It appears that luck has run out for owner of the now defunct EZjet airline Sonny Ramdeo, as his several motions to change his guilty plea to wire fraud have been overturned by Judge Kenneth A Marra and he is now set for a sentencing hearing next Wednesday in a West Palm Beach Division court.
Ramdeo, who is now representing himself in association with a state-appointed attorney, had filed several handwritten motions with the aim of having his guilty plea overturned, but they only served to delay the verdict. He was initially set to be sentenced on November 14.
In his last motion, which is yet to be ruled on, Ramdeo requested forensic accounting in preparation for the hearing since one of the main issues at the sentencing will be the account of damage suffered by victims in the case.
He is disputing the account of damage set forth in the pre-sentence investigation, claiming that there are documents such as bank records and other records that will establish that a large sum of the alleged damage amount was actually used to pay taxes and other legal obligations of the victims. He is of the opinion that this will substantially reduce his total offence level.
EZjet went bankrupt amid the legal troubles Ramdeo faced when he was sued by his former employers in Florida courts.
In October last year, Ramdeo had pleaded guilty to wire fraud and he was scheduled to be sentenced in January this year, but two months later he recanted the plea on the grounds that he was not properly represented by counsel. Judge Marra had then accepted the change and appointed a public defender to represent Ramdeo.
The airline’s service was suspended by the US Department of Transpor-tation in November, 2012. The indictment against Ramdeo alleges that he wired money into his accounts that was to have been used to cover payroll taxes for Promise Healthcare and 11 of its hospitals, for which he was payroll manager.
He allegedly formed two companies, PayServ Tax and EZjet GT, to receive the money, prosecutors say. Ramdeo faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of US$250,000 or greater on each conviction.
