Robert L. Hall Appeal Fails

Longtime readers and residents will likely remember the torrid saga of two former ANC Commissioners from 6C who stood accused of a variety of very serious Federal charges (including wire fraud, mail fraud, and money laundering). The whole thing involved a ponzi scheme run through an organization called United First Federal Group that was supposed to be buying homes in distressed neighborhoods and fixing them up  (he focused on Trinidad). The men's names were Robert L. Hall and Anthony Rivera. Hall was convicted of some charges and pled guilty to others. The trial was a circus, with Hall firing his attorney to go pro se at one point. And what representation it was. In what I can only assume was a highlight of the trial, Mr. Hall introduced into evidence nearly 200 bounced checks bearing his signature as proof that he intended to pay the investors he was ripping off. I think Hall ended up being sentenced to 188 months (he had faced much more).

The government finally dismissed all charges against Mr. Rivera  after two hung juries. That isn't the same as being acquitted. But the story was actually even weirder than I'm making it sound. After his indictment by the DOJ Mr. Rivera (who had taken over Mr. Hall's seat when he moved out of his SMD) stood for re-election. His opponent was Alan Kimber. It was a tight race, and it initially looked like Rivera had defeated Kimber. A recount (that included absentee ballots), however, showed that Kimber had received 213 votes to Rivera's 198. Did I mention that somebody kept cutting down Kimber's campaign signs? Or that Rivera sued Kimber for defamation? Of course Rivera represented himself in the defamation suit for a bazillion million dollars. No, that's wrong. Rivera wasn't crazy. It wasn't a bazillion million dollars. It was $1,200,000.00.

Ah memories! But, you must be wondering why I brought this all up again. Well, it seems that Mr. Hall filed an appeal back in January, and the court rejected it on the second of July.  His primary grounds for appeal were that the court failed to conduct an adequate inquiry into whether his decision to represent himself was knowing and voluntary. Big shock here folks, he lost that one. He did succeed in convincing the court that he must be re-sentenced, so we'll have to see what happens there.

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UPDATE

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For about 7 minutes this post misstated the name of the organization through which Hall conducted his Ponzi scheme. The correct name is United First Federal Group. Sorry for any confusion.