BRIDGEPORT |Friends and relatives of a man federal prosecutors consider one of the world's "most significant money launderers" Tuesday offered to raise his $5 million bail.
But after hearing three hours of argument on the request, Senior U.S. District Judge Alan H. Nevas reserved decision on whether to grant Jose E. Stroh bail. Nevas did not say when he might rule on Stroh's bail entreaty in the case, which goes to trial Dec. 6.
"Given the alleged magnitude of the amounts of money involved," Nevas said, "it would not be a difficult task if he was to flee to simply reimburse these people for their loss."
Barry Slotnick, one of the team of defense lawyers representing Stroh, said such action by his client would lead to the "destruction of himself, his family and others who put up this bail package."
The package proposed by Slotnick, a New York lawyer, includes homes owned by Stroh's friends and family in various states valued at $2.5 million. These people also would sign promises to pay the government the remaining $2.5 million.
But Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Appleton warned Nevas that Stroh has strong ties to Israel, which does not extradite people accused of money laundering.
Additionally, the prosecutor said: "two individuals [one of whom is a Panamanian banker in the federal witness protection program] told us Stroh has access to huge amounts of money."
"He can easily compensate all those people [posting his bail]," Appleton said, adding that Stroh personally is not posting "one dime."
"There's no question [Stroh] poses a serious risk of flight," Nevas said. "There's also a very serious question as to whether or not this man would be extradited from Israel [should he flee there]."
The bail request joins an earlier motion to dismiss the indictment, which Nevas also must rule on before the trial. Among the claims Slotnick makes in that motion is that Stroh withdrew from any alleged conspiracy in April 1990 -- as the indictment notes -- some six years before the return of the indictment. As a result, Slotnick said, the five-year statute of limitations has expired.
Nevas did tell both sides to be ready to pick a jury on Dec. 5 and start trial the following day.
Stroh, a Colombian national, has been incarcerated without bond since his Feb. 14, 2000, arrest in Miami.
His arrest came as a result of a 1996 federal grand jury indictment. It charges Stroh and two of his Panamanian corporations, Nalvador S.A. and Palier Group, with violating the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. The prosecution claims the violations occurred by laundering money for the Cali drug cartel in Colombia and by structuring money changes in American banks to avoid federal reporting rules by keeping them under $10,000.
The charge carries a maximum 20-year sentence.
The prosecution claims Stroh laundered as much as $129 million in 1987. The indictment alleges he used at least 20 banks between Bridgeport and Stamford where $271,000 was exchanged in 64 transactions between July 14-21, 1986.
At those banks, dollars were converted to checks and money that eventually were used to purchase Colombian pesos.
Appleton said the government has frozen the $900,000 in Stroh's Miami brokerage account and $100,000 in a Swiss bank account. Stroh's lawyers, however, are challenging the legality of the action on the brokerage account.
In 1987, Appleton claimed Israeli bank documents show that one of Stroh's accounts in that country grew to more than $4.5 million before it was transferred to his Panamanian corporations.
Appleton also claimed investigators here and in other countries, which he did not identify, "are taking a good, long hard look" at Stroh.
"I guarantee we will find accounts in Israel," Appleton said.
"People connected to Stroh," Appelton told the judge, are thwarting efforts to obtain information about his Swiss bank accounts.
