Cohen v. United States

996 F. Supp. 110, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5271, 1998 WL 154657
CourtDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedMarch 31, 1998
DocketCivil Action 96-11958-WGY
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 996 F. Supp. 110 (Cohen v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cohen v. United States, 996 F. Supp. 110, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5271, 1998 WL 154657 (D. Mass. 1998).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

YOUNG, District Judge.

Robert Cohen (“Cohen”) was convicted on July 8,1993, of one count of conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. § 371, seven counts of bank fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1344, and two counts of money laundering under 18 U.S.C. § 1957. 1

At trial, the government proved that Cohen, James- Smith (“Smith”), Richard Man-gone (“Mangone”), and Ambrose Devaney (“Devaney”) (collectively the “Defendants”) fraudulently obtained tens of millions of dollars in real estate loans from the Barnstable Community Federal Credit Union (“Barnstable”) and the Digital Employees Federal Credit Union (“Digital”). The illegal loans were used by- certain of the Defendants to purchase commercial real estate on Cape Cod in hopes of later selling the property at *112 a profit. Cohen was the general counsel of and served as the closing attorney to both credit unions. Barnstable was co-founded by Smith, a real estate developer, and Mangone, the President of Digital. Lynn Vasapolle (“Vasapolle”), a co-conspirator and later a witness for the government, was the manager and custodian of the files for Barnstable.

The essence of the government’s case involved the Defendants’ participation in a conspiracy to circumvent Barnstable’s and Digital’s policies restricting “insider” loans. To effectuate the goals of their scheme, Smith, Mangone, and Devaney formed a series of nominee trusts to create the impression that the loans they fraudulently acquired were going to more borrowers than was actually the case. Once the funds had been obtained, these Defendants invested the funds in various pieces of commercial real estate.

Cohen implicated himself and allowed the scheme to flourish by preparing the trust instruments, preparing separate sets of genuine and false certificates, maintaining these parallel sets of documents in his files, submitting false certificates to Barnstable, and by allowing excess loan proceeds to be deposited in his client account. In at least one instance, Cohen signed a certificate misrepresenting himself and his wife as beneficiaries of such a trust.

Ultimately, the scheme unravelled after the Defendants were unable to sell a number of the properties on Cape Cod. In a last ditch attempt to cover up their conspiracy, the Defendants created new trusts, obtained new loans from the credit unions, and attempted to buy subdivisions from the previously established trusts. Once again, their efforts failed, and Barnstable was seized by regulators from the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA).

Jack I. Zalkind, Esq. (“Zalkind”) represented Cohen during preliminary hearings and at trial. At sentencing, Cohen was represented by Zalkind and Charles Rankin, Esq. (“Rankin”).

Cohen now seeks relief pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255, which provides that “[a] prisoner in custody under sentence of a court established by Act of Congress claiming the right to be released upon the ground the sentence was imposed in violation of the Constitution or laws of the United States ... may move the court which imposed the sentence to vacate, set aside, or correct the sentence.” 28 U.S.C. § 2255.

I. DISCUSSION

A. Standard of Review

The court need not hold a hearing upon a habeas corpus petition if “the motion and the files and records of the case conclusively show that the prisoner is entitled to no relief.” Id. Furthermore, a sentencing court may rely on its own recollections of previous events when deciding a motion brought under section 2255. Blackledge v. Allison, 481 U.S. 63, 74 n. 4, 97 S.Ct. 1621, 52 L.Ed.2d 136 (1977). 2

In interpreting Section 2255, the Supreme Court has required a showing of either constitutional or jurisdictional error, or a “fundamental defect” at trial resulting in a “complete miscarriage of justice.” Davis v. United States, 417 U.S. 333, 346, 94 S.Ct. 2298, 41 L.Ed.2d 109 (1974); see also Hill v. United States, 368 U.S. 424, 428, 82 S.Ct. 468, 7 L.Ed.2d 417 (1962). A habeas corpus petition under Section 2255 is not a substitute for a direct appeal, and a petitioner “must clear a significantly higher hurdle than would exist on direct appeal.” United States v. Frady, 456 U.S. 152, 166, 102 S.Ct. 1584, 71 L.Ed.2d 816 (1982). In Frady, the Supreme Court held that petitions for collateral relief under Section 2255 are governed *113 by the “cause and actual prejudice” standard, which states that:

[T]o obtain collateral relief based on trial errors to which no contemporaneous objection was made, a convicted defendant must show both (1) “cause” excusing his double procedural default, and (2) “actual prejudice” resulting from errors of which he complains.

Frady, 456 U.S. at 168. In Knight v. United States, 37 F.3d 769 (1st Cir.1994), the First Circuit made clear that the “cause and prejudice” standard applies to both non-constitutional and constitutional claims, except for those asserting ineffective assistance of counsel. Id. at 772, 774 (in fact, “collateral attack is the preferred forum for [ineffective assistance of counsel] claims”) (citing United States v. Jadusingh, 12 F.3d 1162, 1169-70 [1st Cir.1994]) (other citations omitted); see also Smullen v. United States, 94 F.3d 20, 23 (1st Cir.1996).

Cohen moves to have his sentence vacated, set aside, or corrected based upon prosecutorial misconduct, the alleged illegality of the sentence imposed, and ineffective assistance of counsel. Cohen has failed to show sufficient “cause” under Frady for his inability to raise claims of prosecutorial misconduct on direct appeal. The documents that Cohen has requested and received through the Freedom of Information Act, in anticipation of which the Court has delayed final disposition, add nothing of significance to his petition. Moreover, Cohen’s claim that he was sentenced in violation of the Ex Post Facto Clause was raised and resolved on direct appeal and also will not be addressed by this Court. 3

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Bluebook (online)
996 F. Supp. 110, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5271, 1998 WL 154657, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cohen-v-united-states-mad-1998.