Developer sees bank fraud trail postponed

Original guilty plea deal was rejected last week [10/12/2023]

By: Kristie Cattafi
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... A federal judge has postponed the trial of prominent North Jersey developer Fred Daibes - who is linked with Senator Bob Menendez's bribery charges - on federal banking charges from 2018 after his original guilty plea deal was rejected.
..... Daibes originally plead guilty to one of the 14 charges in exchange for probation, but the deal, which had been negotiated with the prosecutors, was rejected by a judge last week. [10/12/2023] As a result, Daibes withdrew his guilty plea of Friday. [10/13/2023]
..... Daibes is one of five people indicted in an alleged corruption scheme involving Menendez and his wife, Nadine Arslanian Menendez, in a separate case. Daibes pleaded not guilty to those charges.
..... The superseding indictment, filed Thursday [10/12/2023] in federal court, alleges that New Jersey;s senior senator, his wife and New Jersey businessman Wael Hana, originally form Egypt, conspired for Menendez to act as a foreign agent from January 2018 through at least June 2022 for the Egyptian government and Egyptian officials, violation the foreign Agents Registration Act.
..... With the superseding indictment, Daibes was expected to be in court Wednesday [10/18/2023] to reenter his not-guilty plea, even though he has no new charges against him.
...., In the Daibes bank fraud case, United States District judge Susan D. Wigenton issued an order last week [10/12/2023] saying that after reviewing the pre-sentence report, the court rejected the plea agreement.
..... The rejection came after Daibes was charged in the Menedez indictment.
..... The indictment shed light on the senator's alleged interference with Daibes' bank fraud charges, saying Menendez nominated a U.S. attorney he believed he could influence in Daibes' favor.
..... Wigenton issued an order for continuance in the bank fraud case until December 15 [2023[ to allow both parties to discuss the next steps, including potential resolution other than a trial, court documents field Monday [10/16/2023] said.
..... There were nine other postponements in this case since Daibes was indicted on multiple counts for alleged conspiracy to circumvent lending limits set by Mariner's Bank, which he founded in 2001.
..... The postponement was allowed because the case is :unusual or complex" and the volume of discovery and number of anticipated witnesses at a trial made it "unreasonable to expect adequate preparations for a trial within 70 days," the judge ruled.
..... The discovery in the case consists of thousandth of pages of bank records, loan files and search warrant returns, according to court documents.
..... In 2022, Dabies admitted to receiving more than $1 million in gross receipts form Mariner's bank and pleaded guilty to making false entries in a loan memorandum.
..... Daibes pleaded guilty to a single count of the original 14-count indictment, which included a 2008 memo for a $1.8 million nominee loan that falsely stated the borrower and the source of repayment. The line of credit was actually for Daibes, who funded the repayment.
..... Daibes and Michael McManus, the chief financial officer of Daibes Enterprises, allegedly used others not named in the indictment to secure millions of dollars in loans - which were used for Dabies' benefit - without the knowledge of the bank or the Federal Deposit insurance Corporation.
..... The activity occurred from 2008 through 2013.
..... McManus had his plea deal thrown out as well. His attorney filed paperwork asking the court to reconsider.
..... McManus had until Monday [10/16/2023] to withdraw his plea. Instead, his attorney, John Whipple, asked the court for an extension and to reconsider.
..... Attorney for the Unites States Vikas Khanna wrote to Wigention that they are prepared to stand by the terms of McManus' plea agreement.
..... "As for McManus's plea agreement, no material charges in facts and circumstances have altered the government's assessment," Khanna wrote.
..... "Although the government does not agree fully with the motion;s characterization of the facts, the government concurs with McManus' request that the court reconsider its order rejecting the plea agreement."

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