The trial of a former V.I. Housing Finance Authority executive charged in connection with a multimillion-dollar fraud is slated to start in late January.
The trial of Darin Richardson, former VIHFA chief operating officer, was originally scheduled for Nov. 24. Prosecutors asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Emile Henderson for a 30-day continuance on Oct. 30 after the government’s lead counsel withdrew from the case. The new lead counsel, Assistant U.S. Attorney Yasir Sadat, will be on preapproved leave during parts of November and December, and an unspecified number of the government’s essential witnesses will be unavailable during the week of Nov. 25 due to family, travel and medical reasons, according to the government’s motion to continue.
Richardson initially opposed the continuance and maintained his right to demand a prompt and speedy trial, defense attorney Darren John-Baptiste wrote in a Nov. 1 response to the government’s motion.
Following a Nov. 4 hearing on the matter, Richardson agreed to not oppose the motion if the government handed over early Jencks material or the evidence the government plans to use in its prosecution. Both parties filed a joint notice of that agreement last Wednesday.
Henderson wrote in Friday’s order that continuing the trial until the week of Jan. 20 will give the government time to confirm the availability of its lead counsel and witnesses, and it “avoids the scheduling problems attendant on seating a jury during the holiday season.”
Richardson was indicted on charges of criminal conflict of interest and making material false statements in June. Simultaneously, Davidson Charlemagne was charged with government program fraud and wire fraud. He and his wife, Sasha Charlemagne, were charged with money laundering conspiracy.
The charges came after an investigation into a government contract to manage and store lumber shipped to the territory after hurricanes Irma and Maria and earmarked for disaster recovery projects.
Prosecutors alleged that Davidson Charlemagne, then head of maintenance for the V.I. Education Department, had the owner of company ISG submit a bid for the contract with Charlemagne’s company, D&S Trucking, listed as a subcontractor.
Richardson oversaw that bid process during his tenure at VIHFA, and the three-year, $2.9 million contract ballooned to nearly $4.4 million in less than a year. VIHFA paid ISG more than $3.6 million, and $3,177,000 went into bank accounts controlled by the Charlemagnes, prosecutors alleged in the indictment, “while the St. Croix and St. Thomas woodpiles have remained almost entirely unused — stacked on pallets outdoors, and exposed to the elements for over three years.”
In a superseding indictment filed on Oct. 23, prosecutors added nine counts of making false claims upon the United States against the Charlemagnes. Those counts correspond to nine timesheets they submitted to VIHFA “knowing that said claims were false, fictitious and fraudulent,” according to documents in U.S. District Court.
The charges against Richardson stemmed from a $107,000 payment he received from the owner of ISG while Richardson was still at VIHFA in February 2022. One year later and after he resigned, Richardson told a special agent with the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Inspector General’s Office that he had recused himself from all matters related to ISG because he was pursuing a business relationship with the company’s owner.
Both Charlemagnes filed motions to sever Richardson’s case in July, arguing that none of their charges overlapped, they were not alleged to have aided and abetted one another and there was no alleged conspiracy. The U.S. Attorney’s Office opposed those motions and sought to connect Richardson to the Charlemagnes through the owner of ISG — referred to in court documents as “Individual One.”
U.S. District Judge Wilma Lewis granted the motion to sever in September.
