Jordan v. Department of Justice

173 F. Supp. 3d 44, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 41498, 2016 WL 1271070
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedMarch 29, 2016
DocketNo. 15-CV-1028 (RA)
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 173 F. Supp. 3d 44 (Jordan v. Department of Justice) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jordan v. Department of Justice, 173 F. Supp. 3d 44, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 41498, 2016 WL 1271070 (S.D.N.Y. 2016).

Opinion

OPINION & ORDER

RONNIE ABRAMS, United States District Judge.

Petitioner Gigi Jordan brings this Petition to enforce her rights under the Crime Victims’ Rights Act (“CVRA”), 18 U.S.C. § 3771, alleging that she is a victim of federal crimes perpetrated by her former husband. Respondents the Department of Justice (“DOJ”), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), the United States Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), and the Attorney General of the United States (collectively, the “Government”) move to dismiss the Petition, arguing that Jordan is not entitled to any remedies under the CVRA. Because the Government has already provided Jordan all the CVRA rights to which she is presently entitled, the motion is granted.

BACKGROUND1

Jordan asserts that, between 1991 and the present, she “was the victim of a massive, far reaching scheme of fraud, forgery, conversion, threats and intimidation engineered by Raymond A. Mirra, Jr.,” her former husband. Pet. ¶ 1. She alleges that “Mirra, and others at his' direction, used over 190 documents forged with Jordan’s signature in the commission of multiple acts of bank, mail and wire fraud.” Id. ¶ 6 (emphasis in original). The details of Mir-ra’s alleged schemes are set forth both in the Petition and a civil complaint currently pending in the District of Delaware, which is “incorporated [in the Petition] by refer[47]*47ence.” Id. ¶ 7 & Ex. A (Compl., The Hawk Mountain LLC v. Raymond A Mirra, Jr., No. 13-CV-2088 (SLR), 2014 WL 3533911 (D.Del. Jul. 9, 2014) (“Ex. A”)). These filings allege that Mirra, among other things, opened fraudulent brokerage accounts, initiated illegal wire transfers, stole real property, and unlawfully profited from the sale of Jordan’s company to a corporation Mirra runs. See, e.g., Ex. A ¶¶ 59, 69, 225, 317. She further alleges that between 2008 and 2010, Mirra “engaged in a series' of acts of harassment, intimidation and coercion of Jordan, as well as direct threats to her life ... designed to prevent Jordan from discovering the conversion of her assets, asserting her rights to the assets, and to deter her from reporting Mirra’s financial wrongdoing to law enforcement authorities.” Pet. ¶ 10.

In addition to those acts “directly vic-timiz[ing her],” id. at 3, Jordan alleges that “beginning in or about 1994,” Mirra “embarked upon a multi-tiered plan” to perpetuate several healthcare frauds, id. ¶ 11, including “black-marketing HIV/ AIDS drugs, drug diversion, money laundering and Medicaid fraud schemes,” id. ¶ 85. She asserts that “the monies expended, invested and otherwise utilized by Mir-ra and the enterprise, in the criminal transactions involving [the healthcare companies] were in whole or in significant part the proceeds of the fraud and conversion of Jordan’s rightful assets,” id. ¶ 35, and that the illegal proceeds were laundered through new accounts opened in her name without her knowledge, id. ¶ 9.

Jordan alleges that in 2011 “an attorney acting on Jordan’s behalf, arranged to meet with [an Assistant United States Attorney (‘AUSA1) from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (‘SDNY1) ] ... to discuss the vast financial fraud conducted against Jordan by Mirra.” Id. ¶36. Jordan claims that prior to the meeting, she discussed these frauds over the phone with the FBI, “pro-vid[ing] overwhelming information to support that Mirra was operating a complex criminal enterprise.” Id. ¶ 38. She also as-sérts that she-“sent extensive documentation to [the AUSA] that detailed the enterprise’s fraudulent financial activity.” Id. ¶ 39. In May 2011, Jordan’s attorney met with the SDNY AUSA “in an hour-long meeting” during which the attorney “provided everything law enforcement would need in an investigation related to Mirra and his associates[ ].” Id. The lawyer also provided the evidence to another SDNY AUSA. Id. ¶¶ 47-48. Jordan asserts that, despite the SDNY AUSA’s alleged initial “interest in the matter,” id. ¶ 40, “[n]either Jordan nor her attorneys were ever informed of the status or progress of any investigation in the Southern District of New York,” id. ¶ 48.

Jordan also alleges that she twice “sent the documentary materials to law enforcement in ... Pennsylvania,” including several FBI agents and three AUSAs from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. (“EDPA”). Id. ¶¶44, 49. Although .prosecutors did not initially respond, Jordan eventually received a. phone call from the EDPA’s “First Assistant] US Attorney Louis Lap-pen ... responding to [her] voicemail message.” Id. ¶ 50.- happen allegedly asked that the materials be resent and “was apologetic saying he was going to look into why no one had responded to the documents sent and said he would be referring this to ... the (then). Chief of their Criminal Division.” Id. After this phone call, “[n]either Jordan nor her attorneys were ever informed of the status or progress of any investigation in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.” Id. ¶ 51.

In late 2011, Jordan contacted HHS’s Office of- Inspector General, which led to two meetings with HHS officials and FBI [48]*48agents in December 2011 and June 2012, Id, ¶¶ 53, 55-58. She- alleges that, during these meetings, “[t]he targeted specificity and scope of their questions was entirely consistent with the notion that these matters were being investigated- as potential criminal RICO violations, with Mirra as the enterprise’s focal point.” Id, ¶ 54. Throughout this period, Jordan’s attorneys and federal law enforcement remained in contact by email. Id. ¶¶ 53-60. Following the meetings, Jordan asked to speak with prosecutors working on these cases from the SDNY. Id. ¶¶ 61, 63. She alleges that she, was denied the opportunity to do so because “the District Attorney of New York, the agency prosecuting Jordan for charges unrelated to the Mirra investigation[,j ... requested that there be no face-to-face meeting between Jordan and federal prosecutors.” Id. ¶¶ 68, 71.2

On July 17, 2012, the SDNY held a press conference to announce “a complaint’, alleging a massive Medicaid fraud involving a black market in HIV/AIDS drugs.” Id. ¶ 28. Jordan asserts that although “Mirra does not appear as a defendant in an|y of the pending' indictments; nor is he mentioned by name in the body of any of the complaints, indictments or superseding indietments[, by] virtue of his long-standing status hs principle of [some of the healthcare companies under investigation], he had to have been either a person of interest, a subject or a target of this wide-ranging' multi-agency investigation.” Id. ¶ 33. According to Jordan, Mirra’s “omission from any existing indictments ■ bespeaks a wider, ongoing investigation with the context of a potential RICO prosecution,” id, ¶ 34, and “[t]he [existing] indictment is predicated on criminal acts, including among other things, mail fraud and wire fraud, which usually lay at the heart of a typical RICO investigation and or prosecution,” id. ¶ 32. Jordan alleges that while she requested meetings with prosecutors after the indictment was filed, the Government refused her requests. See id. ¶¶ 63, 71-72.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
173 F. Supp. 3d 44, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 41498, 2016 WL 1271070, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jordan-v-department-of-justice-nysd-2016.