Latest news with #MilbankLLP
The Print
02-07-2025
- Politics
- The Print
Does Nikhil Gupta have a son in Pakistan? Court papers add fresh twist to Pannun assassination plot
This, however, is contested by Gupta's family, who describe it as a 'deliberate error' introduced during translation by a Hindi-speaking interpreter from Pakistan, assisting the Czech authorities. They allege that Gupta was 'misquoted' and it is 'defamatory'. Gupta's statement—'I request the court inform my son in India and my son in Pakistan and the Indian Embassy in Prague about my remand in custody'—is part of Exhibit 19B from his detention hearings at the Municipal Court in Prague on 30 June and 1 July 2023, prior to his extradition. The document has now been unsealed and has been accessed by ThePrint. New Delhi: In a surprising revelation, Nikhil Gupta—the Indian citizen at the centre of the foiled plot to assassinate Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in the US—had asked Czech authorities to inform his 'son in Pakistan' about his detention in Prague during his extradition proceedings to the US. 'This isn't just a mistake. It was intentional. He has been misquoted. The interpreter was a Hindi-speaking individual from Pakistan. While a typographical error is possible, in this case, it appears to have been deliberate. He was misquoted. Moreover, Gupta has never visited Pakistan in his entire life. We even submitted his full travel history to the Czech authorities, but no one listened to us,' a source close to the family told ThePrint over the phone. The said document 'minutes of the detention hearing', submitted in the United States Southern district New York court, by his government-appointed counsel Nolla B Heller, a partner at Milbank LLP, includes the Czech police's petition for remand for custody of Gupta after his detention in Prague and the subsequent hearing of the detention session in the Municipal Court. Exhibit 19B is the English translation of Exhibit 19A. Gupta is also quoted as mentioning that he had a stomach problem and didn't have medicines for it. This session on 1 July 2023 ended at 2:36 pm with a custody order and this was signed by the Presiding Judge of the Senate, Jana Miklova. The document with the reference to Pakistan, is part of the exhibit attachments filed by Heller, in support of Gupta's motion to suppress certain statements and evidence, and to dismiss Count Three of the second Superseding Indictment, which refers to the conspiracy of money laundering allegedly committed by Gupta. Gupta's family has in the past argued that his arrest was a case of 'mistaken identity'. In a habeas corpus petition filed in the Supreme Court in December 2023, Gupta's family said he is 'aggrieved by the blatant negligence and omission' by Indian Embassy officials as he had received a 'cold response' from Indian embassy officials in the Czech Republic. The family alleged that he was under duress to confess to the allegations and the defence attorney provided to him by the Czech authorities pressured him to give his consent to extradition. According to the petition, the allegation mentioned in the indictment, based on which he was detained, is against 'Nick', which was not Gupta's name and hence it was a 'case of mistaken identity'. But Nikhil Gupta is also referred to as 'Nick' in the US DOJ indictments. He was arrested in Prague on 30 June, 2023, and extradited to the US on June 14, 2024. He is currently awaiting trial in a Brooklyn prison. Both Gupta and former R&AW officer Vikash Yadav have been accused of being part of a conspiracy to kill Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who enjoys dual citizenship of the US and Canada. Additionally, the US prosecutors have also accused Gupta of money laundering in the superseding indictment. ThePrint reached out to Gupta's counsels Heller and Matthew Laroche through email to ask about his statement mentioning a son in Pakistan, but no response was received. ThePrint has also reached out to his former Czech counsel Petr Slevicka via emails, calls and emails. Also read: Pannun murder plot: Govt panel recommends legal action against 'individual with criminal links' 'A Pakistani passport, an error' One of the newly unsealed documents also mentions a 'Pakistani passport' for Gupta. However, in subsequent documents, he is referred to as a citizen of the Republic of India, with his Delhi address mentioned in the details. In the now unsealed documents, Exhibit 1, which contains a copy of the provisional arrest warrant for Gupta issued by the United States and sent to the Ministry of Justice of the Czech Republic, Gupta's place of birth and citizenship are listed as 'India'. However, under passport numbers, two entries appear: One for India and another, but it is illegible. In subsequent exhibits it is noted that the Prague court questioned the US about discrepancies in the passport number provided for Gupta and the US responded saying it was an 'unintentional error'. This too was described by the family source quoted above as having been 'done deliberately'. 'We cited this while fighting his extradition in the Czech Republic. The US had no details about him except for one photo from 2017, when he had visited the US. They didn't have any concrete information. All the details were gathered after his arrest. They mentioned two passports. In fact, they even got the Indian passport number wrong. His passport, newly issued at the time, was from March 2023. The US has been contradicting its own claims since the beginning,' the family source said. 