Bernier s involvement in SnoOwl
Bernier’s testimony was critical to Assistant U.S. Attorneys Zachary Hafer’s and David Tobin’s case against Correia, who was convicted of 21 out of 24 counts of tax fraud, wire fraud and extortion.
A tax attorney who recently opened a new firm, Rampart Law Group, in the city, was Correia’s former business partner and chief operating officer in the app company SnoOwl.
The app company, founded by Correia after he left college, was the source of 14 of the counts against Correia, who was accused and convicted of bilking investors out of more than $231,000 of the $358,000 they sunk into the company. Instead of using the money to develop SnoOwl s technology, Correia funded his own “lavish lifestyle.”
FALL RIVER Cliff Ponte is a busy guy.
He runs a local real estate group, is president of the Fall River City Council and is about to open a sandwich and coffee shop in the city.
But during the past week and a half Ponte has managed, via Zoom, to tune into portions of the federal corruption trial in Boston of former Fall River mayor Jasiel F. Correia II.
“I do it in between phone calls and meetings,” he said.
“I multitask,” Ponte said. “I turn the volume up and down to listen.”
The District of Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office has charged Correia, who at age 23 in 2015 was voted in as the youngest mayor in city history, with 24 counts that include extortion, wire fraud and filing false tax returns.
U.S. District Court Judge Douglas P. Woodlock will be presiding over the proceedings in Courtroom 1.
Correia faces a total of 24 counts, including tax fraud in relation to his app company, SnoOwl, and extortion and bribery charges in relation to an alleged pay-to-play scheme he created with marijuana vendors looking to do business in Fall River. Four days were set aside last week for jury selection, though that still needs to be completed today. Opening statements began today as well.
Dr. David Cabeceiras takes the stand
The prosecution, specifically David Tobin today, is very precise in its questioning. Many documents and time-stamped emails have been presented, and almost each time, witnesses are asked to first testify if the documents are authentic.
For someone looking to extort marijuana vendors vying for prime business opportunities, becoming a mayor in Massachusetts could be the thing to do.
Absolute power over the local marijuana market, prosecutors now allege, presented itself as a possible cash cow to Jasiel Correia II, who was the youngest person to win the mayorship in the city of Fall River s history.
Correia is charged with 24 federal crimes that include alleged extortion of more than $600,000 from marijuana vendors seeking to set up shop in Fall River between 2016 and 2018 a pay-to-play scheme.
Correia alone possessed the power to issue non-opposition letters and sign host community agreements based upon locally established processes for granting approval to marijuana companies, as state law allows. Non-opposition letters pave the way for a marijuana business to locate in a particular town or city, while host community agreements are required between the business and municipality prior to state licensi