U.S. District Court Judge Mark Kearney has set a Friday deadline for Morris Anselmi’s attorneys to cement the terms of a plea agreement with the government for his testimony in the upcoming federal fraud trial of Davidson and Sasha Charlemagne.
Complicating matters is the fact that Anselmi, who faces federal wire fraud charges in a separate but related case, is critically ill and on a heart transplant waiting list, attorney Annabelle Nadler told Kearney at a status conference Wednesday morning held via Zoom. She is representing Anselmi and his co-defendant Kimberly McCollum along with St. Croix attorney Scot F. McChain.
Due to his health issues, Anselmi has not had an initial appearance, been arraigned or entered a plea in his case since his arrest in February 2024, raising concerns about speedy trial violations at Wednesday’s conference.
While Kearney acknowledged that Anselmi is “wrestling with health issues” that have caused delays, Nadler said it’s more serious than that, characterizing her client as “extremely, extremely unwell and vulnerable. He is pending a heart transplant.”
Anselmi has been living at a medical center on the mainland for the past year and is attached to an LVAD, or Left Ventricular Assist Device, to keep his heart beating, said Nadler. He only leaves his room to go downstairs to physical therapy or doctor appointments, and should he venture beyond a mile from the facility he would be removed from the transplant waiting list, she said. His condition also leaves him extremely vulnerable to infections, she added.
“He doesn’t really travel outside of [the medical center] because of the danger that the LVAD unit could [fail], the wires could become caught, and obviously, then, you know, be ripped from his body, or that he could pick up an infection, which would be deadly for him,” she said.
However, Nadler said plans are underway for the U.S. Marshal Service to visit Anselmi at the medical center next week, wearing masks and other protective equipment, to get his fingerprints and photo. Kearney subsequently ordered that Anselmi will make a first appearance on or before March 10 over a video platform before Judge Emile A. Henderson III, “which may include a change of plea.” He also ordered that McCollum appear for a plea hearing no later than March 26 on St. Croix, or March 24, 25 or 26 on St. Thomas, “given the assigned U.S. Attorney is resident in St. Thomas.”
Anselmi and McCollum were charged in February 2024 with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, mail fraud and making false statements to the U.S. Small Business Administration and a financial institution in connection with an alleged scheme to defraud the COVID-era federal Paycheck Protection Program.
Anselmi in particular has been identified as a key figure in the ongoing federal case against the Charlemagnes — former subcontractors accused of bilking millions under a federally funded contract while allegedly mismanaging disaster recovery materials — and former V.I. Housing Finance Authority executive Darin Richardson. According to a grand jury indictment of the Charlemagnes and Richardson, Richardson awarded the warehousing contract to Anselmi and McCollum’s company, Island Services Group, while working as VIHFA’s chief operating officer. ISG subcontracted the work to the Charlemagnes’ company, D&S Trucking.
Richardson was found guilty of making material false statements to a federal agent, criminal conflict of interest, bank fraud, money laundering and making false statements on a loan application last March. Over the course of a two-week trial, prosecutors showed that Richardson received a $107,000 loan from Anselmi and that he continued signing off on checks to ISG despite notifying VIHFA of a conflict of interest.
Kearney has set a July 13 trial date for the Charlemagnes and, after conferring with Assistant U.S. Attorney Denise George at Wednesday’s status conference, said Anselmi and McCollum will stand trial the week after the Charlemagne case concludes.
Attorneys for the Charlemagnes have sparred with prosecutors over what testimony from Anselmi, if any, could be heard by a jury. Anselmi’s medical issues prompted attorneys on both sides to seek a recorded deposition last March, but the process came to a standstill after “a dispute arose as to the extent to which he could be cross-examined regarding the PPP Indictment,” Senior District Judge Wilma Lewis recorded in a September opinion.
Lewis found that an immunity agreement between Anselmi and the government only covered testimony related to the Charlemagnes and that “in the absence of a change in Anselmi’s potential criminal exposure which would permit him to fully answer Defendant’s cross-examination questions… without a legitimate fear of self-incrimination,” his testimony would be excluded at trial.
On Wednesday, Nadler confirmed that the Justice Department provided the defense with a proposed agreement last Friday to resolve the matter as to judicial immunity, which Nadler said she and McChain are discussing with Anselmi.
Kearney ordered that the defense report on their acceptance or rejection of that deal by midday Friday and cautioned that he did not want any more delays.
“I just have to make sure we keep moving,” he said.
