Call 305-379-6667 or email dmarkus@markuslaw.com
40 NW Third Street, Penthouse One, Miami, FL 33128
Recent speaking engagements include:
After a three day trial, a federal jury unanimously found Dr. Michael Bahrami not guilty today in Federal Court before Judge Cecilia Altonaga. Dr. Bahrami was charged in a one count indictment with conspiracy to defraud the United States and to accept kickbacks and bribes in exchange for referring patients to home health agencies. The jury deliberated for less than an hour before finding him not guilty.
Dr. Bahrami fled Iran when he was 17 years old. He taught himself English working as a bus boy. He then put himself through medical school and did his internship at Mt. Sinai hospital. He is 61 years old and has a successful cardiology practice. He is married with two small children, 7 and 9 years old. Throughout the trial, the courtroom was packed with his patients who all support him and say he is the best doctor around. He, his wife, and his patients wept after the trial.
Here’s a link to the Herald Article.
Dr. Michael Bahrami celebrates his acquittal with his wife and his lawyers, David Oscar Markus and Lauren Doyle
Former Colombian presidential candidate and former Minister of Agriculture, Andres Felipe Arias, was released on bail today after a hearing on his motion to dismiss the extradition complaint in which he contested the Court’s jurisdiction to extradite him. His argument was that the United States Court did not have jurisdiction to extradite him because there was no active treaty in force between the United States and Colombia. In support of that position, Dr. Arias submitted a wealth of evidence, including an affidavit of former President Alvaro Uribe, who was present in Court today to support Dr. Arias.
After hearing extensive argument, Magistrate Judge John O’Sullivan indicated that he was leaning in favor of ruling for Dr. Arias. Judge O’Sullivan wanted more time to consider Dr. Arias’ position, but allowed him to be free on bond as he considered whether to dismiss the extradition request. Dr. Arias will be released tonight and will be with his wife and two children in South Florida. There is no time-table for Judge O’Sullivan’s final decision on whether there is jurisdiction to extradite Dr. Arias.
Dr. Arias was the Colombian Minister of Agriculture until February 2009, when he decided to run for the Conservative Party nomination for president in 2010. Dr. Arias was viewed as President Uribe’s protégé and likely successor, and therefore, an enemy of the FARC. If elected as president, Dr. Arias would have continued Uribe’s program of crippling the FARC, rather than negotiating with them. As such, Andres Felipe Arias, as the potential President of Colombia, was an imminent threat to the terrorist group.
Dr. Arias was taken out of the presidential election when baseless corruption charges emerged — false allegations that were contrived and fueled by his political opponents. His case was prosecuted by two anti-Uribe attorneys general, one of whom is married to a man with ties to guerilla groups targeted by the Uribe administration. It is undisputed that Mr. Arias did not obtain any financial benefit, he did not receive one penny, there were no kickbacks and no quid pro quo. Contrary to due process requirements here in the United States, there was no jury and no appeal was permitted.
Before his sentence was announced in 2014, Dr. Arias and his family came to the United States to seek asylum — with the blessing of the United States. The U.S. Embassy in Bogota issued him a visa and accepted him into the country, knowing that his prosecution in Colombia was politically motivated. His asylum petition is still pending and the U.S. even recently granted Dr. Arias and his family working permits.
###
For further information, please contact Dr. Arias’ lead lawyer, David Oscar Markus, at dmarkus@markuslaw.com
On behalf of Dr. Arias:
David Oscar Markus, Esq.
Lauren Doyle, Esq.
Markus/Moss PLLC
Professor Ricardo Bascuas, Esq.
Marc Seitles, Esq.
Seitles & Litwin
Here is the Daily Business Review article on what occurred in court:
Samantha Joseph 11/21/2016
Andres Felipe Arias can add one thing to his Thanksgiving list: freedom.
The onetime Colombian presidential candidate and former minister of agriculture is free on a hefty $1.1 million bond in Miami-Dade while fighting extradition from the U.S. on corruption charges.
Arias won his release from the Federal Detention Center on a $100,000 bond paid to the court and a $1 million personal surety after successful arguments before U.S. Magistrate Judge John O’Sullivan Nov. 17.
