Legal Commentary

Affidavit Unsealed in Joran Van der Sloot FBI Sting Case

By Jeralyn

The federal court in Alabama has unsealed the Affidavit in support of the complaint charging Joran Van der Sloot with extortion. You can read it here.

The Affidavit begins with Van der Sloot contacting a "cooperating witness" who from all accounts, seems to be Holloway's lawyer John Q. Kelly. What's not said is what prompted Van der Sloot to contact Kelly, and whether it was one of Hollway's private detectives or persons they knew to be in touch with Joran. In other words, just because Joran contacted Kelly before Kelly contacted him, doesn't mean the idea didn't originate with Team Holloway and Joran just took the bait. [More..]

I suspect the Affidavit was unsealed because it shows that the money was wired from Holloway's account and the FBI wants to show it wasn't their money that was given to Van der Sloot. Of course, the FBI could have provided Holloway with the funds to give to Joran.

The affidavit says as has been reported that Joran gave false information to Kelly (Hence the wire fraud charge, which was an add-on filed through an Amended complaint. Initially, the complaint was filed with just the extortion charge.)

It's clear to me the Holloways were still trying to make a murder case against Joran, that's why the FBI got involved. And why Joran wasn't arrested. The FBI had re-opened the investigation 6 weeks earlier, trying to prove murder, not extortion.

According to reports from the New York Post, Joran van der Sloot received the money as part of a sting operation as the FBI worked to build a murder case against the 22-year old Dutch national. (my emphasis)

I'm surprised John Q. Kelly got so involved. He went far outside the role of a lawyer and became a participant. Now he's a witness. His credibility will be called into question. What a mess. Why didn't he use an intermediary, like a detective?

Full post as published by TalkLeft on June 10, 2010 (boomark / email).