By Pete Brush

Law360, New York (August 27, 2020, 5:38 PM EDT) -- A Brooklyn state court judge accused of obstructing a probe into bank corruption was scheduled for a 2021 jury trial Thursday by a Manhattan federal judge, who also discussed a still-murky plan to bring jurors back to the Southern District of New York amid COVID-19 concerns.

U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan set a Jan. 4, 2021, control date for Judge Sylvia Ash, formerly the presiding justice in Brooklyn's commercial division — and now a criminal defendant — to face a federal jury trial that could last three weeks.

But Judge Kaplan cautioned that he and other SDNY judges are currently working to get the dates approved through a committee that is assigning a backlog of trials to a limited number of courtrooms outfitted to keep jurors and others safe from the deadly coronavirus.

"We have a very limited number of courtrooms that can accommodate criminal jury trials," Judge Kaplan said at a morning telephone conference.

Ash, who is currently suspended, has denied charges brought by the Manhattan U.S. attorney's office in October that she deleted emails and texts and lied to investigators as they probed New York City's Municipal Credit Union. Ash previously chaired of the board of directors at MCU.

Others charged with wrongdoing at the bank include former MCU CEO Kam Wong, who pled guilty in 2018 to embezzlement. Wong was sentenced last year to 5½ years behind bars and is currently in federal prison in New Jersey with a 2024 release date.

Wong's arrest sparked an investigation into lax oversight at the 500,000-member, $3 billion credit union, and last year, the New York State Department of Financial Services placed MCU into a National Credit Union Administration conservatorship.

As he worked on scheduling for Ash on Thursday, Judge Kaplan also discussed the Southern District's plan to restart jury trials. He said that an assignment committee is deciding which trials should go first and is using criteria including whether a defendant is incarcerated and whether a defendant had a trial set prior to the onset of the pandemic.

A document obtained by Law360 shows that the assignment committee consists of Manhattan U.S. District Judges P. Kevin Castel and J. Paul Oetken and White Plains U.S. District Judge Vincent L. Briccetti.

"It is expected that when trials resume many judges will be seeking to set trial dates in the same time frame," the document says.

Another Manhattan federal judge, Valerie E. Caproni, has been involved in developing safety protocols for jurors, according to sources.

The district and its committees are overseen by Chief Judge Colleen McMahon.

District officials have said jury trials could resume on a limited basis as early as mid-September.

Judge Kaplan said that even with a Jan. 4 control date, he may not have the final say on when Ash's trial begins. It could be scheduled for any time during the first quarter of 2021, he said, cautioning lawyers for both sides to be ready. Like many who have largely been confined to their homes for the last five months, Judge Kaplan also expressed frustration at not being able to move cases forward.

"I don't know about you, but it's driving me crazy," he said of always working from home, drawing a laugh from other hearing participants. 

"Judge, it certainly has its challenges," Ash's lawyer Carrie Cohen said.

Ash is represented by Carrie Cohen and Janie C. Buckley of Morrison & Foerster LLP.

The government is represented by Daniel Richenthal and Eli Mark of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.

The case is USA v. Ash, case number 1:19-cr-00780, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

--Editing by Steven Edelstone.

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