A choose tentatively set a date for disgraced former HFZ Capital govt Nir Meir to lastly go to trial for an alleged $86 million fraud case involving the XI apartment challenge on the Excessive Line.
The choose, Meir’s lawyer and prosecutors agreed to a trial date in October throughout a courtroom look in New York County legal courtroom on Wednesday.
However the choose, Ann Thompson, agreed to provide Meir one final courtroom date later this month forward of trial.
Earlier than then, Meir’s lawyer, Stephen McCarthy, mentioned he plans to talk with a bureau chief on the District Lawyer’s workplace this week a few method to resolve the case apart from a trial.
Meir and McCarthy declined to touch upon the case to TRD.
Prosecutors charged Meir with masterminding a sprawling $86 million fraud scheme by which he allegedly diverted lots of of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} out of HFZ’s luxurious actual property tasks to cowl shortfalls on different HFZ tasks and to complement himself and different HFZ executives. He confronted 4 separate indictments together with grand larceny, conspiracy and tax fraud, although Thompson consolidated them into one on Wednesday. Meir has pleaded not responsible.
Meir, who’s on home arrest with digital monitoring, arrived in courtroom Wednesday morning carrying a black t-shirt and black sweatpants, trying slimmer than in previous courtroom appearances. In April, Thompson, granted Meir two hours every day to go away the home and train. On Wednesday, McCarthy requested if Meir might have an additional hour out of the home on Fridays to attend synagogue, which Thompson granted.
His requests didn’t cease there. McCarthy additionally requested Thompson to adjourn the case for 3 weeks so he might meet with Chris Conway — the bureau chief on the D.A. — on Thursday to change the workplace’s proposed jail sentence ought to Meir plead responsible. He mentioned that the modified supply would “allow us to resolve the case.”
Throughout his plea, McCarthy thanked Thompson for permitting Meir the flexibility to go away his residence.
“We’re not going to debate —” Thompson advised him.
“I’m merely thanking you,” McCarthy countered.
“You’re buttering me up so I may give you a three-week adjournment,” she snapped.
“No,” he protested. “I’m telling you the information.”
Thompson was skeptical of McCarthy’s motivation for the assembly and pressed about who initiated it: Was it Chris Beard and Garrett Baldwin — the assistant D.A.s assigned to the case — or was McCarthy escalating the case as a result of Beard and Baldwin had been sticking agency to their supply?
“I’ve had productive conversations with Mr. Beard, and he mentioned go forward and communicate to Chris,” McCarthy responded. He added that he expects Beard to be on the Thursday assembly.
“Look, you’re busy, and I’m busy, and the D.A. is busy,” McCarthy advised Thompson. “I wouldn’t be losing your time if I didn’t suppose it had some worth.”
Meir is the one defendant of his 9 authentic co-defendants to not attain a plea deal. All of his co-defendants entered responsible pleas with no jail time. Thompson scheduled the subsequent courtroom date for July 22, when they may then affirm the trial date.
McCarthy, Meir’s third lawyer, has been optimistic about reaching a deal to stop the case from going to trial. If discovered responsible at trial, Meir might face a prolonged jail sentence — seven to 21 years per indictment, Thompson mentioned at a courtroom look in June 2025. In April, McCarthy advised TRD that Meir is “working towards a profitable decision” regardless of Beard stating in courtroom that he does see a method to resolve it outdoors of a trial.
In the direction of the tip of the courtroom look on Wednesday, McCarthy and Baldwin approached the bench to debate a doable trial date. Meir sat on the defendant’s desk glancing across the room, briefly chatting with two courtroom law enforcement officials and exchanging a fist bump with one. They agreed on October 14, pending affirmation on July 22.
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