Free Status Report - District Court of Arizona - Arizona

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PAUL K. CHARLTON United States Attorney District of Arizona Reid C. Pixler Assistant U.S. Attorney Arizona State Bar No. 12850 Two Renaissance Square 40 North Central, Suite 1200 Phoenix, Arizona 85004-4408 Telephone: (602) 514-7500 [email protected]

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

United States of America, CIV-04-363-PHX-JWS Plaintiff, v. Lear Jet, Model 31A, Serial Number 31A224, U.S. Registration # N224LJ; Defendant. STATUS REPORT

Plaintiff, United States of America, by and through its attorney, PAUL K. CHARLTON, United States Attorney for the District of Arizona, and his Assistant, Reid C. Pixler, Assistant United States Attorney, hereby submit a status report concerning the defendant property, and pursuant to the Court's Order dated July 27, 2006. (Dkt. # 178)
I. The Learjet

The Learjet was sold at public auction on June 23, 2006, at the Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for $4.4 million. A minimum bid was set at $3.8 million which represented the current bluebook value and was $600,000.00 above the original appraisal. The buyer was Disaster Flight Services LLC (DFS). The aircraft was transferred to DFS on July 11, 2006. The engine logbooks were made available to Customs and Border Protection the afternoon of June 22, 2006, and have since been released to the buyer. Costs for storage of the Learjet, excluding maintenance, acceptance, removal, and seizure cost allocation are $50,855.

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An expenditure report with a breakdown of all charges is expected to be completed by the end of this month. Total costs to store, repair, and maintain the aircraft are approximately $1.3 million. It is expected that all parties to this litigation will be conferring soon to attempt to reach an agreement on the costs to be deducted from the sale of the aircraft according to the directions set forth in this Court's Order of September 8, 2005. II. Related Criminal Investigation

Attached as Exhibit A is an affidavit of Assistant United States Attorney James Lacey stating that there is, at present, no active investigation of the parties or incidents that comprise the basis for the instant forfeiture. Given this, plaintiff believes no reason exists to continue the stay of proceedings as to Abed. III. Discovery

The plaintiff United States of America expects that it will be seeking to recommence discovery proceedings imminently. RESPECTFULLY submitted this 21st day of August, 2006. PAUL K. CHARLTON United States Attorney District of Arizona S/Lisa Roberts for

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REID C. PIXLER Assistant United States Attorney

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S/Lisa Roberts Lisa Roberts K Lawson Pedigo Miller Keffer & Pedigo PLLC 8401 N Central Expressway Ste 630 Dallas, TX 75225 Email: [email protected] Leonard J McDonald, Jr Tiffany & Bosco PA Camelback Esplanade II 2525 E Camelback Rd Ste 300 Phoenix, AZ 85323 Email: [email protected] Douglas F Behm Jennings Strouss & Salmon PLC Collier Ctr 201 E Washington St Ste 1100 Phoenix, AZ 85004-2385 Email: [email protected] /

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I hereby certify that on August 21, 2006, I electronically transmitted the attached document to the Clerk's Office using the CM/ECF System for filing and transmittal of a Notice of Electronic Filing to the following CM/ECF registrants: Allen B Bickart Law Office of Allen B Bickart PO Box 44005 Phoenix, AZ 85064 Email: [email protected] Cynthia Eva Hujar Orr Goldstein Goldstein & Hilley 2900 Tower Life Bldg 310 S St Marys St Ste 2900 San Antonio, TX 78205 Email: [email protected]

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/

I hereby certify that on August 21, 2006, I served the attached document by U.S. mail, who are not registered participants of the CM/ECF System:

Marc S Nurik Ruden McClosky Smith Schuster & Russell PA PO Box 1900 Ft Lauderdale, FL 33302 Gerald H Goldstein Goldstein Goldstein & Hilley 2900 Tower Life Bldg 310 S St Mary's St Ste 2900 San Antonio, TX 78205 Mark A Platt Fulbright & Jaworski LLP 2200 Ross Ave Ste 2800 Dallas, TX 75201

S/Amber Almon Amber Almon

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