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On 17 January 2024, the US District Court, District New Jersey, denied Jerrid Douglas’s motion for bail pending appeal. Douglas is serving a 45-month prison sentence for his actions in a USD 1 million “upfront-fee” scheme which defrauded victims.
As previously reported (Jul/Aug 2023 DCW 63), Douglas and two others were each convicted of wire fraud conspiracy and four counts of wire fraud in October 2022 and subsequently sentenced. Douglas and co-conspirators induced two victim company owners in 2016 to enter a joint venture agreement with their shell company, falsely representing that their company could obtain a standby letter of credit (SBLC) backed by either EUR 1 billion in cash or “highly lucrative Mexican gold bonds”.
Douglas, who filed a notice of appeal regarding his conviction and sentence on 1 August 2023, then filed a motion on 26 October 2023 seeking bail pending the determination of his appeal which is still before the Third Circuit.
In considering Douglas’s motion for bail, the Court cited 18 points of evidence indicating Douglas’s participation in the scheme and lack of good faith, including that: “Douglas falsely boasted about having completed oil deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars and having experience obtaining SBLCs, in order to represent himself as credible to the victims”. Evidence also indicated: “Douglas sent [victims] a falsified [“Ready, Willing, and Able”] letter from HSBC Bank supposedly confirming the SBLC and stating (falsely) that [co-conspirator] and his company had 1 billion in euros in an HSBC account; even the victims testified that the letter was obviously fake on its face due to, among other things, mistakes in the logo and misspellings”.
In denying Douglas’s motion for bail, District Judge Esther Salas wrote in her Opinion: “In the face of this mountain of evidence, the minor circumstantial evidence of good faith Douglas wanted to introduce could not have moved the needle.” She added: “The evidence being overwhelming, the Third Circuit is not likely to reverse Douglas’s conviction or order a new trial on his stated grounds for error.”
(Source: US v. Douglas, Dist. Court, D. New Jersey 2024)