'That was the first time he traveled using that passport. So initially, they submitted incorrect passport numbers, and even the date of issuance was wrong. But whenever we raised concerns, the US claimed everything was just a mistake, and the Czech authorities accepted it all, likely due to external pressure. How can he have a Pakistani passport when he is an Indian national? And this inconsistency has been there from the very beginning. There were numerous errors, all of which were overlooked. This is also why we have repeatedly stated that it is a case of mistaken identity,' the source added. The documents state that the letter 'B' at the end of the passport number was changed to an '8', and that the US had provided a different passport issue date than the one found on Gupta during his detention. The court document mentions that the United States had informed the Czech court that it was an 'unintentional error'. However, it doesn't specify which passport this 'error' pertains to. The Czech court noted that it was aware that the US had provided a 'wrong ending and date of issue corresponding to the different personal document' of Gupta, but the error was clarified with additional information and explanation. 'The US party unambiguously confirmed by which passport the requested (Gupta) provided his identity when crossing the border in the US in 2017,' the unsealed document mentions. The court further adds that the information about his alleged Pakistani passport was provided by the US only in the 'very beginning of the process' and was not mentioned during the further course of proceedings in the extradition materials and that the US has addressed him as a citizen of India. 'The court doesn't exclude that in the past the requested (Gupta) could be a holder of Pakistani passport. Nevertheless, with regard to the above facts and unambiguous identification of the requested, the court doesn't consider this information relevant for evaluation of the identity of the requested (Gupta) or even as the information implying doubts about his identity,' the court document mentions. (Edited by Viny Mishra) Also read: Pressured to plead guilty in Pannun case, says Nikhil Gupta from US prison, recalls '20 days in cage'
Malaysian Reserve
22-04-2025
- Business
- Malaysian Reserve
Milbank Expands Real Estate Practice with Addition of Alex Meirowitz in New York
NEW YORK, April 22, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Milbank LLP is pleased to announce that Alex Meirowitz has joined its New York office as a partner in the firm's Real Estate Group. 'We are thrilled to welcome Alex to the firm,' said Milbank Chairman Scott A. Edelman. 'Alex's extensive experience across debt and equity representations and in virtually all real estate asset classes will further expand our team's capabilities and versatility, which has long been a cornerstone of our Real Estate Group.' Mr. Meirowitz represents clients in a wide range of complex commercial real estate transactions, focusing on both debt and equity representations. His practice includes purchase and sales, and borrower- and lender-side financings, covering all asset classes, such as office, multi-family, data centers, logistics, industrial and retail, across various deal sizes. He also advises clients on the formation and negotiation of joint ventures. His clients, among the world's most successful investors and developers, include top financial institutions, private equity funds, family offices and sovereign wealth funds. Erwin Dweck, leader of Milbank's Real Estate Group and member of the firm's Global Executive Committee, noted, 'Alex is an ambitious and highly accomplished lawyer, possessing a dynamic and versatile skill set. He will be an invaluable asset to the team and our clients, and we look forward to collaborating with him as we drive the strategic expansion of our practice.' 'Joining Milbank presents an incredible opportunity to contribute to a firm renowned for handling complex and sophisticated transactions,' remarked Mr. Meirowitz. 'I look forward to working alongside this distinguished team to deliver innovative solutions and maintain the firm's commitment to excellence in client service.' Mr. Meirowitz joins Milbank from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, where he was a partner in the Real Estate Group. He received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and his B.A. from New York University. ABOUT MILBANK Milbank LLP is a leading international law firm that provides innovative legal services to clients around the world. Founded in New York over 150 years ago, Milbank has offices in Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Munich, New York, São Paulo, Seoul, Singapore, Tokyo and Washington, DC. Milbank's lawyers collaborate across practices and offices to help the world's leading commercial, financial and industrial enterprises, as well as institutions, individuals and governments, achieve their strategic objectives. To learn more about Milbank, please visit and follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram.
