Local Seattle businessman, Cristiano Popescu, who pleaded guilty in March 2009 to the sale or receipt of a stolen golden bookmark purportedly given to Adolf Hitler by his mistress Eva Braun, was sentenced to 30 days in custody and 90 days electronic home monitoring on case.
Seattle, Washington (Lexis Nexis/PRWEB ) June 19, 2009 --Local Seattle businessman, Cristiano Popescu, who pleaded guilty in March 2009 to the sale or receipt of a stolen golden bookmark purportedly given to Adolf Hitler by his mistress Eva Braun, was sentenced to 30 days in custody and 90 days electronic home monitoring on case CR08400 today in Federal Court in Seattle.
Undercover agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested Cristiano Popescu in November 2008 after offering to buy from Popescu a bookmark that may have once belonged to Adolf Hitler, for one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000), ten times the insured value. In court, Popescu admitted to buying the bookmark for thirty-five hundred dollars ($3,500) on a whim.
Popescu explained that when he bought the bookmark, he was unaware that it had been stolen from a Madrid auction house in October 2002. It was only later, when friends researched the item to determine its value, which Popescu actually learned that it had been stolen.
Assistant U.S. Attorney, Thomas Woods, asked Federal Court Judge Ricardo S. Martinez to sentence Mr. Popescu to three months in custody and three years probation. Judge Martinez rejected government's request that Popescu serve all of his sentence in custody, acknowledging that defense was correct and government's argument was merely a speculation.
During his brief incarceration following his arrest, Popescu's home was burglarized. He said, "I should have turned the bookmark over to the authorities when I learned it was stolen. The thing is cursed." Popescu's attorney Charles Swift of the recently formed criminal defense law firm of Swift & McDonald of Seattle, Washington, said, "Mr. Popescu has suffered a great deal for what is a relatively minor crime. At this point he is just looking forward to putting his life back together."
The authenticity of this objet d'art is still in question. Several antique dealers and specialists in Hitler memorabilia in Spain question the validity of the auction house claim that Hitler's mistress, Eva Braun, gave the German dictator the bookmark in 1943 after the battle of Stalingrad. There were no official records of the item to support the claim.
Cristiano Popescu was represented by Catherine McDonald and Charles Swift of the Seattle law firm Swift & McDonald. Attorney Charles Swift had previously gained notoriety for the successful defense of Salim Hamdan, Osama Bin Laden's driver, before the United States Supreme Court in June 2006, and Military Commissions at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in July 2008.
For more information about this case or the firm of Swift & McDonald, go to www.prolegaldefense, or call 206-441-3377.
See the original story at: http://lexisnexis.prweb.com/releases/2009/06/prweb2556694.htmSee Also:
- Caveda Law Firm Unveils Redesigned Family Law Web Site In Tampa, Florida
- DayHound Joins VentureChoice Incubation Program
- Handwriting Expert Testimony Key to Los Angeles Probate Settlement. Forgery Trend Fuels need for more Court Qualified Forensic Document Examiners
- ContractPal Launches Electronic Signatures for Google Apps
- Lose that Loss of Income Worry with PPI Says Burgess
[Via Legal / Law]
- buy cymbalta without prescription
- buy generic cilais - buy cilais without prescription
- buy generic viagra - buy viagra without prescription
- buy citalopram - buy generic celexa
- order escitalopram - buy generic lexapro
- buy norgestrel - order norgestrel online
- buy accutane online - order isotretinoin
- buy terbinafine - order terbinafine
1 comment:
How did you do this. What s grate collection of information, thanks for best practice keep it up…
Post a Comment