Benjamin Weiser and Ali Watkins

Sayoc pleaded guilty in March to mailing 16 bombs to people he considered to be Trump’s enemies. The FBI said the devices were packed with powder from fireworks, fertilizer, a pool chemical and glass fragments that would function as shrapnel, but they would not have worked as designed.

In the end, the flaws in the bombs’ design were critical to a federal judge’s decision to give Sayoc 20 years in prison rather than the life sentence prosecutors requested. The judge, Jed S. Rakoff of U.S. District Court in Manhattan, said he had concluded that Sayoc, though no firearms expert, was capable of concocting a pipe bomb that could explode and had consciously chosen not to.

“He hated his victims,” the judge said. “He wished them no good, but he was not so lost as to wish them dead, at least not by his own hand.”

Though the timing was coincidental, the sentencing came as the nation was on edge after the weekend’s back-to-back mass shootings, one of which appeared to have been inspired by anti-immigrant rhetoric from right-wing pundits and politicians, including Trump.

On Monday morning, Trump gave a national address in which he denounced white supremacists and said hatred had no place in the country. He promised the government would do more to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill.

Still, the president has a long history of making inflammatory statements not just about immigrants, but about his political opponents. Sayoc’s lawyers said their client was particularly susceptible to those ideas.

Indeed, the lawyers argued in a recent court filing that Sayoc, 57, suffered from a long-untreated mental illness and drew inspiration from the president for his terror campaign.

“He was a Donald Trump superfan,” they wrote.

During the sentencing, however, Rakoff said Sayoc’s politics were “something of a sideshow.” Instead, the judge said the design flaws in the bombs — including timers that were not set to go off and fuse wiring that was inoperable — indicated that Sayoc had only intended to scare his victims, not harm them.

Before he was sentenced, Sayoc read a handwritten statement, apologizing. “I wish more than anything I could turn back time and take back what I did,” he said. “But I want you to know, your honor, with all my heart and soul, I feel the pain and suffering of these victims.”

As the judge announced the sentence, Sayoc broke into sobs, resting his head in his hands clasped on the table before him. Then he looked up at the ceiling and mouthed, “Thank you.”

Geoffrey S. Berman, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, said after the sentencing that although “thankfully no one was hurt by his actions, Sayoc’s domestic terrorism challenged our nation’s cherished tradition of peaceful political discourse.”

Sayoc’s lawyers, who are federal public defenders, had no comment.

Sayoc’s terror campaign and the frenzied investigation that followed seized the nation for two weeks in October, just before the midterm elections. After a four-day manhunt, Sayoc was arrested outside an auto-parts store near Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he was living in a decrepit white van that was plastered with bombastic stickers that glorified Trump and placed Obama and Clinton in red crosshairs.

Sayoc’s lawyers had urged Rakoff to impose a prison sentence of 10 years, which would have been the mandatory minimum Sayoc faced, plus one month.

At the time of his arrest, they said, Sayoc was suffering from the untreated mental illness, compounded by excessive steroid use, and he had become increasingly obsessive, isolated and paranoid.

“In this darkness,” the lawyers wrote in a sentencing memo, “Mr. Sayoc found light in Donald J. Trump.”

Sayoc listened to Trump’s self-help books and championed him on social media. He watched Fox News religiously while working out at the gym.

“Because of Mr. Sayoc’s mental illness, this type of rhetoric deeply affected him because he so greatly admired the president,” one of Sayoc’s lawyers, Ian Marcus Amelkin, said in court. “It is impossible, I believe, to separate the political climate and his mental illness.”

Last fall, Sayoc’s lawyers wrote, the “slow-boil of Mr. Sayoc’s political obsessions and delusional beliefs” led him to build and send his 16 packages to 13 intended victims he considered to be Trump’s enemies. In Sayoc’s mind, the devices were “designed to look like pipe bombs,” his lawyers said, but they were a hoax to scare his targets.

Each device consisted of plastic pipe with a digital alarm clock and attached wires. An FBI explosives expert, Kevin D. Finnerty, testified at the sentencing the devices would not have functioned as designed but were capable of exploding if mishandled.

Jane Kim, a prosecutor, said in court that because of Sayoc’s attacks, hundreds of law enforcement officers were mobilized around the country, thousands of postal employees were on alert for suspicious packages, buildings and mail facilities were evacuated, and schools were ordered to shelter in place.

“The defendant’s campaign of terror was national in reach and extremely serious,” she said.

She added that had Sayoc intended the bombs to be hoaxes, he could have packed them with sand, but he chose to use glass fragments.