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Opinion - Law firms that settle with Trump have a Sword of Damocles over their heads
Another day, another mega-law firm takes a knee before President Trump. That makes four and counting. Milbank LLP is the latest firm to reach a settlement to resolve or avoid a punitive Trump executive order that revokes its lawyers' security clearances, bars them from entering federal buildings and terminates government contracts with the firm and its clients, if the firm does legal work on those contracts. Wherever law firms have fought these executive orders, courts have ruled them unconstitutional. Like the other settling firms, Milbank insisted that the settlement terms would not make 'any significant changes' to the firm's current practices and involved commitments that the organization is 'happy to do anyway.' Given the vague nature of Milbank's commitments under the settlement, which include hiring lawyers with a 'diversity' of political views and engaging in $100 million worth of pro bono work for causes 'mutually supported' by Trump and the firm, that seems a bit optimistic. What if the Trump administration is dissatisfied with Milbank's attempt at the political version of DEI — that's exactly what it is — because the firm only hired lawyers who worked in the George W. Bush administration? For example: 'You haven't hired any lawyers who served in the Trump administrations or lawyers who worked on Project 2025.' Nothing in the agreement appears to prevent the administration from imposing the executive order until it is satisfied with Milbank's political hiring. Take the pro bono commitment to combat antisemitism. More and more American Jews, as the New York Times recently reported, are concerned that the administration is using allegations of antisemitism as an excuse for 'strong-arm tactics' that evoke past eras of Jewish oppression, such as the arrest of Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish doctoral student at Tufts University. Masked immigration agents in plainclothes detained Ozturk, presumably because she co-authored an opinion essay for a student newspaper calling on Tufts to speak out against Israel's war in Gaza. A federal district court judge in Boston temporarily blocked deportation, but Ozturk remains in detention. The Trump administration might demand that Milbank file an amicus brief on behalf of a conservative organization arguing that Ozturk should be deported even if she was only exercising her First Amendment rights. Milbank might decline if troubled by Ozturk's arrest — but enough refusals and the Trump administration would start waving an executive order. Ordinarily, settlements spell out the obligations of each party, and include detailed definitions and sometimes elaborate dispute-resolution mechanisms if a disagreement arises over a party's compliance. I doubt that Milbank or any of the settling law firms would have recommended that one of their clients sign a settlement agreement that did not include such terms — yet that is what these firms have done. Milbank and the other settling firms might protest that it was either cede some firm governance to Trump or game over for them. This all brings to mind a scene from Tom Wolfe's great novel 'The Bonfire of the Vanities,' which skewered 1980s New York City. A partner in a big law firm is approached by a client for advice on how to deal with a barrage of lawsuits from a shady character. The client says that he is considering using the mob to handle the matter. But the lawyer firmly advises against that, in words that aptly describe the Sword of Damocles over all law firms that settled with Trump. 'You let me take care of it. It won't be fast and it'll cost you a lot of money. But my bill you can pay,' says the fictional law firm partner to his client. 'No one is rich enough to pay them. They'll keep collecting until the day you die.' Gregory J. Wallance was a federal prosecutor in the Carter and Reagan administrations and a member of the ABSCAM prosecution team, which convicted a U.S. senator and six representatives of bribery. He is the author of 'Into Siberia: George Kennan's Epic Journey Through the Brutal, Frozen Heart of Russia.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
08-04-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Law firms that settle with Trump have a Sword of Damocles over their heads