“We are thankful that Andres is home with his family during the Thanksgiving holiday,” said his attorney, prominent criminal defense lawyer David Oscar Markus.
Arias was jailed in Miami on an extradition warrant. He faces a 17-year prison term in his country for allegedly embezzling and redirecting millions earmarked for impoverished rural farmers to wealthy landowners. He filed a petition to be released on bond, and sought to vacate his arrest warrant for lack of jurisdiction, arguing the U.S. and Colombia have no valid extradition treaty.
Arias won bail with help from a powerful ally, former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, who attended the hearing to support his onetime protÉgÉ.
“Although the two countries send individuals to the requesting country, especially to combat narcotrafficking … this is not done pursuant to a treaty,” Uribe wrote in a declaration that acknowledges nearly 1,200 extraditions from Colombia to the U.S.
“Because the treaty was never legally ratified, there was no need to give notice (either under the treaty or the Vienna Convention) that Colombia was terminating or suspending operation of the treaty,” he wrote. “There was nothing to terminate or suspend.”
The question is whether O’Sullivan will agree with Arias and Uribe, or find for prosecutors, who say the two countries have a long-standing agreement and that Arias’ alleged misdeeds led to financial gains for Uribe.
Prosecutors claim Arias fled the country in 2014 on the eve of his conviction, and that the wealthy landowners who received the redirected funds made hefty financial contributions to Uribe’s political campaigns.
Arias was minister of agriculture until February 2009. He ran for the Conservative Party nomination for president in 2010 as Uribe’s likely successor. A Colombian court handed down a 17-year sentence in the corruption case after he left the country, and banned him from running for political office for 18 years. U.S. federal agents arrested him Aug. 24 at his home in suburban Broward County, where he had relocated and was working as a consultant.
Defense attorneys claim the accusations come from vengeful political rivals who raised no allegations of kickbacks of personal financial gain. They say Arias has a pending petition for asylum in the U.S. after escaping unfair prosecution by state attorneys with ties to the FARC, a left-wing rebel army that Arias’ party worked to dismantle. They claim he fled Colombia to seek political asylum with the help of the U.S. embassy in Bogota, which renewed his tourist visa while he was on trial for corruption. The U.S. also granted Arias a work permit after he and his family arrived in Florida.
PRESS RELEASE REGARDING BAIL APPLICATION OF FORMER COLOMBIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE ANDRES ARIAS
Former Colombian presidential candidate and former Minister of Agriculture, Andres Felipe Arias, filed today the attached motion to be released on bond pending the examination of Colombia’s request for his extradition. Dr. Arias has the support of former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, former U.S. Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart, and many other high-ranking officials.
Dr. Arias was the Colombian Minister of Agriculture until February 2009, when he decided to run for the Conservative Party nomination for president in 2010. Dr. Arias was viewed as President Uribe’s protégé and likely successor, and therefore, an enemy of the FARC. If elected as president, Dr. Arias would have continued Uribe’s program of crippling the FARC, rather than negotiating with them. As such, Andres Felipe Arias, as the potential President of Colombia, was an imminent threat to the terrorist group.
Dr. Arias was taken out of the presidential election when baseless corruption charges emerged — false allegations that were contrived and fueled by his political opponents. His case was prosecuted by two anti-Uribe attorneys general, one of whom is married to a man with ties to guerilla groups targeted by the Uribe administration. It is undisputed that Mr. Arias did not obtain any financial benefit, he did not receive one penny, there were no kickbacks and no quid pro quo. Contrary to due process requirements here in the United States, there was no jury and no appeal was permitted.
Before his sentence was announced in 2014, Dr. Arias and his family came to the United States to seek asylum — with the blessing of the United States. The U.S. Embassy in Bogota issued him a visa and accepted him into the country, knowing that his prosecution in Colombia was politically motivated. His asylum petition is still pending and the U.S. even recently granted Dr. Arias and his family working permits.
