High-flying New York lawyer Robert Simels was today sentenced to 14 years imprisonment for attempting to tamper with a witness in the Roger Khan drug case.
The sentence was handed down this afternoon in the Brooklyn Federal Court by Judge John Gleeson.
Simels, Khan’s former lawyer, was charged with witness tampering and convicted on the basis of testimony from US informant, Guyanese Selwyn Vaughn who had been associated with Khan’s phantom group.
A 12-member jury in a Brooklyn courtroom had returned a guilty verdict for Simels and his associate Arianne Irving in August this year. The high-profile lawyer and his assistant were caught on tape plotting to silence witnesses against Khan. The verdict had followed two weeks of explosive testimony from witnesses including a professed member of Khan’s “Phantom Squad”, Vaughn.
He tied the government to Khan’s activities, which included ordering the murder of activist Ronald Waddell and others. Testimony implicated Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy, who was identified as the government official who met with Khan and facilitated the purchase of the spy equipment he used to carry out surveillance here. Ramsammy and the government have denied the allegations and the minister has dared his accusers to prove otherwise.
US prosecutor Benton Campbell, responding to a sentencing memorandum submitted by both Simels and Irving, last week asked that the judge follow the advice of the probation department as it relates to Simels. While he said Irving could receive a lighter sentence than what was recommended, he strongly objected to her receiving a non-custodial sentence as she requested through her lawyers.
One of the charges Simels was found guilty of was plotting to “neturalise” former army Major David Clarke, who was expected to be one of the main witnesses at Khan’s trial, as the two had trafficked in narcotics together. Clarke was freed earlier in the day after being sentenced by Judge Gleeson to time served.
Campbell, in his submissions last week, noted the lengths to which Simels went to contact Vaughn as it took three individuals in Guyana, including a well-known lawyer, to arrange contact between the two.
“Simply put, the effort to obstruct Khan’s criminal trial involved numerous participants both in the US and in Guyana,” the prosecutor said.
Simels through his lawyer had argued among other things to be sentenced to between 33 to 41 months in prison, stating there was no need to protect the public from him as he is a loving family member and friend and that his former client Khan received only 15 years.
However, Campbell argued that the offences Simels was convicted of are most serious, and were committed out of pure greed and a desire to win at all costs.
