Today, Judge Pisano sentenced John Yeh to 108 months in federal prison with 3 years of post-prison supervised release (aka parole supervision). He was given credit for the time he spent in a Maryland jail earlier this year before state charges were dropped over an unrelated matter.
Joseph Yeh was sentenced to 55 months in federal prison with 3 years of supervised release.
In a surprise move, Viable changed their plea to guilty on only one count; the government dropped all other counts. Judge Pisano also waived a pre-sentencing report (PSR) for Viable. He put them on one year of probation.
For each of the 3 defendants above, Judge Pisano also ordered them to pay $20 million. So, yep, that’s $60 million total. Will the U.S. government ever see most of that money back? I doubt it, but it’s probably to serve as a deterrent to prevent anyone else from ever thinking about trying a scam like this in the future after seeing how stiff the consequences for this one were.
Judge Pisano agreed to send special recommendations to the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) for the Yehs. Not all judges do that, but some will. The BOP is not required to follow Judge Pisano’s special recommendations (other than the sentencing length and conditions) but they generally will try to honor the requests if possible.
A common special recommendation is to specify the convicts be imprisoned somewhere relatively near their family if possible so that it’s easier for their family and friends to provide support during their incarceration through face-to-face visits. Other recommendations might include special diet, medication, segregation (or not).
Both Yehs will report to federal prison on January 11, 2012 at noon. The first prison they go to may not be their “final” home because the first place is usually a processing facility where they evaluate new inmates to determine best placement into an available prison facility. This process may take maybe a month before the next transfer.
Once they are entered in the “prison system”, they will have an inmate number and a special mailing address. I will post this information when I see it on the BOP’s inmate locator website.
Judge Pisano agreed to continue their bail, which means they are free on bail for now, until they report to prison. Some judges will revoke bail upon sentencing to jail or prison, but I’m guessing he gave them a little time to enjoy holidays with family and friends and to get their affairs in order.
Next hearing will be Kathleen Valle’s on Monday December 5th where the court will formally drop all charges against her due to successful completion of the Pre-Trial Diversion program.
Unless rescheduled, there should be two more sentencing hearings in December.
After today’s events, the final numbers:
25 defendants pleaded guilty
1 convicted at trial
1 pleaded guilty but will have all charges dropped
