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septimasexta ago

Just found out that the 10 missionaries had TWO lawyers! Jore Puello AND Edwin Coq

Coq was hired by PUELLO! He was fired by PUELLO when Coq was accused of BRIBING missionaries' way out of jail. Bribery is not uncommon in Haiti. IS THIS WHY BILL HAD TO INTERVENE?

https://www.zoominfo.com/p/Edwin-Coq/1446746559

http://homeopathyworldcommunity.ning.com/group/haitidisasterrelief/forum/topics/child-trafficking-started

"Edwin Coq, Haitian Lawyer For Jailed US Missionaries, Fired PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - The Haitian lawyer for 10 U.S. Baptists charged with child kidnapping tried to bribe the missionaries' way out of jail and has been fired, the attorney who hired him said Saturday night. The Haitian lawyer, Edwin Coq, denied the allegation. He said the $60,000 he requested from the Americans' families was his fee. Jorge Puello, the attorney in the neighboring Dominican Republic retained by relatives of the 10 American missionaries after their arrest last week, told The Associated Press that he fired Coq on Friday night. He had hired Coq to represent the detainees at Haitian legal proceedings. Coq orchestrated "some kind of extortion with government officials" that would have led to the release of nine of the 10 missionaries, Puello charged. Coq denied the requested $60,000 payment amounted to a bribe. "I have worked for 10 people for four days working all hours," he said. "Look at what hour I'm working now, responding to these calls. I have the right to this money." On Friday, Coq had told the AP that he was working for no fee. Puello said Coq initially requested $10,000 but kept asking for bigger and bigger amounts."

http://economicsnews.com/s/businesscaribbean_old1/ "Edwin Coq, Haitian Lawyer For Jailed US Missionaries, FiredHuffington Post

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/6769966/bill-clinton-urges-solution-to-haiti-kidnap-case/ The missionaries' lawyer, Edwin Coq, said he had requested the 10 be released provisionally pending the further hearings, but no decision was immediately taken on that. Coq said the Americans, who had been held at police headquarters up to now, were taken after the questioning on Friday to established prisons -- the women to a women's prison in the Petionville suburb and the men to the quake-damaged central prison in the capital. "

Please note that the links no longer work. Coincidence? ESPECIALLY THIS ONE: http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/6769966/bill-clinton-urges-solution-to-haiti-kidnap-case/

Are_we_sure ago

Just found out that the 10 missionaries had TWO lawyers! Jorge Puello AND Edwin Coq

You're just learning this? They actually had more than two lawyers, not including Puello who was not a lawyer.

You knew Puello was not a lawyer right? Who did you think was representing them in court? They needed a real lawyer licensed to practice in Haiti. Puello was exposed and disappeared before they got out of jail and certainly before Silsby trial which was months later.

He claimed to be a lawyer, but he was not Haitian. He was living in the Domican Republic, so he was not licensed to practice law in Haiti. He was acting as legal adviser. Puello was just a conman. He found out where the missionaries were from and contact their families in Idaho and that's how he got hired. I don't think he spoke to Silsby or anyone else in Haiti first.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/world/americas/16haiti.html

Two days after they were arrested on Jan. 29 while attempting to take 33 children across the border from Haiti into the Dominican Republic, Mr. Puello called up an Idaho church where five of the 10 Americans attend, offering pro bono legal services. Two relatives called him back and accepted, and Mr. Puello then began acting as the group’s lawyer, even though he lacked a law degree. Since his background has emerged, some of the detainees have sought to distance themselves from the man.

“My clients have never met Mr. Puello and know nothing about him,” said Caleb Stegall, the district attorney of Jefferson County, Kansas, who is representing Drew Culberth, Paul Thompson, Silas Thompson and Steve McMullin. “As far as my clients are concerned, Mr. Puello never spoke on their behalf and as far as I am concerned, Mr. Puello has no involvement in this case now on behalf of my clients.”

Hiram Sasser, who is representing Jim Allen, said his client never authorized Mr. Puello to represent him, either.

I think Puello was trying to steal Coq's legal fee. Coq was a real lawyer.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/world/americas/12haiti.html? “I help people in this kind of situation. We’re not going to charge these people a dime.” But other lawyers for the detainees said that the families had wired Mr. Puello $12,000 to pay for the Americans’ transportation out of Haiti if they were released, and that they had been told by Mr. Puello in a conference call late Tuesday that he needed an additional $36,000. Mr. Puello said that he had not participated in a conference call.

One lawyer for the families said that Mr. Puello had told him that he was licensed to practice law in Florida, but the lawyer said he had checked and found no such record. Mr. Puello said in the interview that he had never said he was licensed in Florida.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/24/world/americas/24puello.html

So far, there is no indication that Mr. Torres knew any of the Americans before they were detained by Haitian authorities on Jan. 29. Instead, it appears that on Jan. 31 Mr. Torres called the Idaho church that five of the 10 missionaries attended and, using the name Jorge Puello, offered his legal services pro bono. Relatives of some of the detainees took him up on his offer, apparently not knowing with whom they were dealing. He ended up receiving tens of thousands of dollars, a small amount of which he said Tuesday he intended to return to the families. “It’s in the bank,” he said. “The problem is, I can’t show up in a bank and say, ‘Here I am.’ ”

new4now ago

How would these families come up with Lawyers down there?

Have they worked with them before?

Did recommendation come through somewhere? Wink wink

with Silsby background, why on earth would she be hired anywhere, yet alone as a titled worker at Alert Sense?

Makes me think of how the Dems moved people publicly busted and put them in another area of the Dem machine

it just doesn't make sense

And more complexing is that no reporter really dug into it

Are_we_sure ago

How would these families come up with Lawyers down there?......Did recommendation come through somewhere? Wink wink

Puello was a conman and he reached out to the families in Idaho, through their church I believe. As for the recomendations. Do you know about consular services? The first item on the list of things they can do is

Provide a list of local attorneys who speak English

And more complexing is that no reporter really dug into it

The story of Jorge Puello was extensively covered in the press. See my other comment.

new4now ago

Seems he was covered more than anything else