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'Drug kingpin' gets $10m bail
11/04/2006 23:16 - (SA)
Fort Lauderdale - A federal judge set a $10m bail on Tuesday for an alleged Israeli organised crime figure described by US authorities as one of the world's biggest distributors of Ecstasy.
Judge Edwin Torres set the bail amount for Zeev Rosenstein over the objections of federal prosecutors, who said they were concerned that Rosenstein had ready access to huge assets and could readily flee the United States.
"I do know that Mr Rosenstein has significant financial resources," said Ben Greenberg, the assistant US attorney handling the case.
But Torres said he was concerned about allowing Rosenstein to be held without bail or even a detention hearing for such a lengthy time since his extradition from Israel in early March.
"I'm a little uncomfortable to continue a detention hearing for that long," Torres said. Additonal hearing
The judge added that even if Rosenstein could make the $10m bail, he would hold another hearing to set other conditions before he is released.
Rosenstein, 51, is accused in a 2004 grand jury indictment with conspiring to distribute more than 1 million Ecstasy pills in the United States between summer 1999 and November 2001. He has not yet entered a formal plea, but his attorneys have said he will plead not guilty.
An arraignment that would have included a formal plea was postponed until April 26. Roy Black, who is representing Rosenstein, said he needed more time to prepare for the case, which includes translation of much evidence from Hebrew into English.
"It just takes a while to get things together and get up to speed," Black said.
Rosenstein was on the drug enforcement administration's list of 44 top worldwide drug traffickers. He was arrested in Israel more than a year ago. Network spans four continets
Rosenstein, who largely escaped prosecution for his alleged crimes in Israel for years, faces up to 20 years in prison on each of the two counts in his drug indictment. Rosenstein's Ecstasy network allegedly spanned four continents and used Latin American smugglers to bring the drug into the United States.
Ecstasy, also known as MDMA, is a synthetic drug that typically induces euphoria, increased energy and sexual arousal. But it also suppresses appetite, thirst and the need to sleep, and in high doses can cause several health problems and possibly death.
- AP
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