Asks judge to revisit magistrate’s order to keep him in jail
Guyanese Neville Solomon, 66, who remains behind bars in the United States since being extradited from Trinidad where he was arrested on May 1 last, has been given a court-appointed attorney.

Solomon had been a fugitive from justice for nearly two years.

According to a report in the Grand Forks Herald in Fargo, North Dakota, a judge Wednesday appointed an attorney to represent Solomon, a self-proclaimed teacher, who is accused of bilking investors out of millions of dollars in an alleged Ponzi scheme.

His trial is set for August 24.

U.S. District Judge Ralph Erickson before whom Solomon appeared, is reported to have said Solomon should not represent himself while he searches for a lawyer. The prisoner told the judge he wanted to hire an attorney but had not yet been able to do so.

Judge Erickson, who invited defense attorney Jonathan Judd to Wednesday’s hearing, asked Solomon to meet with the attorney, saying it would keep the case moving.

He also gave Solomon the option of replacing Judd with a different attorney in the event he finds one.

“It’s a complicated case. It’s a white collar crime case. There’s a lot of evidence to go through,” the judge said.

Solomon, in the case which dates back to nearly a decade, has pleaded guilty to four charges, one with conspiracy to defraud the United States Government of US$2M, three others of conspiracy to defraud the United States.

The Guyanese is alleged to, between April 30, 2001, and July 1, 2003, together with another person, have attempted to defraud the Inland Revenue Service (IRS), in the United States. The other three charges are alleged to have occurred between December 14, 2001, January 15 and February 14, 2002. Solomon was alleged to have deposited a total US $150,000 in off-shore accounts in a bid to escape prosecution in the US.

The alleged ringleader, Federick Keiser Jr., a Minot commodities broker, was sentenced in November, 2007, to 12 years in prison for his role in the Ponzi scheme which used a network of international bank accounts.

The case came to light when North Dakota officials started getting questions from people who had been solicited as potential investors in bank programmes that promised high returns risk-free.

Solomon is accused of bilking investors and helping Keiser and others prepare documents to renounce their U.S. citizenship and avoid filing federal income tax returns.

Witnesses testified during Keiser’s trial in 2007 that the group bilked investors out of more than $16 million, promising a high rate of return and using money from later investors to pay off earlier ones. An IRS investigator said he followed a trail of bank accounts and wire transfers.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen Klein last week denied a handwritten motion by Solomon asking to be released from jail before trial.

In rejecting the request, the U.S. Magistrate reportedly said that Solomon would be a “Serious risk” to fell if released. At Wednesday’s court appearance, Solomon asked Judge Erickson to review Klein’s ruling, saying he would agree to stay in Fargo if he could get out of jail.

“We can revisit that. But let’s give you a chance to talk to your lawyer and come up with a strategy,” the judge to Solomon.

Solomon, who was ordered extradited to the United States by Trinidad Chief Magistrate Sherman McNicolls when he made his second appearance before him on May 18 last, faces a maximum of 10 years imprisonment in the U.S. and/or a fine if found guilty of the offences. ( Wendella Davidson)