Another day, another mega-law firm takes a knee before President Trump. That makes four and counting. Milbank LLP is the latest firm to reach a settlement to resolve or avoid a punitive Trump executive order that revokes its lawyers' security clearances, bars them from entering federal buildings and terminates government contracts with the firm and its clients, if the firm does legal work on those contracts. Wherever law firms have fought these executive orders, courts have ruled them unconstitutional. Like the other settling firms, Milbank insisted that the settlement terms would not make 'any significant changes' to the firm's current practices and involved commitments that the organization is 'happy to do anyway.' Given the vague nature of Milbank's commitments under the settlement, which include hiring lawyers with a ' diversity ' of political views and engaging in $100 million worth of pro bono work for causes 'mutually supported' by Trump and the firm, that seems a bit optimistic. What if the Trump administration is dissatisfied with Milbank's attempt at the political version of DEI — that's exactly what it is — because the firm only hired lawyers who worked in the George W. Bush administration? For example: 'You haven't hired any lawyers who served in the Trump administrations or lawyers who worked on Project 2025.' Nothing in the agreement appears to prevent the administration from imposing the executive order until it is satisfied with Milbank's political hiring. Take the pro bono commitment to combat antisemitism. More and more American Jews, as the New York Times recently reported, are concerned that the administration is using allegations of antisemitism as an excuse for 'strong-arm tactics' that evoke past eras of Jewish oppression, such as the arrest of Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish doctoral student at Tufts University. Masked immigration agents in plainclothes detained Ozturk, presumably because she co-authored an opinion essay for a student newspaper calling on Tufts to speak out against Israel's war in Gaza. A federal district court judge in Boston temporarily blocked deportation, but Ozturk remains in detention. The Trump administration might demand that Milbank file an amicus brief on behalf of a conservative organization arguing that Ozturk should be deported even if she was only exercising her First Amendment rights. Milbank might decline if troubled by Ozturk's arrest — but enough refusals and the Trump administration would start waving an executive order. Ordinarily, settlements spell out the obligations of each party, and include detailed definitions and sometimes elaborate dispute-resolution mechanisms if a disagreement arises over a party's compliance. I doubt that Milbank or any of the settling law firms would have recommended that one of their clients sign a settlement agreement that did not include such terms — yet that is what these firms have done. Milbank and the other settling firms might protest that it was either cede some firm governance to Trump or game over for them. This all brings to mind a scene from Tom Wolfe's great novel 'The Bonfire of the Vanities,' which skewered 1980s New York City. A partner in a big law firm is approached by a client for advice on how to deal with a barrage of lawsuits from a shady character. The client says that he is considering using the mob to handle the matter. But the lawyer firmly advises against that, in words that aptly describe the Sword of Damocles over all law firms that settled with Trump. 'You let me take care of it. It won't be fast and it'll cost you a lot of money. But my bill you can pay,' says the fictional law firm partner to his client. 'No one is rich enough to pay them. They'll keep collecting until the day you die.' Gregory J. Wallance was a federal prosecutor in the Carter and Reagan administrations and a member of the ABSCAM prosecution team, which convicted a U.S. senator and six representatives of bribery. He is the author of . '
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Sanders on law firms making deals with Trump: ‘Absolute cowardice'
Sen. Bernie Sanders slammed law firms coming to deals with President Trump in an interview that aired Sunday. 'What do you make of the law firms cutting deals?' CBS News's Robert Costa asked Sanders on 'CBS News Sunday Morning.' 'Absolute cowardice,' Sanders responded. Sanders later added that the firms are 'going to sell out their souls to Donald Trump, in order to continue to be able to make money here in Washington.' Multiple law firms have recently cut deals with the president after pressure from the administration, which has threatened to cut security clearances and government contracts for multiple Big Law companies through a review process. It has also warned through an executive order of the sanctioning of attorneys for 'vexatious' lawsuits. Earlier this week, President Trump announced that he had come to a deal with a the notable law firm Milbank LLP. The president said the firm had agreed to go through with a minimum of $100 million of pro bono legal services on shared initiatives throughout his administration. 'Milbank will not deny representation to clients, such as members of politically disenfranchised groups and Government Officials, employees, and advisors, who have not historically received Legal representation from major National Law Firms,' Trump said previously Former second gentleman Doug Emhoff's law firm is also among those who have made similar deals with the Trump administration. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
