PUBLISHER’S NOTE

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DURING THIS BOOK’S FINAL PRODUCTION PROCESS, the motion that had sat idly in Judge Sullivan’s chambers for almost two years was finally addressed. On January 17, 2017, Judge Sullivan denied Kimelman’s motion.

What is surprising is not the denial (what judge wants to overrule himself?), but that Judge Sullivan chose to rule on procedural grounds and inexplicably wait two years to give a ruling he could have given in thirty days. In refusing to address the motion on its merits, Sullivan claimed that Kimelman’s attorneys could have appealed his admittedly improper jury instructions and elected not to.

Kimelman’s attorney, confident of ultimate victory after appeal, insisted that Judge Sullivan’s reading of US v. Newman was too narrow, and noted that, “Mr. Kimelman is actually innocent under the proper legal standard and has every intention of pursuing an appeal.”

The ruling hardly came as a surprise, as this is the same notoriously pro-government judge who, against all mathematical odds, had been “randomly selected” by Preet Bahara to hear Kimelman’s case, along with a handful of others, during the height of the “Occupy Wall Street” frenzy. We believe Judge Sullivan’s opinion is biased, inaccurate, and shall be exposed as such and vacated on appeal.