Kim also addressed the defense’s argument that shifted blame to Trump. “With respect to some of the excuses that the defendant has advanced about politics and politicians, the government would submit that politics cannot justify a terrorist attack,” she said. “Politics here cannot justify 16 bombs being mailed.”

When Sayoc pleaded guilty in court, he listed his intended victims. In addition to Obama and . Clinton, they included former Vice President Joe Biden; Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif.; Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.; George Soros, a billionaire Democratic donor; and John O. Brennan, a former CIA director.

The list also included Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif.; former Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.; Tom Steyer, a prominent Democratic donor; James R. Clapper Jr., a former director of national intelligence; actor Robert De Niro; and CNN.

Prosecutors had also said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., was a victim of Sayoc’s campaign; he falsely listed her as the return address on his packages.

After the sentencing, Wasserman Schultz said in a statement that Sayoc “was admittedly inspired by the president’s hateful rhetoric.”

“This president’s words have consequences,” she said.

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/05/nyregion/cesar-sayoc-sentencing-pipe-bombing.html" id="197805e6-7e91-36a4-afc4-2c410d378d0e">The New York Times</a>.

Man Who Sent Pipe Bombs to Trump Critics Is Sentenced to 20 Years

NEW YORK — Cesar A. Sayoc Jr., the fervent supporter of President Donald Trump who rattled the nation last fall when he sent homemade pipe bombs to former President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and other prominent Democrats, was sentenced Monday to 20 years in prison.

Still, the president has a long history of making inflammatory statements not just about immigrants but about his political opponents. Sayoc’s lawyers said their client was particularly susceptible to those ideas.

Indeed, the lawyers argued in a recent court filing that Sayoc, 57, suffered from a long untreated mental illness and drew inspiration from the president for his terror campaign.

In court Monday, Sayoc appeared to struggle with nerves as he read from a handwritten statement before sentencing. “I wish more than anything I could turn back time and take back what I did,” he said. “But I want you to know, your honor, with all my heart and soul, I feel the pain and suffering of these victims.”

Judge Jed S. Rakoff of U.S. District Court in Manhattan said the design flaws in the bombs — including timers that were not set to go off and fuse wiring that was inoperable — indicated that Sayoc had only intended to scare his victims, not harm them.

Rakoff said he had concluded that Sayoc, though no firearms expert, was capable of concocting a pipe bomb that could explode. His decision not to was a conscious choice, the judge said.

“He hated his victims," he said. “He wished them no good, but he was not so lost as to wish them dead, at least not by his own hand.”

Sayoc’s lawyers, who are federal public defenders, had asked Rakoff to impose a prison sentence of 10 years, which would have been the mandatory minimum Sayoc faced plus one month.

“In this darkness,” the lawyers wrote, “Mr. Sayoc found light in Donald J. Trump.”

Their arguments that Sayoc was at least partially motivated by an adoration for Trump were filed in court July 22, two weeks before a gunman killed 20 people in a Walmart in El Paso, Texas. The gunman had posted a manifesto online that seemed to be inspired in part by the president’s rhetoric denouncing immigrants in the country illegally.

Last fall, Sayoc’s lawyers wrote, the “slow-boil of Mr. Sayoc’s political obsessions and delusional beliefs” led him to build and send his 16 packages to 13 intended victims he considered to be Trump’s enemies. In Sayoc’s mind, the devices were “designed to look like pipe bombs,” they said, but they were a hoax to scare his targets.

“He did not actually want to kill or physically injure anyone,” they said, “and he did not think that the devices were capable of exploding.”

Each device consisted of plastic pipe with a digital alarm clock and attached wires, Sayoc told Rakoff in March as he pleaded guilty to 65 counts, including using a weapon of mass destruction and interstate transportation of an explosive.

Prosecutors in the office of Geoffrey S. Berman, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, had sought a life sentence for Sayoc.

Although the FBI had found the devices “would not have functioned as a result of their design,” they were nevertheless capable of exploding and causing injuries, prosecutors wrote.

“Left alone, the volatile mixture of chemicals, fuels, oxidizers, and glass shards the defendant placed within each pipe could have created enough friction to detonate,” the government said. “Additional heat, shock, or friction — from, for example, transporting, handling, or dissembling the devices — could have also detonated the devices.”

Prosecutors said the devices “were dangerous, capable of causing extensive harm, and responsible for shutting down parts of several major metropolitan areas, including train stations, schools and postal facilities.”

The significance of the glass shards could not be understated, the government added, as an indicator of Sayoc’s criminal intent. “There is no reason to pack fragmentation into an explosive device other than to maximize the likelihood that the bomb will cause injury,” prosecutors wrote.

