Freeman money-laundering trial set to begin next week
Dec. 1—CONCORD — With the money-laundering trial of Free Keene activist Ian Freeman scheduled to begin next week, a federal judge has rejected efforts to keep a jury from hearing about bank and wire fraud related to the case.
U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Laplante ruled on Wednesday regarding the evidence, which is connected to original fraud charges brought against Freeman.
Prosecutors have dropped some of those charges, and defense lawyer Mark Sisti wanted to prevent a jury from hearing any evidence connected to those dropped charges. But Laplante ruled that the evidence is so intertwined with the remaining charges that a Freeman jury will get to hear it.
Jury selection in the trial is expected to begin on Tuesday. The trial is expect to run 10 to 14 days.
Freeman, formerly known as Ian Bernard, now faces nine charges including money laundering, tax evasion, wire fraud and operation of an unlicensed money transmitting business.
Prosecutors claim that Freeman ran a money-laundering business that catered to scammers and other criminals and had them make cash donations to Keene area churches and converted that into Bitcoin. In doing so, Freeman charged higher than normal transaction fees.
Freeman is a Free Keene activists who hosts a weekly Liberty-oriented internet radio program.
Four other co-defendants have already pleaded guilty.
Only one of those four — Derry resident Renee Spinella — was on a witness list that prosecutors filed in the case on Wednesday. Prosecutors have obtained immunity protections for Spinella to testify in the Freeman trial.
In April, Spinella pleaded guilty to a single count of wire fraud and was sentenced to three years of supervised release and a $2,000 fine.
Nine FBI or former FBI agents also may be called to testify, as well as two IRS agents and a U.S. Postal Inspector. The witness lists also includes individuals from across the country, including residents of Bowling Green, Kentucky, Spicewood, Texas, Yakima, Washington, and Liberty, Missouri.
Prosecutors plan to introduce digital images, Excel spreadsheets, charts and emails.
Sisti did not return a telephone call seeking comment on Thursday.
Laplante has also rejected a request to instruct or even mention jury nullification, the legal concept that a jury should find a defendant innocent if it believes the laws are immoral or unjust.
The judge recently granted the removal of any spyware from Freeman's electronic devices.
In a three-page ruling, Laplante did not detail the evidence of bank fraud and wire fraud that he will allow into the trial.
But he said the evidence appears intertwined with the charges of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, conspiracy to commit money laundering and tax evasion.
"The challenged evidence may be permissible for ... proving intent, plan, preparation, knowledge, absence of mistake or lack of accident," Laplante wrote.
