Resteiner wants $5 m to turn-over 'bribe' video-tape, claims attorney
      
Investment fraudster Eric Resteiner wants $5 million before he will turn over a video that allegedly shows him bribing Grenada Prime Minister Keith Mitchell, it has been claimed.
 
Resteiner's apparent reason for demanding payment is that the release of the tape could put his safety at risk and the money will pay for a new identity and a security team when he completes an 87-month prison sentence in 2010.
 
Details are contained in a deposition by Boston-based attorney Edward Sharkansky dated June 13, 2007 that was recently filed at the U. S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, where Sharkansky's client, U. S. based oilman Jack Grynberg, is suing Grenada's Deputy Prime Minister, Gregory Bowen, for damages concerning a failed business deal and is attempting to strengthen his case by proving that corruption is rampant within the Grenada Government.
 
U. S. District Judge Rya Zobel issued an order on April 25 compelling Resteiner to provide testimony and produce a copy of the video-tape but he has refused to comply, claiming he is protected from self-incrimination by the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution. However, Grynberg's attorneys claim that Fifth Amendment protection does not apply to Resteiner because the alleged bribery activities "occurred outside of the United States and do not have any relationship to potential criminal behavior within the United States of America".
 
In an attempt to persuade Resteiner to change his mind, Sharkansky visited him at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility, in Massachusetts, on June 5, 2007 with permission from Resteiner's criminal defense attorney, John Amabile, according to Sharkansky's deposition.
 
"My conversation with Mr. Resteiner involved the existence and substance of the videotape which he had disclosed in a Sentencing Memorandum filed on his behalf in his criminal prosecution for which he is presently serving a sentence," stated Sharkansky. "I informed Mr. Resteiner that my client had recently arranged for the deposition of Timothy Bass, the person responsible for videotaping the exchange of United States currency from Eric Resteiner to Prime Minister Keith Mitchell I further informed Mr. Resteiner that the transcript of this deposition was expected to be made public as an attachment to a pleading soon to be filed in pending litigation involving my clients.
 
"In response to my informing Mr. Resteiner that the deposition of Timothy Bass was to be released, Mr. Resteiner indicated that the release of information implicating him in the exchange of United States currency to Prime Minister Mitchell caused significant concern for his personal safety. Mr. Resteiner was seeking funds to change his identity and maintain a security team. Mr. Resteiner stated that his personal security would cost approximately five million ($5,000,000.00) dollars. He further stated that he would not disclose the existence or content of the videotape and would not comply with the court order to compel production of the videotape prior to assurances that the money would be available and he and his family would be protected.
 
"At no time throughout my conversation with Mr. Resteiner regarding the production of this videotape did Mr. Resteiner mention any concern for future prosecution. Mr. Resteiner never mentioned any connection between the content of the videotape and his criminal behavior which resulted in his conviction of criminal matters in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts for a total imprisonment of 87 months."
 
Sharkansky's deposition was submitted in support of a motion by Grynberg on June 18 that the court reconsider its earlier ruling that there was "insufficient information available to render a decision with regard to said Fifth Amendment claim" and order Resteiner to "either produce the subpoenaed video tape and respond to questions under oath regarding the content of the video tape or be held in contempt of court".