The government dismissed the defense’s attempt to “deflect responsibility onto just about everyone else,” including Trump, Fox News, depression, social media, steroids and politics, prosecutors wrote.

“These excuses are unpersuasive,” the government said. “Millions of people watch the news, hold strong political views, and experience personal challenges. Only the defendant constructed 16 pipe bombs packed with explosives and glass shrapnel and mailed them across the country.”

When Sayoc pleaded guilty in court, he listed his intended victims. In addition to Obama and Clinton, they included former Vice President Joe Biden; Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif.; Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.; George Soros, a billionaire Democratic donor; and John O. Brennan, a former CIA director.

In court Monday, Sayoc said he regretted the fear he had caused his intended victims.

“I will be apologizing to them for the rest of my life,” he said.

Some people were sent more than one device. Sayoc, for example, had mailed one pipe bomb to Biden’s personal address in Wilmington, Delaware, and another to an assisted living facility in Wilmington that Biden had once visited, the government said.

Sayoc, Who Mailed Pipe Bombs to Trump Critics, Is Sentenced to 20 Years

The judge, Richard M. Berman of U.S. District Court, said Epstein’s “past sexual conduct is not likely to have abated,” and he was concerned that if Epstein were released, he would continue to abuse teenage girls.

“Mr. Epstein’s alleged excessive attraction to sexual conduct with or in the presence of minor girls — which is said to include his soliciting and receiving massages from young girls and young women perhaps as many as four times a day — appears likely to be uncontrollable,” Berman wrote in a bail decision.

The judge said he had taken into account the statements of two of Epstein’s accusers — Annie Farmer and Courtney Wild — who he said had “movingly testified” in a hearing earlier in the week that they feared for their safety and the safety of others if Epstein were to be released.

A federal indictment has charged that between 2002 and 2005, Epstein and his employees paid dozens of underage girls to engage in sex acts with him at his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida.

The indictment also accused Epstein of using some of his victims to recruit additional girls, paying his “victim-recruiters” hundreds of dollars for each girl they brought to him.

Ever since his July 6 arrest at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey after a flight from Paris, Epstein, 66, has been detained at the highly secure Metropolitan Correctional Center. His lawyers had proposed allowing him to post a substantial bond and remain in his mansion guarded by 24-hour security guards, at his expense.

Prosecutors vigorously opposed that proposal, saying Epstein was seeking “special treatment” and trying to build his own private jail — a “gilded cage.”

In a court hearing earlier Thursday, Berman announced he was denying Epstein’s request, saying his proposed bail package was “irretrievably inadequate.”

“I doubt that any bail package can overcome danger to the community,” the judge said in court.

In his written opinion, the judge noted, “The crimes Mr. Epstein has been charged with are among the most heinous in the law principally, in the court’s view, because they involve minor girls.”

One of Epstein’s lawyers, Marc Fernich, said of the judge’s ruling, “We expect to appeal and look forward to fighting the case.”

The judge also found that Epstein was a flight risk, citing his “vast wealth” — prosecutors said they believe he is worth more than $500 million — including private planes and residences in Paris and the Caribbean.

The judge pointed to a safe the authorities said they found in Epstein’s mansion that contained piles of cash, dozens of diamonds and an expired passport issued by a foreign country (later identified as Austria). The passport had Epstein’s photo but a different name.

Epstein’s lawyers, writing to the judge Tuesday, offered an explanation for the passport: They described Epstein as “an affluent member of the Jewish faith,” and said he had acquired the passport in the 1980s when hijackings were prevalent, in connection with Middle East travel.

“The passport was for personal protection in the event of travel to dangerous areas, only to be presented to potential kidnappers, hijackers or terrorists should violent episodes occur,” they wrote.

Epstein has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, he faces up to 45 years in prison.

In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to two state prostitution charges in Florida as part of a secret, lenient deal he had negotiated with the U.S. attorney in Miami to avoid federal prosecution. He served 13 months in jail, but was allowed to leave for 12 hours a day, six days a week, to work.

In seeking Epstein’s detention, prosecutors had sharply disputed an argument by his lawyers that for more than a decade he had lived a law-abiding life. The government noted, for example, that Epstein tried to influence possible witnesses as recently as last year.

The prosecutors said Epstein had wired $350,000 to two people close to him days after the Miami Herald revealed details in November about his deal to avoid federal prosecution in Florida.

Berman wrote in his opinion that the payments also were a basis for denying Epstein bail.

In court earlier in the day, as Berman announced how he would rule, Epstein, seated at the defense table, stared ahead without apparent emotion.

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/18/nyregion/jeffrey-epstein-bail-hearing.html" id="2d087f97-f57a-3485-a3e6-ca756b46bc7e">The New York Times</a>.

