Reggie Fowler, a former NFL team owner and alleged “shadow banker” who could face up to 30 years in prison, asked a court in the Southern District of New York for a six-month adjournment.
Technically, it was Fowler’s lawyer Ed Sapon who requested an “unusually long adjournment”, calling it his “serious medical condition” as well as information relating to the case from financial institutions, institutions and individuals based in Europe. Justified with the need to receive.
According to independent journalist Amy Castor who reported the development, Sapon made his request on Saturday, three days before the scheduled sentencing. As prosecutors did not oppose the adjournment, it would give Fowler at least six months of liberty. He now resides in Arizona on bail.
The 63-year-old is being accused of operating a shadow bank for the crypto sector, Crypto Capital, which was at the center of a dispute in a court case against iFinex Inc – the parent company of crypto exchange Bitfinex and stablecoin issuer Tether. US prosecutors allege that Fowler provided bank fraud and laundering funds on behalf of Colombian drug cartels as well as unlicensed money-transmitting services to several crypto firms.
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A case against Bitfinex and Tether, in which iFinex was accused of merging funds between the two firms to cover an $850 million loss incurred by Bitfinex in its dealings with Crypto Capital, was settled in February 2022. went. The firms were ordered to pay $18.5. million worth of civil penalties and the closure of business operations in New York.
Fowler, however, rejected a guilty plea deal in 2020, but surprisingly entered it in April 2022. According to Castor, the turnaround could be explained by financial reasons—the absence of timely payments left Fowler’s original legal team to a lawyer. , and the trial would have requested significant funding to cover his work.