On August 24th, the Santos administration entered into an agreement with the FARC (an agreement that Dr. Arias and his political allies have openly and vehemently denounced). On this same day, Andres Felipe Arias’ Weston home was stormed by federal law enforcement. He was arrested in front of his wife and two young children. Now, Dr. Arias is in prison without bond, pending resolution of this motion.
Dr. Arias’ motion for bond outlines various special circumstances in his case that justify granting bail. First, Dr. Arias poses no risk of flight; he has lived openly in Florida for the two years since he and his family came to the United States, with the help of the U.S. Embassy, to seek political asylum. Dr. Arias is willing to be monitored electronically and to execute a waiver of extradition that would become operative if he should flee this Court’s jurisdiction.
Second, Dr. Arias has the support of President Uribe, former U.S. Congressman Diaz-Balart, and several members of the Colombian Congress, who have written to the Court to denounce publically Dr. Arias’ conviction as unjust and politically motivated and support this bail application. Dr. Arias’ motion also highlights that there is no diplomatic necessity to detain him during this proceeding, especially because the timing of his arrest substantiates Colombia’s political motivation.
Finally, Dr. Arias has no criminal history apart from the unjust conviction at issue, which involved no financial gain to him and would not constitute a United States crime. Dr. Arias is likely to defeat the extradition request because the charges are not extraditable offenses under the treaty; they are not punishable under United States law and they are part of a political prosecution.
To send Andres Felipe Arias back to Colombia is to condemn an innocent man to 17 years in prison or death at the hands of the FARC. He should be granted bond while he demonstrates why the extradition request is invalid.
###
For further information, please contact Dr. Arias’ lead lawyer, David Oscar Markus, at dmarkus@markuslaw.com
On behalf of Dr. Arias:
David Oscar Markus, Esq.
Lauren Doyle, Esq.
Markus/Moss PLLC
Professor Ricardo Bascuas, Esq.
Marc Seitles, Esq.
Seitles & Litwin
Marcell Felipe, Esq.
Marcell Felipe Attorneys
Margot Moss was profiled by Attorney At Law Magazine here:
Most of my life, I wanted to be a musician,” attorney Margot Moss says. “I studied classical piano, attended a performing arts high school and obtained my undergraduate and master’s degree in music. After years of performing and teaching, I decided that I wanted to do something different.”
Moss enrolled in law school. “I ended up loving the law and felt challenged by learning this new way of thinking,” she says. “Twenty years later, I’m still happy I made that choice to change my career.”
“I still believe in the idealistic notion that as a lawyer, I can help people and I can seek justice for my clients,” she continues.
As a criminal defense lawyer, Moss gives a voice to those who are normally voiceless. She considers her job as standing up for the underdog by challenging the courts to uphold constitutional rights. “I love defending someone who is being bullied by the overreaching of the government.”
“I represent people going through the most difficult times in their lives,” she says. “A criminal accusation doesn’t just affect the individual; families are torn apart, homes are lost, parents taken from their children, and bank accounts are drained. Whether the individual is guilty or innocent, it is extremely traumatic and stressful for the client.”
It’s difficult for the lawyer as well, according to Moss. The life of a criminal defense attorney is burdened with carrying the weight of a person’s liberty.
Frucci’s ruling relies on a Supreme Court ruling that police can indeed obtain your fingerprint, photo, height — or even your blood. On the other hand, giving up your password is like being forced to speak against yourself, which violates the Fifth Amendment. It’s an odd split in logic, because fingerprints and passcodes now do the same thing: unlock information. “Sometimes the law gets too cute. We shouldn’t leave common sense out of the equation,” said David Oscar Markus, a high-profile defense attorney in Miami. “The process is the same thing. You’re getting access to someone’s most private information by forcing someone to give you the key.” Broccoletti, the lawyer in the Virginia case, said, “It’s going to be our job to educate the judges. A print isn’t just a print.” Susan Brenner, a University of Dayton law professor who focuses on technology, explained why. “By putting my finger on the reader, I effectively ‘testify’ that this is my laptop — or I have control over the laptop that belongs to someone else. And by unlocking the data, I also effectively ‘testify’ that this is my data,” she said.