Free Motion for Leave to File - District Court of Arizona - Arizona

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Gerald H. Goldstein TX Bar No. 08101000 Cynthia E. Orr TX Bar No. 15313350 Goldstein, Goldstein & Hilley 310 S. St. Mary's St., 29 th Floor San Antonio, Texas 78205 210-226-1463

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA § § § § § § § § § § § § CIV-04-363-PHX-JWS MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE INTERVENING DOCUMENTS IN SUPPORT OF MOTION FOR REHEARING OF MOTION FOR STAY AND TO QUASH DEPOSITION NOTICE, AND MOTION FOR PROTECTIVE ORDER AGAINST REQUEST FOR ADMISSIONS AND INTERROGATORIES SERVED ON CLAIMANT ABED

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, versus 1. Lear Jet, Model 31A, Serial Number 31A-244, U.S. Registration No.N224LJ, Defendant.

NOW COMES, CLAIMANT, ALBERTO ABED-SCHEKAIBAN ("Abed") and respectfully requests leave of this Honorable Court to file the attached intervening documents, received by the undersigned on Tuesday, February 28, 2006, in support of his motion to reconsider its Order from Chambers issued on January 23, 2006, docket number 152, and in support thereof will show this Court: 1. The Government, in its Response in Opposition to Motion to Reconsider, docket number 155, states that it is not conducting a criminal investigation of Mr. Abed. See Response in Opposition at page 2. "Counsel for Abed admit that they have engaged in conversation with James Lacy, the AUSA in charge of that investigation, as noted in their motion: This Assistant United States Attorney, James Lacy, then advised the claimant in 2002 that Alberto Abed and Uptongrove, Ltd., were not subjects of his investigation, having been cleared of wrongdoing. However, he also advised counsel that Uptongrove, Ltd., was not entirely in the clear. Claimants' memo at page 2, line 23 to page 3, line 1 (doc 138). It is therefore 1

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uncontested that no criminal investigation is pending which implicates Abed." Government's Response in Opposition to Motion to Reconsider, page 2. 2. Claimants asserted in their motion for stay (docket number 132) and Motion for

3 Reconsideration (docket number 153) that the Government does have an ongoing criminal 4 5 Department of Justice seeking "The temporary detention and presentation of Alberto Abed 6 Shekaiban, who has his date of birth on April 27, 1952 in Lebanon," the Department of 7 Justice is conducting a criminal investigation of Mr. Abed. See letter from the Department 8 of Justice in Spanish and unofficial English Translation of same attached as Exhibit 1. 9 3. In the response to the Department of Justice letter, dated February 24, 2006, the 10 office of the Procuraduria General de la Republica ("PGR"), states that the PGR cannot 11 comply with the request of the United States to temporarily detain and present Mr. Abed to 12 the United States with regard to their investigation of Jaime Eduardo Ross Castillo, Alberto 13 Abed Schekaiban and others for the crimes of money laundering. See letter from the PGR, 14 dated February 24, 2006 in Spanish and the unofficial English Translation of same attached 15 as Exhibit 2. 16 4. These intervening documents demonstrate the Government's ongoing criminal 17 investigation of Mr. Abed and, also, Assistant United States Attorney Reid Pixler's 18 representation to the contrary made to this Honorable Court is incorrect. 19 5. Counsel for Claimant does not agree with the Government's statement of facts in 20 its' Opposition to Motion to Reconsider and respectfully disagrees with this Honorable 21 Court's order denying Claimants motion for stay. However, Counsel respects this Court and 22 its' orders and seeks only to ask the Court to reconsider that portion of its' order which it 23 might reconsider. The intervening documents further support Claimants' position that Mr. 24 Abed is currently under criminal investigation related to the same matters with which the 25 26 27 28
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investigation of Mr. Abed. As demonstrated in a letter, dated February 6, 2006,1 from the

Mr. Abed was not in Mexico on February 6, 2006 but in the United States at his home. 2

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pending forfeiture action is concerned. WHEREFORE, PREMISES CONSIDERED, Claimant prays that this Honorable Court grant him leave to file these attached intervening documents in support of his Motion for Rehearing of Motion for Stay and to Quash Deposition Notice, and Motion for a Protective Order Against Request for Admissions and Interrogatories Served on Claimant Abed. Respectfully submitted,

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GERALD H. GOLDSTEIN Bar No. 08101000 CYNTHIA EVA HUJAR ORR Bar No. 15313350 GOLDSTEIN, GOLDSTEIN & HILLEY 310 S. St. Mary's St. 29 th Floor Tower Life Bldg. San Antonio, Texas 78205 210-226-1463 210-226-8367 facsimile BY: __/s/______________________________ CYNTHIA E. ORR CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I HEREBY CERTIFY that on February 28, 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: Reid Pixler Assistant United States Attorney 2 Renaissance Sq. 40 N. Central, Ste. 1200 Phoenix, Arizona 85004-4408 [email protected] Allen B. Bickart 6508 N. 10 th Place Phoenix, Arizona 85014 [email protected] Douglas F. Behm Jennings Strouss & Salmon P.L.C. Collier Cntr. 201 E. Washington St., Ste. 1100 Phoenix, AZ 85004-2385 [email protected] 3

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Lawson Pedigo Miller, Keffer & Pedigo 8401 N. Central Expressway, Ste. 630 Dallas, Texas 75225 [email protected] and via U.S. Mail, first class, to the following who are not registered participants of the CM/ECF: Jennifer Collins Mark Hopson Sidley, Austin, Brown & Wood 1501 "K" Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20005 Geoffrey Young Ruden McClosky 150 2 nd Ave., Suite 1700 St. Petersburg, FL 33701 Marc S. Nurik, Esq. Ruden, McClosky, Smith, Schuster & Russell, P.A. 200 East Broward Blvd., Ste. 1500 P.O. Box 1900 Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33302 Leonard J. McDonald, Jr. Tiffany & Bosco, P.A. 2525 E. Camelback Rd. Phoenix, AZ 86015-4237. BY: __/s/______________________________ CYNTHIA E. ORR

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