Drug accused businessman Ghalee Khan is seeking a plea deal with US authorities in relation to his cocaine trafficking charge, according to court documents.
A hearing was held before Judge Sterling Johnson Jr yesterday with Khan participating by phone from prison. His lawyer Michael Kushner and US state attorney Elizabeth Macchiaverna also participated by phone. The conference was more than likely held by phone because of the ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
Court documents revealed ongoing plea negotiations between the defence and prosecution and a deposition is expected to be filed.
In 2008, Khan and Danvor Griffith were jointly charged with drug trafficking and Khan was granted US$200,000 bail and later skipped the country to Guyana.
An arrest warrant was subsequently issued for him after he failed to appear in a New York court. Over the past ten years, Khan established business interests here, ranging from a clothing store to a security firm. Up the week of March 2nd, he was present at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Command Centre as a Private Sector Commission (PSC) election observer. He left for the US a few days later.
Khan and Griffith were both busted on November 3rd, 2008, after a cocaine drop was allegedly made at a New York location. The two were reportedly tracked after leaving Guyana but were allowed to make the drop at the New York location where they were eventually picked up by federal agents.
From Guyana, Khan had sought to fight his charges through his lawyers and had filed a motion to have his drug trafficking case dismissed on speedy trial grounds but Justice Jack B Weinstein, a Senior United States District Judge, on November 1, 2017, had denied the motion.
The judge in the ruling had pointed out that Khan did not appear at the October 26, 2017 hearing in contravention of the court’s requiring his appearance.
“The United States Government ‘offered to assist the defendant in traveling to the United States’ for the hearing but the defendant declined,” the judge noted in the ruling.
In dismissing the motion, the judge pointed out that according to cited authorities, a fugitive “from justice may not seek relief from the judicial system whose authority he or she evades.” It was pointed out that persons abroad may be determined to be a fugitive when they refuse to return to the US to face a criminal indictment.
Yesterday, the government informed the court that Griffith remains a fugitive.
The next status conference is scheduled for May 5th.