NEW YORK — A federal judge on Thursday denied bail for Jeffrey Epstein, the financier facing sex-trafficking charges in Manhattan, rejecting his request to await trial under home detention at his Upper East Side mansion.

Jeffrey Epstein Is Denied Bail in Sex Crimes Case

The judge, Richard M. Berman of U.S. District Court in Manhattan, said Epstein, who owns property in Paris and has a private plane, would be detained in jail until his trial on charges that he sexually abused and trafficked dozens of underage girls in the early 2000s.

Berman emphasized Epstein’s danger to the others, particularly his accusers and “prospective victims as well.” The judge cited what he called “compelling testimony” by two of the accusers — Annie Farmer and Courtney Wild — who said at a hearing on Monday that they feared for their safety and the safety of others if Epstein were to be released.

Epstein’s lawyers had proposed allowing him to post a substantial bond and remain in his mansion guarded around the clock by private security guards, whom he would pay. Prosecutors vigorously opposed that proposal, saying he was seeking “special treatment” and trying to build his own private jail — a “gilded cage.”

Berman said that Epstein’s proposed bail package was “irretrievably inadequate,” and that he would not entertain any other bail proposals from the financier’s legal team.

“I doubt that any bail package can overcome danger to the community,” the judge said.

Prosecutors had also argued that Epstein’s fortune, said to be more than $500 million, would make it possible for him to flee the country if he were not detained.

The judge agreed, pointing to Epstein’s “great wealth and his vast resources,” including private planes and a residence in Paris.

Ever since his July 6 arrest at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey after a flight from Paris, Epstein, 66, has been detained at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, a highly secure jail in Manhattan that has housed accused terrorists, mobsters and even the Mexican cartel leader known as El Chapo.

A federal indictment charged that between 2002 and 2005, Epstein and his employees paid dozens of underage girls to engage in sex acts with him at his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida.

The indictment also accused Epstein of using some of his victims to recruit additional girls for him to abuse. He paid his “victim-recruiters” hundreds of dollars for each girl they brought to him, prosecutors said.

He has pleaded not guilty and has vowed to fight the charges, his lawyers said. If convicted, he faces up to 45 years in prison.

In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to two state prostitution charges in Florida as part of a secret, lenient deal he negotiated with the United States attorney in Miami to avoid federal prosecution. He served 13 months in jail.

In seeking Epstein’s detention, prosecutors also sharply disputed his lawyers’ argument that for more than a decade he had lived a law-abiding life. They noted, for example, that he had tried to influence possible witnesses against him as recently as last year.

The prosecutors said Epstein had wired $350,000 to two people close to him who were potential witnesses just days after The Miami Herald revealed details last November about his deal to avoid federal prosecution in Florida.

On Monday, a prosecutor, Alexander Rossmiller, told the judge that investigators had also discovered a safe in Epstein’s mansion containing piles of cash, dozens of diamonds and a passport issued by a foreign country (later identified as Austria). The passport had his photo but a different name.

Epstein’s lawyers, writing to the judge on Tuesday, offered an explanation for the passport: They described Epstein as “an affluent member of the Jewish faith” and said he had acquired the passport in the 1980s when hijackings were prevalent, in connection with Middle East travel.

NEW YORK — A federal judge on Thursday denied bail for Jeffrey Epstein, the financier facing sex-trafficking charges, rejecting his request to await trial under home detention at his Upper East Side mansion.

Prosecutors had opposed Epstein’s proposal to remain in his mansion guarded by private security, saying he was seeking “special treatment” and trying to build his own private jail — a “gilded cage,” prosecutors wrote.

They had also argued that Epstein’s vast wealth, said to be more than $500 million, would make it possible for him to flee the country if he were not held in jail.

In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to two state prostitution charges in Florida as part of a secret, lenient deal he negotiated with the U.S. attorney in Miami to avoid federal prosecution. He served 13 months in jail.

Epstein’s lawyers had argued that he should be allowed to remain at home pending trial because he has lived a law-abiding life since 2005.

They said he would post a substantial bond, secured by his mansion and private jet, would wear an ankle bracelet tracking his location, and would surrender his passport and ground his jet.

But prosecutors argued Epstein should remain jailed because he was a risk to flee and a danger to the community.

Epstein’s lawyers had argued that he should be allowed to remain at home pending trial because he has lived a law-abiding life since 2005. They also argued that he had not “forced, coerced, defrauded or enslaved anybody.”

