Embattled Guyanese businessman, Sonny Ramdeo, who is on trial in the United States of America (USA) for fraud and embezzling charges, has again sacked another defence lawyer and has opted to defend himself as the case winds up.
Ramdeo, who was behind the failed low cost air carrier EZjet, was charged in the US with embezzling millions from the hospital chain he had been an employee of.
According to motion filed by Ramdeo last week, he wants his most recent attorney which was provided by the state, to withdraw himself from representing him.
Ramdeo argues that the reason for his decision was based on the “narrow scope of representation†which he tells the court will not move the litigation further “based on facts surrounding the totality of the circumstances of the matter.â€
According to Ramdeo, he is left with “no choice†but to represent himself to prevent a miscarriage of justice.â€
Ramdeo has since filed a ‘pro se’ motion, indicating his choice to defend himself and has also requested of the court to direct that, “all correspondence, filings and any other case-related matters should be directed to: Sonny Austin Ramdeo, inmate# 0441174 54C c/o Palm Beach County Jail, 3228 Gun Club Road, West Palm Beach Florida, 33406.â€
The latest incident is one of the many legal challenges Ramdeo has been faced with in addition to his looming sentence.
Ramdeo has repeatedly changed attorneys, some of which were provided by the State to represent him.
He has also pleaded not guilty, changed that to guilty and attempted to change it back to not guilty.
Ramdeo was also recently found guilty of obstruction of justice when he had attempted to change his guilty plea to that of not guilty.
Ramdeo’s troubles were escalated further as he was put on notice that at sentencing he should be prepared to address the questions of whether his advisory guideline sentencing range should be increased for obstruction of justice based upon false testimony he presented.
Ramdeo was found to have lied to the court about representation provided to him by court appointed lawyers.
Ramdeo has pleaded guilty to one count each of wire fraud and money laundering, admitting that he stole between US$20M-$50M, and using a number of bank transactions, passed the monies through the accounts of EZjet, a low-cost air charter that he started up in 2011 and which folded last December, following his arrest in Brooklyn by US federal agents.
According to court documents seen by Kaieteur News, Ramdeo was hired in 2005 by Promise Healthcare Inc., and Success Healthcare Inc., two sister companies that manage hospitals in a number of US states, to work along with its payroll tax systems.
After the contract for the independent company, which handled the tax payments for the companies, was terminated, Ramdeo informed his employers that he knew a firm that could do the job. What he did not tell them was that Payserv Tax Inc. was a company he created, and in which he had ownership interest.
Investigators found that the original address of Payserv was Ramdeo’s home in Florida.
As a result, Promise Healthcare Inc. transferred millions to Payserv. While employed at Promise, Ramdeo also created and started EZjet GT Inc., a chartered air service providing flights to passengers from New York to Georgetown, Guyana. He also added flights to Toronto.
Ramdeo admitted that he did not seek permission when he transferred millions from Payserv to EZjet. None of the monies he collected from his employers to pay taxes ever ended up with the Inland tax agency of the US. Only Ramdeo had control of the bank accounts. He used some of the monies to finance the operations of the airline.
When questions were raised during an audit of Promise Healthcare, Ramdeo created an email account and sent messages to himself showing that the monies from his employers were paid over.
With the net closing in around him Ramdeo emptied his Florida home of its furniture and disappeared.
Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), tracking his calls, arrested him in a basement apartment in Brooklyn, New York. The apartment was disguised to look like a storeroom
