John George Koeltl (; born October 25, 1945) is a
United States district judge
The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...
of the
in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
.
Education
Koeltl was born in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. He graduated from
Regis High School in New York City in 1963. He studied
history
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
at
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...
, receiving an
Artium Baccalaureus degree in 1967. In 1971 he obtained his
Juris Doctor from
Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the ''
Harvard Law Review''. He served as a
law clerk for Judge
Edward Weinfeld of the Southern District of New York and then for Justice
Potter Stewart of the
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
.
Legal career
From 1973 to 1974, Koeltl served as an assistant special prosecutor for the
Watergate Special Prosecution Force, then entered private law practice in New York.
For several years, Koeltl was a partner at the New York law firm of
Debevoise & Plimpton
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP (often shortened to Debevoise) is an international law firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1931 by Harvard Law School alumnus Eli Whitney Debevoise and Oxford-trained William Stevenson, the firm was origi ...
. During these years, Koeltl served on several committees of the
Association of the Bar of the City of New York
The New York City Bar Association (City Bar), founded in 1870, is a voluntary association of lawyers and law students. Since 1896, the organization, formally known as the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, has been headquartered in a ...
and
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of aca ...
and was the author of several published articles on securities law and other topics.
Federal judicial service
Koeltl was nominated by President
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
on April 26, 1994, to a seat vacated by Judge
Shirley Wohl Kram. He was confirmed by the Senate on August 9, 1994, and commissioned on August 10, 1994.
Judge Koeltl is the assigned judge for the trial case of Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo, and Samuel Reed, co-founders of
BitMEX
BitMEX is a cryptocurrency exchange and derivative trading platform. It is owned and operated by HDR Global Trading Limited, which is registered in the Seychelles.
History
BitMEX was founded in 2014 by Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo, and Samuel Reed, ...
. The trial date is set for March 28, 2022, in New York.
Notable decisions
Koeltl is known for his October 2006 decision to sentence civil rights lawyer
Lynne Stewart
Lynne Irene Stewart (October 8, 1939 – March 7, 2017) was an American defense attorney who was known for representing controversial, famous defendants. She herself was convicted on charges of conspiracy and providing material support to terro ...
to 28 months in prison for providing material assistance to a terrorist, her client, 1993
World Trade Center bombing
The 1993 World Trade Center bombing was a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City, U.S., carried out on February 26, 1993, when a van bomb detonated below the North Tower of the complex. The urea nitrate–hydrogen gas en ...
mastermind
Omar Abdel-Rahman
Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman ( ar, عمر عبد الرحمن), (ʾUmar ʾAbd ar-Raḥmān; 3 May 1938 – 18 February 2017), commonly known in the United States as "The Blind Sheikh", was a blind Egyptian Islamist militant who served a life sent ...
, by secretly passing messages to his radical followers in Egypt. Koeltl rejected the prosecutors' recommendation of 30 years. The
Second Circuit Court of Appeals
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory comprises the states of Connecticut, New York and Vermont. The court has appellate juri ...
ordered Koeltl to reconsider whether that sentence was too light and to take into account the government's arguments that she had committed perjury at her trial and abused her position as a lawyer. On remand, Koeltl cited remarks Stewart had made after being sentenced that indicated a lack of remorse. He changed the sentence to 10 years in prison.
In 2011, he presided over
the case involving Raffaello Follieri, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy, fraud and money laundering in connection with purchases of property from the Catholic Church. The Follieri case received significant media scrutiny due to his relationship with celebrities, notably
Anne Hathaway
Anne Jacqueline Hathaway (born November 12, 1982) is an American actress. The recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award, she was among the world's highest-paid actresses in 2 ...
and several politicians, including former president
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
and 2008 Republican presidential nominee
John McCain. Koeltl also presided over a case brought by Citigroup against Wells Fargo to halt the latter's purchase of Wachovia, which Citi had earlier announced plans to purchase. The litigation settled in 2010.
A U.S. appeals court, in an opinion written by Koeltl, tossed out a $654 million jury verdict against the Palestine Liberation Organization for terrorist attacks in the early 2000s in Israel that killed or wounded Americans, saying the U.S. courts lack jurisdiction because the attacks were random and not aimed at the United States.
In April 2018 Koeltl was assigned to preside over a civil
lawsuit filed by the
Democratic National Committee against the
Russian Federation
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
,
WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks () is an international non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder and director and ...
, the
Donald Trump presidential campaign There have been four Political campaign, presidential campaigns waged by Donald Trump for President of the United States. He has additionally mused about running on several other occasions.
Donald Trump presidential campaign may refer to:
* Donal ...
, and several individuals. The suit alleges that
Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections harmed Democrats. Koeltl, in dismissing the suit in July 2019, described WikiLeaks' publishing activities as "plainly of the type entitled to the strongest protection that the First Amendment offers."
In September 2020 Koeltl presided over
Sam Party v. Kosinski in which the Serve America Party sued Todd D. Valentine and Robert A. Brehm, the Co-Execute Directors of the
New York State Board of Elections, and Peter S. Kosinski, Douglas A. Kellner, and Andrew J. Spano, the Commissioners of the New York State Board of Elections (NYSBOE). The Serve America Movement (SAM) was added to
Qualified New York political parties after it attained the required number of votes in the 2018 election for Governor of New York. NYSBOE changed New York State Election Law after the election, to increase the minimum requirement from 50,000 votes to 2% or about 130,000 votes. SAM alleged that the rule change violated the First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and association, and the equal protection and due process protections of the Fourteenth Amendment of the SAM Party and its supporters.
In May 2021 Koeltl presided over
Libertarian Party of N.Y. v. N.Y. Bd. of Elections in which the
Libertarian Party of New York and the
Green Party of New York
The Green Party of New York is the affiliate of the Green Party of the United States in the U.S. state of New York. It was founded in 1992 and is a part of the Green Party movement. The Party has had ballot access at various points in its histo ...
sued the
New York State Board of Elections, its chairs, commissioners, and executive directors. The Libertarian Party and Green Party were added to
Qualified New York political parties after they attained the required number of votes in the 2018 election for Governor of New York. After the NYSBOE rule change, the plaintiffs alleged that the amendments to the New York Election Law found in Sections 9 and 10 of Part ZZZ of the 2020-2021 Fiscal Year New York State Budget Bill ("Part ZZZ"), violated the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of both parties. District Judge John G. Koeltl denied the request.
[Casetext (13 May 2021]
Libertarian Party of N.Y. v. N.Y. Bd. of Elections
/ref>
As a result of Koeltl's decision on both the Serve America Movement lawsuit and the Libertarian Party lawsuit, the Libertarian Party, Serve America Movement, Green Party, and Independence Party of New York have had their ballot access removal upheld in the State of New York.
See also
*
References
Sources
*
Individual Practices of Judge Koeltl
from the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koeltl, John G.
1945 births
Living people
Lawyers from New York City
Georgetown University alumni
Harvard Law School alumni
Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States
Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton
Regis High School (New York City) alumni
20th-century American judges
Philodemic Society members
21st-century American judges