Keith Mitchell Goes On Trial In New York Court on October 3


October 3 is the date set for the start of trial proceedings in the United States against Grenada Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Mitchell and imprisoned fraudster, Eric Resteiner.

GRENADA TODAY was able to obtain a court document giving the date as set by Chief United States Magistrate Judge, Steven M. Gold. In the document filed July 12 in Brooklyn, New York, the judge requested all lawyers involved in the court matter to ensure that "all necessary participants are aware of the conference".

Prime Minister Mitchell, his wife Marietta and Resteiner are co-defendants in a lawsuit filed against them in the New York court by Charles Rowland, a victim of the con-man. The Mitchell's were given until early August to put in their defense in the court matter that was brought against them by Howland, a businessman from Boston.

Checks made by this newspaper with the court in Brooklyn  revealed that neither Dr. Mitchell or his wife filed their   defense statements as yet in the court proceedings. The Grenada Prime Minister and his wife have hired the U.S law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, the same legal team rpresenting Deputy Prime Minister Gregory Bowen in a separate bribery charge filed against him by american oilman, Jack Grynberg.

Rowland is one of the persons who lost millions of dollars in a fraudulent scheme run by Resteiner in which the Grenadian leader is accused of financially benefitting from the proceeds of the fraudster.

Court documents in the United States allege that Prime Minister Mitchell collected one million U.S dollars in bribe funds from Resteiner to make him a "General Ambassador" for the Spice Isle. Dr. Mitchell has consistently maintained that he collected "approximately US$15, 000.00" from Resteiner at his luxury villa in St. Moritz, Switzerland in June 2000 as reimbursement to cover the expenses of a delegation he was leading on a promotion mission to several European capitals and Kuwait.

Resteiner's former Chief of Security, Timothy Bass has filed a court deposition in the United States alleging that he secretly video-taped Mitchell collecting a briefcase with U.S$500, 000.00 from Resteiner in June 2000 in Switzerland. Bass also alleged that Resteiner confided in him that he had made a similar payment to the Grenadian leader at an earlier stage while on a visit to St. George's.
Resteiner is said to have visited Grenada sometime between 1999 and 2000 and hosted a private dinner party for Prime Minister Mitchell and top government officials on board his luxury yacht docked at the Lance Aux Epines habour.

After Resteiner was sentenced in May to 7 years imprisonment in Boston, Rowland filed a lawsuit in Brooklyn against the fraudster and the Mitchells' to collect all monies that the Grenadian leader collected from the con-man.

GRENADA TODAY has decided to reproduce the court document from Judge Gold setting the stage for the start of the proceedings in the Resteiner/Keith Mitchell/Howland matter: