By Pete Brush

Law360, New York (May 18, 2021, 5:08 PM EDT) -- A Manhattan federal judge on Tuesday affirmed bail for a Texas man accused of helping orchestrate a $14 million COVID-19 loan fraud, after the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office said he is an anti-government "Moorish Sovereign Citizen" who claims immunity from prosecution.

During a virtual hearing, Manhattan U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer upheld a May 12 finding by U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn that granted a $200,000 bail package to defendant Amos Mundendi.

"This is a very, very close call that could have gone either way," Judge Engelmayer told Mundendi, warning the defendant that he will likely be detained if there are any missteps. "You are under strict rules here."

Mundendi, who also goes by "Mos" and El Ashile Mundi, is accused alongside co-defendants Apocalypse Bella and Mackenzy Toussaint of using companies including an Africa-focused retailer as conduits to fraudulently apply for $14 million of loans for businesses hit by the deadly virus. The feds say they were paid out $4 million before they were caught.

Bella and Toussaint were released on $500,000 and $1 million bail packages, respectively, after the charges were announced in April. The government has not moved to appeal either of their bail packages, according to the docket, though it had unsuccessfully sought detention for Bella.

Mundendi has a Texas fraud conviction and has been arrested multiple times, according to the government. He allegedly told a police officer during a Texas traffic stop last year that as a Moorish Sovereign, he does not need auto insurance or a driver's license and does not need to follow speed limits.

His lawyer Tamara Giwa said that he was "intoxicated" and "grandstanding a little bit" when he said that to a police officer. "It is certainly not a belief that he subscribes to wholeheartedly," she said.

But prosecutor Dina McLeod came to the opposite conclusion, saying, "He appears to reject the authority of the U.S. government." McLeod noted that the government is in possession of recordings and chats offering powerful evidence of Mundendi's guilt.

The Democratic Republic of Congo-born defendant, who came to the U.S. in 2005 via a political asylum application, also has multiple forms of identification and recently used two different IDs to travel during one trip, McLeod said.

Giwa said that his bail conditions are "strict" and include electronic monitoring and travel restrictions, adding that has no incentive to flee to his homeland, where his family fled from war.

"That really is his home," Giwa said of the Dallas area, where he went to school and has a girlfriend and child.

The indictment charging the three men paints Mundendi as the most minor of the three defendants — a conduit who helped an allegedly fake loan application get processed, Giwa said. Bella and Toussaint, on the other hand, are accused of transferring proceeds into accounts they controlled.

Mundendi was on track to be released from custody in the coming days, with a warning from the judge to members of his family who listened in to keep him in compliance with his bail conditions.

The defendants are scheduled to be back in front of Judge Engelmayer on June 15.

Bella is represented by Charles Kaser and Yelena Sharova of the Sharova Law Firm.

Toussaint is represented by Bret Martin.

Mundendi is represented by Tamara Giwa of the Federal Defenders of New York Inc.

The government is represented by Dina McLeod of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.

The case is USA v. Bella et al., case number 1:21-cr-00247, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

--Editing by Steven Edelstone.

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