It should be noted that the prosecution brought evidence that defendant 1 was in direct contact with the carrier who received the goods that were released from customs, in the framework of charges 4 and 5. This is clear from the testimony of the carrier, Amram Dabush, who was in telephone contact with the importer after the goods were released from the Maman warehouses.
The printout of the telephone conversations that Dabush has raises the fact that it is the mobile phone number of defendant 1: 054-334315, with the carrier's telephone number recorded by defendant 1 in his diary, exactly on the day the goods were transported, 20 July 2000.
This strengthens the evidence that shows that defendant 1 was behind the release of the goods, both those in the fourth charge and those in charge No. 5.
The goods eventually reached Defendant 4 and OPCI, and it appears that this was not in any real dispute. After he was presented with the supplier's invoices in respect of the two charges, as opposed to the OPCI invoices issued by him, defendant 4 was forced to admit that the goods were received in his possession, and that he offered them for sale, at reduced prices.
Defendant 4 recorded fictitious invoices (P/471 and P/472) in OPCI's books for the purpose of creating a reference for the purchase of the goods received fraudulently, and as stated, he sold them at prices as low as 40% of the price of the goods, according to the real supplier's account.
There is no doubt in my eyes that defendant 4 did not purchase the goods in the usual commercial way, but knew very well that the goods were fraudulently received, or obtained through a crime. Had defendant 4 believed that this was a legitimate purchase of the goods, which ultimately constituted part of OPCI's business inventory, there would have been no need to prepare fictitious invoices, and there would certainly not have been room to sell the goods, in a kind of liquidation sale. The evidence shows that the defendant knew that the assets were obtained in a criminal way, and thus he committed the offense of receiving assets obtained in a crime, under section 411 of the Penal Law.