Opinion ID: 588111
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: 26 Bowery, Chinese Moon and World Express

Text: 54 While significant information about the 26 Bowery building was known prior to the unlawful search--Eng's interest in the building (through Bowery Mansion), the selling corporation (26 Bowery Corp.), the name of the seller's attorney (Ronald De Petris) and the names of Eng's attorneys--it was the search of the safe that revealed the names of the owners of 26 Bowery Corp., Sol Leitner and Frieda Grant. The important evidence admitted at trial concerned closing information on the price paid and amount borrowed by Eng to purchase the 26 Bowery building. At least some of the closing information admitted at trial may have been provided only by Leitner and Grant. To the extent that Leitner and Grant were the source of the closing information, inevitable discovery of the evidence in their possession becomes more difficult to prove because their identities were discovered in the search of the safe, and alternate routes to discovery of these parties may be attenuated. 55 Interdonato knew prior to the unlawful search that a series of cashier's checks issued by Hang Seng Bank had been deposited into Chinese Moon's National Westminster Bank account. After the arrest of Eng, Interdonato subpoenaed Hang Seng Bank, and discovered a variety of records admitted at trial showing that these cashier's checks originated from parties in Hong Kong. Subject to the district court's fact finding, this seems to us a convincing showing of inevitable discovery of the records in question. Interdonato had detailed knowledge of fund transfers, rooted in pre-search events, and the only step that remained to discovery was issuance of a subpoena for the types of records Hang Seng Bank probably would produce. 56 It appears that Interdonato first learned of the existence of World Express from the National Westminster Bank checkbook discovered in Eng's safe. After the search, National Westminster Bank was subpoenaed, and a series of cashier's checks and wire transfer deposits into the World Express account discovered. The banks from which the funds originated--Wing Lung Bank, Kwantung Bank, and BCCI--then were subpoenaed, leading to the discovery of additional evidence admitted against Eng. It is possible that discovery of the mere existence of World Express was inevitable. Wang F. Luk, the accountant, and Frank Lam, the attorney, both of whom apparently had some information on World Express, were known to the government prior to the search. However, a case for inevitable discovery of the information produced by Wing Lung Bank, Kwantung Bank, and BCCI would appear to involve a far more attenuated chain of events.