But prosecutors argued Epstein should remain jailed because he was a risk to flee and a danger to the community. They sharply disputed his lawyers’ contention that for more than a decade he had a spotless record and suggested he had tried to influence possible witnesses against him as recently as last year.

The rapper, whose legal name is Daniel Hernandez, admitted at a federal court hearing in Manhattan on Jan. 23 to being a member of the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods, and said he had helped other gang members rob people at gunpoint. In one case, he said, “I helped members of Nine Trey attempt to kill a rival gang member.”

Hernandez added, “I did this to maintain or increase my own standing in Nine Trey.” He also said the gang engaged in “shooting at people, robbing people and, at times, drug trafficking.”

Hernandez said he apologized to the judge and “to anyone who was hurt, to my family, friends and fans for what I have done and who I have let down.”

Hernandez remained incarcerated, and it was unclear Friday when he will be sentenced or how his cooperation might affect his prison sentence.

At the plea hearing, a prosecutor said that Hernandez’s cooperation was likely to reveal the criminal activities of other people and that he may eventually need to be placed in the witness protection program.

Hernandez, 22, was charged in November along with several other alleged members and associates of the Nine Trey gang on racketeering conspiracy and firearms charges, a federal indictment shows.

The gang “wreaked havoc on New York City, engaging in brazen acts of violence,” Geoffrey S. Berman, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said when charges were announced.

In one case last April, prosecutors said, the gang’s members held up a rival gang member at gunpoint near Times Square. Hernandez helped to plan and direct the robbery, and filmed it from a car, prosecutors said.

Later that month, the government said, a member of the gang shot at a rival inside Barclays Center, where Hernandez was scheduled to perform. Though no one was hit, he later posted a video of himself and co-defendants bragging about the shooting, the prosecutors said.

At the time, Lance Lazzaro, a lawyer for Hernandez, pronounced him “completely innocent” of the charges, portraying him as a victim and noting that the FBI had warned his client of threats made against him.

On Friday, Dawn M. Florio, another of Hernandez’s lawyers, declined to comment on his decision to plead guilty and cooperate but added that “every effort” was being made “to protect him and his family and his loved ones, for their safety.”

Prosecutors declined to comment on the case.

In court last week, Hernandez pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and eight other charges, for which he could face a minimum of 47 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

If he cooperates successfully, the government has agreed to write to the judge, seeking a sentence below the minimum, a prosecutor said.

Hernandez has spent the better part of his adult life crafting a viral internet personality. His brash stunts — which included dying his hair rainbow colors and wearing clothing emblazoned with obscenities — made him a near-instant superstar on Instagram and other platforms.

But his meteoric career trajectory as a rapper was unusual. Hernandez only began pivoting to music after he had become well-known on the internet for his obnoxious antics. He appears to have sought gang affiliation to bolster his credibility among some hip-hop fans.

Judge Paul A. Engelmayer ordered the transcript and other records of Hernandez’s guilty plea temporarily sealed after a prosecutor cited several pending arrests and “safety concerns” with respect to Hernandez and his family.

His plea and cooperation deal may help him obtain a reduced sentence, but it could also be the end of his rap alter ego. Cooperating with police or federal investigators can be risky in a rap genre that has historically pitted itself against law enforcement, and for him, the stakes may even be higher.

For years, his star power stemmed from cultivating a public persona as an outlaw, a self-described “supervillain.” A formal cooperation deal with authorities undercuts that persona, and he now risks being labeled a “snitch.”

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/01/nyregion/tekashi-69-pleads-guilty.html" id="c84e2e1e-f496-35fa-a0a6-9828135312c5">The New York Times</a>.

NEW YORK — The rapper and Instagram star known as Tekashi 6ix9ine has pleaded guilty to charges stemming from his role in a violent drug-trafficking gang and was cooperating with federal prosecutors, according to newly unsealed court records.

Tekashi 6ix9ine Strikes a Deal With U.S. in Racketeering Case

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Benjamin Weiser and Ali Watkins

Articles written by the author

Man Who Sent Pipe Bombs to Trump Critics Is Sentenced to 20 Years

Sayoc, Who Mailed Pipe Bombs to Trump Critics, Is Sentenced to 20 Years

Jeffrey Epstein Is Denied Bail in Sex Crimes Case

Jeffrey Epstein Is Denied Bail in Sex Crimes Case

Jeffrey Epstein Is Denied Bail in Sex Crimes Case

Jeffrey Epstein Is Denied Bail in Sex Crimes Case

Jeffrey Epstein Is Denied Bail in Sex Crimes Case

Jeffrey Epstein Is Denied Bail in Sex Crimes Case

Tekashi 6ix9ine Strikes a Deal With U.S. in Racketeering Case