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veggie

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,504
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Money launderer for William Leonard Pickard says his indictment should be dismissed 1
#8691210 - 07/28/08 02:10 AM (15 years, 6 months ago) |
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Trafficker's alleged aide claims Russian coercion July 27, 2008 - marinij.com
A man charged with laundering money for William Leonard Pickard - a former Mill Valley man convicted of running a massive LSD lab inside a defunct Kansas missile silo - says his indictment should be dismissed because federal authorities relied on witness statements coerced by Russian agents.
Stefan Wathne, a wealthy New York-raised Icelander, was arrested in New Delhi last year on a federal grand jury indictment from San Francisco. The indictment charges Wathne with conspiring to launder the proceeds from Pickard's LSD lab between spring 1996 and November 2000.
Pickard, a Harvard graduate and former drug policy researcher at the University of California, was convicted in 2003 of possession with the intent to distribute and conspiracy to manufacture and distribute LSD. Pickard was sentenced to life in prison; an accomplice, Sunnyvale resident Clyde Apperson, was sentenced to 30 years.
Pickard and Wathne, who moved to Moscow after graduating from Harvard, met in the mid-1990s through a Harvard friend. Unbeknownst to Wathne, according to defense attorneys, Pickard agreed to pay the mutual friend a 10 percent commission for any drug proceeds he could launder through Wathne.
"In 1999, Pickard became the assistant director of UCLA's Drug Policy Analysis Program," Karen Snell, an attorney for Wathne, wrote in a recent motion. "It is the government's theory that Pickard funded his position by giving approximately $140,000 to Stefan Wathne, who then gave it to two Russian businessmen, who sent it to UCLA as 'donations' to support Pickard's work."
As federal investigators pursued the case, they contacted Russian authorities for their assistance in locating Wathne and interviewing potential witnesses. According to defense attorneys, a team of U.S. investigators traveled to Russia and allowed Russian agents to detain and interrogate Wathne and numerous witnesses according to their own harsh and coercive standards.
"The use of beatings, intimidation and blackmail to gain confessions is widely understood to be common throughout Russia," Snell said. "As a result, abuse is both feared and expected by nearly every Russian who finds himself in police custody in whatever capacity."
The American investigators used the information gathered by the Russians to prepare their case for the U.S. grand jury without telling the jurors how it was obtained, according to Wathne's lawyers. As a result of this prosecutorial misconduct, defense attorneys said, Wathne's constitutional rights were violated and the indictment should be dismissed.
A hearing on the motion to dismiss the indictment is scheduled for Aug. 12 before Chief Judge Vaughn Walker of U.S. District Court in San Francisco.
"We have no comment," said Josh Eaton, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in San Francisco.
Wathne, whose family owns a prosperous high-end apparel company, is free on $5 million bail.
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Ojom
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Re: Money launderer for William Leonard Pickard says his indictment should be dismissed [Re: veggie] 1
#8691247 - 07/28/08 03:04 AM (15 years, 6 months ago) |
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So they're alleging that this man made and distributed LSD and used some of his profits to fund a college's drug policy analysis research of which he was a big player?
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delta9
Active Ingredient


Registered: 10/28/04
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Re: Money launderer for William Leonard Pickard says his indictment should be dismissed [Re: Ojom] 1
#8691265 - 07/28/08 03:32 AM (15 years, 6 months ago) |
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No, Pickard really was that much of a Pimp.
They're alleging he laundered drug money through this Icelander that lives in Russia.
-------------------- delta9
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Coaster
Baʿal



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Re: Money launderer for William Leonard Pickard says his indictment should be dismissed [Re: delta9] 1
#8691269 - 07/28/08 03:44 AM (15 years, 6 months ago) |
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Pickard, a Harvard graduate and former drug policy researcher at the University of California
ya he deserves b in prison
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero



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Re: Money launderer for William Leonard Pickard says his indictment should be dismissed [Re: Coaster] 1
#8691276 - 07/28/08 03:51 AM (15 years, 6 months ago) |
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> ya he deserves b in prison 
They left out the part where he became a DEA narc before karma caught up with him....
-------------------- Just another spore in the wind.
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Coaster
Baʿal



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Re: Money launderer for William Leonard Pickard says his indictment should be dismissed [Re: Seuss] 1
#8691305 - 07/28/08 04:48 AM (15 years, 6 months ago) |
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so does karma catch up with cops the same way it does with narcs
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MHbound
Ballin Out At All Cost


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Re: Money launderer for William Leonard Pickard says his indictment should be dismissed [Re: Coaster] 1
#8691330 - 07/28/08 05:26 AM (15 years, 6 months ago) |
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That man was a genius. If I had someone to teach me the synthesis you can bet your sweet ass I would spread it all over the country.
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero



Registered: 04/27/01
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Re: Money launderer for William Leonard Pickard says his indictment should be dismissed [Re: Coaster] 1
#8691832 - 07/28/08 10:26 AM (15 years, 6 months ago) |
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> so does karma catch up with cops the same way it does with narcs
Depends upon the cop, I suppose. Not all cops are bad, but by definition, a narc is a sellout.
-------------------- Just another spore in the wind.
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NobodyImportant
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Re: Money launderer for William Leonard Pickard says his indictment should be dismissed [Re: MHbound] 1
#8692049 - 07/28/08 11:54 AM (15 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
MHbound said: That man was a genius. If I had someone to teach me the synthesis you can bet your sweet ass I would spread it all over the country.
There are loads of books and PDFs on it, it just takes lots of equipment, space, time and experience
but I agree he was a genius
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fapjack
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Re: Money launderer for William Leonard Pickard says his indictment should be dismissed [Re: Coaster] 1
#8692362 - 07/28/08 01:01 PM (15 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
Coaster said: so does karma catch up with cops the same way it does with narcs
Cops that sell out other police officers to save their own ass are the same pieces of shit.
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