WHITE PLAINS - A new, high-powered criminal defense team from Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP in Manhattan is currently in negotiations with the federal government on behalf of cient Daniel "Butch" Resnick, the local entrepreneur who faces charges of money laundering and securities fraud following his arrest in December.
Information about the new legal team and "preliminary discussions" are contained in court documents filed Monday and obtained by The SullivanTimes.
On Monday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Davison ordered that Resnick's case be adjourned until June 1 while negotiations are ongoing.
In an affirmation with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Thursday,
Derek Wikstrom, an assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District, affirmed:
"Nola Heller, Esq., attorney for the defendant, has since been engaging in preliminary discussions with the Government concerning a possible disposition of this case without trial, and those discussions are ongoing. "
Heller served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York for eleven years before joining Cahill Gordon. She served as the Southern District's chief of the Violent and Organized Crime Unit and, earlier, as chief of the General Crimes Unit, where she prosecuted or supervised over 2,000 cases involving racketeering (RICO), securities fraud, money laundering, bank and wire fraud, tax fraud, health care fraud, and cybercrime, among other offenses, according to her biography.
The Cahill team also consists of Samson Enzer - another former federal prosecutor who served as a senior member of the SDNY's Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force - and Cahill associate Zachary Missan.
Resnick, is one of the most successful business and property owners in Sullivan County over the past two decades. He voluntarily turned himself in to law enforcement authorities on December 16 and was released on a $500,000 bond secured by the deed to his primary residence in Glen Wild.
His former defense attorney was Patrick Mullin, who told The SullivanTimes at the time:
"My client denies the allegations in the complaint."
The SullivanTimes on Friday reached out to Heller for comment on the case.
According to the complaint, "from in or about August 2019 through in or about November 2020, in the Southern District of New York and elsewhere, DANIEL RESNICK, the defendant, conducted and attempted to conduct financial transactions involving property represented by a member of law enforcement-to be the proceeds of specified unlawful activity, to wit, the proceeds of fraud in the sale of securities, with the intent to conceal and disguise
the nature, location, source, ownership, and control of such property."
The complaint, signed by Joseph Calvello, special agent for the FBI, alleges that "on or about August 2019, an undercover law enforcement officer ("UC-1") was introduced to DANIEL RESNICK, the defendant, by a confidential source working with law enforcement (the "CS").1 The CS made this introduction after having conversations with RESNICK in which RESNICK indicated that he could assist the CS in arranging money laundering transactions."
The complaint further alleges that Resnick met with the confidential source and the undercover law enforcement officer at various times in Manhattan, Queens and in Sullivan County where checks were exchanged.
The complaint further alleged that Resnick was planning to take a 20 percent profit from a stock fraud scheme related to a car battery in exchange for writing checks for $1.1 million to the undercover agents.
According to the complaint, Resnick agreed to participate after hearing from the undercover agent that "we're pumping up the stock and once we get that stock priced to a certain nice high bullshit price that doesn't really exist we sell the shit out of it from our offshore accounts..."
As part of the investigation, the FBI listened to a taped phone call between Resnick and the confidential source on or about August 15, 2019 and added some of the transcription to the complaint.
A footnote in the complaint points out that the confidential source in 2013 pleaded guilty
to 18 felony counts that relate to wire fraud, bank fraud, bankruptcy fraud, mail fraud, bribery of a foreign official, and perjury, "as a result of conduct unrelated to this investigation."
"The CS is cooperating with law enforcement in the hopes of receiving leniency at sentencing in connection with those charges," according to the complaint. "The CS does not have any other criminal history Information provided by the CS has proven reliable, and has in some instances been corroborated by other evidence developed during the course of this investigation."
With his brother, Randy, the Resnicks own multiple supermarkets, restaurants and properties in Sullivan. In addition, Butch Resnick has expanded Resnick Supermarket Equipment Corporation to a company that now helps construct supermarkets and provide refrigeration equipment beyond Sullivan. In recent years, they have also been almost singlehandedly responsible for the redevelopment and resurgence of the hamlet of Mountaindale.
Last year, they sold The Sullivan Hotel and are currently in contract to sell their White Lake House restaurant on Route 17B in Bethel, though that deal is in litigation over the failure of the purchaser to show up for a scheduled closing.
The Resnick group also has a supermarket in Ulster and a restaurant/bar in Orange.