued in a US court that his ties to the president are
reason enough to unseal records relating to the government informants criminal past.
Felix Sater, a Russian-born former partner with New York property developer Bayrock, worked with the Trump
Organization on projects around the world, including the Trump Soho tower in Manhattan.
The documents in question date back to 1998 when Mr Sater pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering in a stock
manipulation scheme that involved members of several New York mafia families.
A judge in Brooklyn federal court heard arguments on Monday to make public decades of court filings concerning Mr
Sater. Lawyers for Forbes magazine and a former Bayrock executive, who has previously sued Mr Sater alleging theft,
argued that records relating to his criminal past should be unsealed because of his ties to the president.
The unsealing is important because of the relationship between the defendant in this case and the president of the
United States, argued John Langford, an attorney with Yale Law Schools Media Freedom and Information Access
Clinic, on behalf of Forbes.
Mr Trumps business connections have drawn intense scrutiny since he announced his campaign for the presidency
two years ago. But he and his organisation are not parties to the case involving the unsealing and have not been named
in the litigation.
Mr Saters business with the Trump Organization dates back more than a decade, but he recently emerged on the
political stage, reportedly attending a meeting this year with Michael Cohen, an attorney for Mr Trump, and Andrii
Artemenko, a Ukrainian lawmaker, to put forward a peace plan for Ukraine and Russia.
His work as an informant has remained under seal but some details of it have been made public over the years by
government officials and by Mr Sater himself.

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6/21/2017 Saters ties to Trump raised in New York court hearing
Prosecutors have said his co-operation, over more than a decade, helped lead to the convictions of more than 20
individuals, including members of New York crime families. Loretta Lynch, the former US attorney-general, told
lawmakers in advance of her confirmation that Mr Sater also provided information that was crucial to national
security. A prosecutor said in a 2011 court filing that Mr Sater had provided US intelligence with highly sensitive
information concerning various terrorists and rogue states.
By the mid-2000s Mr Sater had remade himself at Bayrock, which was founded by Tevfik Arif, and in 2005 he
travelled with Mr Trump to Colorado to pursue a redevelopment of Denvers Union Station. Mr Saters criminal history
was revealed in a 2007 New York Times profile. Not long after, Mr Sater left Bayrock and it was not until 2009 that he
was sentenced for the 1998 stock case.
Mr Trump, in a 2013 deposition, distanced himself from Mr Sater. If he were sitting in the room right now, I really
wouldnt know what he looked like, he said.
Mr Sater was sued in 2010 by Jody Kriss, a former Bayrock finance director, who alleged he had been cheated. On
Monday Richard Lerner, a lawyer representing a former attorney of Mr Kriss, said it was necessary to unseal a pre-
sentencing report because he alleged it would reveal that the US government knew Mr Sater had become involved with
Bayrock but failed in its obligation to notify his business associates of his criminal past.
Evan Norris, a prosecutor, opposed unsealing the pre-sentence report, saying the safety of Mr Sater and his family
was still a factor. He said the government was asking to keep two documents under seal and redact sections of several
dozen others. But he and Mr Saters attorney jointly agreed that 80 per cent of the court filings could be made public.
Judge Pamela Chen, who was appointed by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to write a report recommending
whether to unseal certain documents, did not rule after the three-hour hearing. Instead, she ordered reporters out of
the courtroom to continue to hear arguments from the lawyers under seal.
ThisstorywascorrectedtoreflectthatRichardLernernolongerrepresentsJodyKriss.

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