United States v. Michel
| Decision Date | 06 November 2019 |
| Docket Number | Criminal No. 19-148-1 (CKK) |
| Parties | UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. PRAKAZREL MICHEL (1), Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Columbia |
In this criminal action, Defendant Prakazrel Michel has brought three pending motions. First, he has moved under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 12 to dismiss Counts Two and Three of the Indictment on the basis that they are barred by the statute of limitations. Second, he has moved to sever Count Four of the Indictment. Lastly, he has moved for a bill of particulars listing unindicted co-conspirators known or unknown to the grand jury under Count One of the Indictment. Upon consideration of the Indictment, briefing, relevant legal authorities, and record as a whole, the Court DENIES Mr. Michel's Motion to Dismiss Counts Two and Three,1 DENIES WITHOUT PREJUDICE his Motion to Sever Count Four,2 and GRANTS IN PART his Motionfor a Bill of Particulars.3
A grand jury returned an Indictment charging Mr. Michel and his co-Defendant, Malaysian national Low Taek Jho, on May 2, 2019. Indictment ("Indict."), ECF No. 1. The Indictment contained four charges against Mr. Michel arising from an alleged scheme to funnel money from a foreign donor, Mr. Low, into the 2012 Presidential Election and to conceal the true source of those contributions from the Federal Election Commission ("FEC"). Id. ¶¶ 1-2. Mr. Michel and Mr. Low "concealed the scheme from the candidate, the candidate's campaign and administration, federal regulators, and the public." Id. ¶ 2.
Count One of the Indictment charges Mr. Michel with conspiracy to defraud an agency of the United States in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371. Id. ¶¶ 23-70. It alleges that from about June 2012 to June 2015, Mr. Michel and Mr. Low conspired with each other and with others "known and unknown to the grand jury" to do three things: (1) "[k]nowingly defraud the United States by impairing, obstructing, and defeating the lawful functions of a department or agency of the United States," which was "the FEC's ability to administer federal regulations concerning source and dollar restrictions in federal elections"; (2) "[k]nowingly and willfully make foreign contributionsand independent expenditures" that aggregated to more than $25,000 in a calendar year in violation of 52 U.S.C. § 30121 and 52 U.S.C. § 30109(a)(1)(A); and (3) "[k]nowingly and willfully make contributions to a candidate for federal office in the names of other persons" that aggregated to more than $25,000 in a calendar year in violation of 52 U.S.C. § 30121 and 52 U.S.C. § 30109(a)(1)(A). Id. ¶ 24. The Indictment provided a similarly broad object of the conspiracy, which in full reads:
The object of the conspiracy was for MICHEL and JHO LOW to gain access to, and potential influence with, Candidate A and his administration, by secretly funneling foreign money from JHO LOW through MICHEL and other straw donors to Political Committees A and B, all while concealing from the committees, the FEC, the public, and law enforcement the true source of the money.
According to the Indictment, the manner and means by which Mr. Michel and Mr. Low carried out the conspiracy were numerous and included using shell entities and bank accounts, using conduits or straw donors, attending certain fundraising events and White House events, providing false statements to the FEC, and using false tax records. Id. ¶¶ 26-35. The Indictment further alleges that Mr. Michel and Mr. Low committed numerous overt acts in furtherance of the conspiracy. Id. ¶¶ 36-70. These acts spanned from 2012 through 2015. Id.
One set of overt acts concerns alleged use of straw donors to Political Committee A at various fundraisers beginning in June 2012.4 Id. ¶¶ 37-60. Mr. Michel allegedly received a large sum of at least $1,000,000 from Mr. Low and funneled that money through straw donors to make contributions to Political Candidate A in June through September 2012. Id. ¶¶ 37-43. He also,according to the Indictment, made efforts to secure permissions for Mr. Low and Mr. Low's father to attend a fundraising event in Washington, D.C. in September 2012 and then attended the event with Mr. Low's father. Id. ¶¶ 55-56. Another set of overt acts concerns Mr. Michel contributing money obtained from Mr. Low directly to Political Committee B in his own name and in the name of a certain company, Company E. Id. ¶¶ 61-63.
The last set of acts deal with false reports and statements to the FEC. Id. ¶¶ 64-70. This includes the following reports and statements, which Mr. Michel allegedly caused or made:
Second, the Indictment charges Mr. Michel with concealment of material facts under 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a)(1)-(2). Id. ¶¶ 71-72. In particular, the Indictment framed Mr. Michel as having "knowingly and willfully falsified, concealed, and covered up, by a trick, scheme, and device," a material fact and "made or caused to be made false, fictitious, and fraudulent statements or representations in a matter within the jurisdiction of the executive branch." Id. ¶ 72. He allegedly did this through many of the same acts underlying the conspiracy in Count One, which fall into three categories: (1) he caused Political Committee A to make false statements regarding the source of certain contributions on or about July 20, 2012, September 20, 2012, February 6, 2013, and June 3, 2013; (2) he caused Political Committee B to submit false statements regarding the source of certain contributions on or about October 15, 2012, October 25, 2012, December 6, 2012, and January 30, 2013; and (3) he submitted a declaration to FEC with the false statement that Mr. Michel was the source of the contributions made to Political Committee B. Id.
Count Three of the Indictment charges Mr. Michel with making a false entry in a record in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1519 on the basis that Mr. Michel allegedly caused Political Committee A to make false statements in an FEC form on or about June 3, 2013 that listed the straw donors as the true sources of certain contributions. Id. ¶¶ 73-74. Similarly, Count Four of the Indictment charges Mr. Michel with making a false entry in a record under the same statute based on his allegedly false declaration submitted to the FEC on June 15, 2015. Id. ¶¶ 75-76.
In 2018, the Government submitted two ex parte applications to suspend the statute of limitations under 18 U.S.C. § 3292. It submitted its first application on February 16, 2018, based on a February 2, 2018 official request from the Office of International Affairs of the Department of Justice to the British Virgin Islands ("BVI") for evidence, specifically seeking "records confirming that the source of the contribution money was a foreign entity in the British Virgin Islands, and banking and communications records concerning the relevant fund transfers." Def.'s Mot. to Dismiss Ex. 1 at 1, 3; see id. at Ex. 1, Attach. B (official request to BVI). The application explained that a grand jury was investigating Mr. Michel, Mr. Low, and others for "the following offenses: 18 U.S.C. §§ 371 (conspiracy) and 1001 (false statements), and 52 U.S.C. §§ 30116 () and 30121 (contributions and donations by foreign nationals)." Id. Ex. 1 at 1; see id. Ex. 1 Attach. A at 1 ().
Chief Judge Beryl A. Howell granted the Government's ex parte application on March 7, 2018, suspending the statute of limitations as of February 2, 2018, when the request was sent to the BVI. Id. Ex. 2 at 1-2. She reiterated the offenses that the grand jury was considering and found that it "reasonably appear[ed], based on a preponderance of evidence presented to the Court,that evidence of the offenses under investigation [wa]s located in the British Virgin Islands." Id. Ex. 2 at 1. The BVI responded to the official request on June 11, 2018. Id. Ex. 3; Gov't Opp'n to Mot. to Dismiss at 5.
Then, on September 28, 2018, the Government submitted an ex parte application based on a ...
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