Other notable Merchan cases
In 2011, Merchan presided over the case of a New York Police Department sergeant, William Eiseman, who admitted to conducting illegal searches and then lying about his actions in court. Eiseman pleaded guilty to first-degree perjury and official misconduct, and Merchan sentenced him to 24 days in jail; Eiseman also forfeited his pension.
In 2012, Merchan presided over the criminal proceedings against Anna Gristina, who was charged with operating an upscale prostitution ring on the Upper East Side. Gristina and a co-defendant had been arrested in February 2012, after an investigation by the Manhattan DA’s office. Merchan set bail at a $2 million bond, or $1 million cash; because Gristina was unable to meet this amount, she was detained at Rikers Island jail for four months. The Appellate Division lowered Gristina’s bail to $250,000 bond or $125,000 cash, on condition that she give up her passport and be electronically monitored.[22] Gristina, nicknamed the “Soccer Mom Madam”, pleaded guilty to one count of promoting prostitution, and Merchan sentenced her to six months in jail, which amounted to time already served due to the four months Gristina had spent at Rikers before being bailed.
In late 2022, Merchan oversaw the five-week criminal trial of the Trump Organization; the organization was convicted of 17 counts of tax fraud.
Merchan presided over the criminal case of Donald Trump’s former financial chief Allen Weisselberg, who pleaded guilty to his role in a 15-year-long tax-fraud scheme. Weisselberg admitted to evading taxes by accepting $1.7 million in off-the-books compensation and entered a plea agreement, in which he testified against The Trump Organization and helped to secure the company’s conviction. Merchan sentenced Weisselberg to five months at Rikers Island and said he would have imposed a substantially longer sentence but for the plea agreement.
Merchan is the judge assigned to preside over the criminal trial of Steve Bannon, a former Trump adviser who was indicted in September 2022 on charges of fraud and money laundering in connection with a fundraising scheme. The case is set for trial in May 2024.
How third-world of the wetback cur...
There are about 28 judges assigned to that court and these cases are supposed to be assigned randomly what are the odds that all of these cases would end up with this judge? Makes you say hmmmm….