Former heavyweight boxer Goran Gogic, whose drug trafficking trial was postponed after allegations of jury tampering, kept a photo of a witness’s family on a contraband cell phone in his jail cell, federal prosecutors have revealed.
That find was sparked by a shocking last-minute development the weekend before opening statements — when federal investigators learned of a plot to pay one of the jurors $100,000 — and could lead to Gogic’s lawyers getting tossed from the case.
A search of the Montenegrin prize fighter’s cell at MDC Brooklyn turned up cell phones and sensitive documents from his case — originally in English but translated into his native language — even though the documents are restricted by a court order for use only by his defense team, U.S. Attorney Francisco Navarro said at hearing in Brooklyn Federal Court.
“The photograph found in his cell bears the ‘sensitive’ stamp. This is extremely concerning because there’s no reason to have a photograph of a witness’s family in your cell unless of course you also have access to mobile phones that you can use to disseminate that photo,” Navarro told U.S. District Court Judge Joan Azrack on Dec. 17.
A 2023 court order prohibits Gogic, 46, from possessing “sensitive” discovery documents, including information about witnesses that prosecutors must hand over to the defense to aid in their preparation from the case. He can review those documents, but only in the presence of his lawyers.
Navarro said that not only did Gogic have some of that material in his cell, the documents provided to the defense team were initially written in English — but the copies Gogic had were translated into his native language.
The government expects to call for a conflict-of-interest hearing for Gogic’s legal team, as well, Navarro said.
“Based on what was learned in that jury tampering investigation, the government has identified a number of conflicts that may merit disqualification of the entire firm of Rubinstein & Corozzo, which includes the three lawyers present today, Joseph Corozzo, Angela Lipsman and Ian Healy,” Navarro said, adding, “The government may be seeking disqualification, though we have not landed on a final position on that yet.”
Corozzo didn’t immediately return a message Tuesday seeking comment.
“I am first hearing about this now and we don’t have the documents that were purportedly found and translated and I’m not sure if they’re truly protected material,” Corozzo said at the Dec. 17 hearing.
Gogic, who remains held without bail, was set to stand trial on charges he trafficked more than 20 tons of cocaine through U.S. ports, coordinating between cocaine suppliers in Colombia, cargo ship crew members who transported tons of the drug and port workers in Europe and the U.S.
The U.S. seized three of these shipments, the feds allege — more than 1,400 kilos (3,000 pounds) of cocaine at the Port of New York and New Jersey on Feb. 27, 2019; more than 500 kilos (1,100 pounds) at the Port of Philadelphia on March 18, 2019; and nearly 18,000 kilos (nearly 40,000 pounds) of coke at the Port of Philadelphia on June 19, 2019, worth more than $1 billion, in what was described as one of the largest cocaine seizures in U.S. history.
The jury tampering plot, first reported by the Daily News, upended Gogic’s trial, with prosecutors announcing on Nov. 17 that someone offered a juror $100,000 to acquit the former boxer.
That day, the FBI arrested three men for their alleged roles in the plot, and Navarro told Azrack that people involved in the scheme “may have obtained a copy of the jury list and/or jury information from individuals connected to this trial.”
Two of the three men, Afrim Kupa, who has a criminal background and purported ties to Balkan organized crime and the Gambino crime family, and Valmir Krasniqi, have since been indicted on obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice charges.
The third, Mustafa Fjeta — who prosecutors alleged in a criminal complaint was already acquainted with the juror and contacted him to make the bribe offer — does not appear on the indictment. He’s engaged in plea negotiations, according to a court filing last month.
