This column reports on several significant representative decisions handed down recently in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Judge Joseph F. Bianco (sitting by designation) found no “fair and just reason” to allow defendant to withdraw her guilty plea. Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis held that the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System had failed to release documents responsive to plaintiff’s FOIA request. And Judge Raymond J. Dearie ruled on fee applications by plaintiffs’ counsel in a class action case.

Withdrawal of Guilty Plea Denied

In United States v. Kalichenko, 14 CR 95 (EDNY, July 22, 2019), Judge Bianco denied defendant’s pre-sentence motion to withdraw her guilty plea, entered several years earlier, despite her dubious claim that she would not have pled guilty had she known that the Ukrainian government was protesting her prosecution in the United States.