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MOBILE (AP) — A federal judge rejected the government’s plea agreement to give a Florida man 10 months of home confine ment, plus a $225,000 fine, for his part in a $5 million phone scheme. Nicholas Elliott of Stuart, Fla., was accused of money laundering and bankruptcy fraud in an 87-count indictment. His lawyer worked out a plea deal with U.S. Attorney J. Don Foster. The agreement would have recommended Elliott be sen tenced to 10 months confine ment at his $800,000 home in Florida and fined $225,000. .. The attorneys presented the deal to US District Judge Richard Vollmer, who rejected it Monday, saying he’s had to impose harsh sentences on drug defendants and couldn’t sign Elliott’s agreement. Elliott, his wife and three oth ers were accused of stealing long-distance codes from Sprint and reselling them. They then juggled the proceeds among at least seven different Elliott-con trolled companies and at least nine different bank accounts, the indictment charges. The defendants tried to hide more than $5 million in illegally obtained funds, according to the allegations. “The court is not satisfied that justice is done in this case,” Vollmer said. “This court sen tences young men every day to substantial terms of imprison ment for drugs. Last week I sen tenced a young man to 292 months for drugs.’ Michael Fawer of Covington, La., Elliott’s attorney, protested the judge’s decision and plans to ask the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to order Vollmer to sign off on the plea deal. “I’m not crazy about the plea agreement myself, but we made it, and we honored it” Foster said. “The judge was understand ably critical of it.”
Newspaper Details
Athens News Courier
Athens, Alabama, US
Wed, Aug 30, 2000
Page 8
Full Page
Clipped by
Charles R.
USA 07 Jul 2026
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