BREAKING NEWS! Robert
Buckhannon, Michigan's infamous “crooked chiropractor”, learned his fate this morning in a Las Vegas federal court room: Judge James C. Mahan sentenced Buckhannon (left) to a three-year probation sentence in exchange for an August 1, 2017 guilty plea on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Yup, that's it! No “Grey Bar Hotel…checking in Mr. Buckhannon?”, just three years probation.
Buckhannon, who spent the last few years attending to various business efforts, including the demise of Battle Creek's On Deck Bar in a suspicious December 30, 2013 fire, the launch of a faux piddle testing company with fellow con man Zia (Zy) Shlaimoun, and running a fertilizer company with his brother, Ronald, and former hedge fund cohort, Chris Paganes, walked out of U. S. District Court in Las Vegas, Nevada this morning and into the bright Vegas sunlight.
Head tilted upward, likely sniffing for more victims and new scams, Buckhannon is literally a free man.
That $1.5 million Buckhannon still owes the SEC to settle a 2010 complaint that he participated in a $34 million investment fraud victimizing hedge fund investors?
As of today, unpaid.
That six-figure pile of debt, run up with Shlaimoun during their Goldstar Laboratories Missouri LLC days?
Unpaid.
That $37,095.70 judgment Calhoun County, Michigan attorney secured on July 13, 2017 against Buckhannon on behalf of his client, Stephen Anderson (an investor in the torched On Deck Bar)?
Unpaid.
Excerpts from the August 1, 2017 change of plea hearing’s official transcript:
THE COURT: Mr. Buckhannon, do you understand
the charge against you?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: Do you read, write, and understand
the English language?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: All right. Mr. Cristalli, how does
Mr. Buckhannon intend to plead?
MR. CRISTALLI: Your Honor, today Mr. Buckhannon
is going to plead guilty pursuant to the plea agreement
entered into by the parties, and -- I apologize -- to one
count of Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud, under 18 U.S.C.
Section 1349.
THE COURT: And that's pursuant -- that's Count
1 of the indictment; is that correct?
MR. CRISTALLI: That's correct, Your Honor. I
apologize.
THE COURT: Is that correct, Mr. Buckhannon?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: Before accepting your guilty plea,
there are a number of questions I'm going to have to ask
you in order to assure myself that you're entering a valid
plea.
If you do not understand any of my questions, will you let me know so I can rephrase the question?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
--
THE COURT: Tell me in your own words what's
happening today. Why are we here?
THE DEFENDANT: I'm here to -- with a negotiated
plea agreement for the charges that were brought against
me.
THE COURT: And you're changing your plea from
not guilty to guilty; is that correct?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: Before accepting -- I'm sorry.
Excuse me.
Does either counsel have any doubt as to the
defendant's competence to plead in this matter?
MS. NEWMAN: No, Your Honor.
MR. CRISTALLI: No, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Thank you.
Based on counsel's representations and the
Court's own observation of the defendant, I find that he is
competent to plead in this matter.
Mr. Buckhannon, have you had ample opportunity
to discuss your case with Mr. Cristalli?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: Are you satisfied to have him as
your attorney?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
--
THE COURT: Do you understand there will be no
further trial, and I'll simply enter a judgment of guilty
and sentence you based on your guilty plea?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir. As per the plea
agreement, correct, sir?
THE COURT: Yes, sir.
In pleading guilty, do you understand you also
have to waive your right not to testify against yourself
because I'm going to have to ask you questions about what
you did in order to satisfy myself that you're guilty as
charged?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: And do you understand in order for
me to accept your guilty plea, you'll have to admit that
you committed the crime charged in Count 1 of the indictment?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: Are you willing to give up your
right not to testify against yourself in order for me to
accept your guilty plea?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: Have you read a copy of the
indictment against you?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir, I have.
THE COURT: And have you discussed with your
attorney the charge in the indictment to which you intend
to plead guilty?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: Now, Mr. Cristalli, does pleading
guilty affect this defendant's immigration status?
MR. CRISTALLI: No, Your Honor, it does not.
THE COURT: All right.
Mr. Buckhannon, you are charged in Count 1 of
the violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section
1349, which makes Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud a crime.
The elements of this offense are:
First, there was an agreement between two or
more persons to commit at least one crime as charged in the
indictment, here, Wire Fraud.
And, second, the defendant became a member of the conspiracy knowing of at least one of its objects and
intending to help accomplish it.
The elements for Wire Fraud under 18 U.S.C.
Section 1343 are:
First, the defendant knowingly participated in,
devised, or intended to devise a scheme or plan to defraud,
or a scheme or plan for obtaining money or property by
means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or
promises.
Second, the statements made or facts omitted as
part of the scheme were material; that is, they had a
natural tendency to influence, or were capable of
influencing, a person to part with money or property.
Third, the defendant acted with the intent to
defraud; that is, the intent to deceive or cheat.
Fourth, the defendant used, or caused to be
used, a wire communication to carry out or attempt to carry
out an essential part of the scheme.
And this was a nationwide network of sales
agents utilized here; is that correct?
MS. NEWMAN: I'm sorry. Could you repeat the
question?
THE COURT: There was a nationwide network of --
in other words, to get the interstate commerce –
MS. NEWMAN: Yeah, there were sales made across
the country, yes.
THE COURT: All right.
Now, do you understand all of that is what the
government would have to prove in order for you to be
convicted of the crime charged in Count 1 of the
indictment?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: Do you know the maximum sentence and
fine I might impose on the charge of the indictment to
which you are seeking to plead guilty?
THE DEFENDANT: I believe so, sir, yes.
THE COURT: Are you aware the maximum possible
penalty for conviction under Count 1 is a fine of $250,000
or a term of imprisonment of 20 years or both a fine and
imprisonment?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
--
THE COURT: How do you plead, then, to Count 1,
guilty or not guilty?
THE DEFENDANT: Guilty, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Are you pleading guilty because, in
truth and in fact, you are guilty and for no other reason?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: Tell me in your own words what you
did that has convinced you to plead guilty.
THE DEFENDANT: I was one of the managing
members in a fund and the numbers that -- in speaking with
investors, information that I had was used to give
information to the investors regarding the status of the
fund, which ended up not being factual.
This num-nut will never complete his probation he’s just a perpetual scumbag, I’ll notify his creditors he’s now collectible...
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