“I had been masterfully set up.
“My escort Michael Manos and Craig Spence had a very cozy relationship, and both were ethical eunuchs. He perpetrated his most audacious makeover—a D.C. lobbyist. He wielded a bogus clientele that included big tobacco and the Republican Party.
“While I was being subjected to the government’s Machiavellian malevolence, I also had to contend with the revenge of Michael Manos, who embarked on a check-writing spree with my pilfered identity. Manos’ check writing spree unfolded over D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. Consequently, I faced criminal counts in those jurisdictions for passing bad checks! Manos theft of my identity and his check-forging extravaganza at my expense! It certainly aided and abetted the government’s declaration that I, Henry Vinson, am a miscreant of nearly unparalleled magnitude.
“As he wracked up offenses in my name, the Washington Times reported that Michael Manos had plundered Paul Balach’s checking account for $4,000 and also illicitly used his MasterCard, but the D.C. authorities didn’t prosecute Manos for a single count of identity theft or larceny against Paul. Moreover, at that time, I had a nest egg of $500,000, and I was the target of a federal grand jury, so it doesn’t make sense that I would run around the D.C. area kiting checks.
“I sincerely liked Paul Balach. When I was catering to D.C. we started to regularly lunch at Mr. Henry’s. I think Paul had major self-esteem issues, because he seemed to fall in love with every call boy escort I sent to him. Balach was especially smitten by my escort named Michael Manos. I discovered he bought Manos a car and lavished him with jewelry.
“Balach wasn’t independently wealthy, and I just hated to see him being taken advantage of by my own escort. I felt it was incumbent on me to convey to Paul that Manos didn’t love him, but rather loved his money. My intervention, however, didn’t assuage Mr. Balach’s largesse, because he was so smitten by Manos.
“The vast majority of call boys I employed were absolute sweethearts, but unfortunately Paul had fallen in love with a nasty piece of work: Manos, who was svelte with blond hair and blue eyes, and he hailed from upstate New York. Before becoming an escort, Manos had worked at a Benetton clothing store, so his preppy apparel and his charming personality were quite disarming and even enchanting.
“He was a natural born salesman, and I think that he had the powers of persuasion to sell contraceptives to a convent. As I became increasingly aware of Manos bilking Paul Balach, I told Manos that Paul was a friend of mine, and he should cease and desist bamboozling Paul into thinking that he loved him.
“Manos consented to quit conning Paul, but it was merely a ruse, because he eventually stole Paul Balach’s MasterCard and started forging his checks. When I found out about Manos’ latest antics with Paul, I gave him the boot from my apartment and I fired him. Manos vowed to exact vengeance on me as he stormed out of my apartment. Following his departure, I realized that he had stolen my wallet. After I threatened to involve the police, Manos retuned my wallet three days later via a courier.
“After Michael Manos left D.C., he did a 15-year prison stint in his native New York for kidnapping, robbery, criminal possession of stolen property, and larceny. Following Manos’ release from prison, he was strapped with parole for life, but he skipped on his parole. Manos then commenced on a nationwide odyssey of stolen identities, fraud, and embezzlement.
“Manos turned up as “Christian Michael de Medici” in Atlanta, where he pedaled a massive mortgage fraud that swindled a bank and private investors.
“Manos, then incarnated himself in Dallas as “Mladen Stefanov,” media mogul, restaurateur, and scion of a Greek tycoon. After Manos conned and defrauded a wave of marks in Dallas, he fled to California. Federal authorities finally pinched him in San Francisco, and they found 30 phony credit cards and a fake Bulgarian driver’s license. He was extradited to New York where he served a year for parole violations, and then he was extradited to Texas where he spent six months in the pokey on fraud charges.
“As I’ve followed the criminal career of Michael Manos, I wasn’t alarmed that he impersonated a lobbyist for the Republican Party.
“I met with my attorney Greta Van Susteren at her office shortly after I had been indicted. In addition to facing a lifetime behind bars, I had to cope with the various charges arising from Manos’ theft of my identity and his check writing spree. Van Susteren said that she would file a motion that would compel the U.S. Attorney for D.C. to publicly release my client list, and her motion would abate the government’s zealous prosecution of me.
“When our conversation rolled around to Michael Manos and his theft of my identity, she suggested that I plea bargain to his offenses and make restitution. Although pleading guilty to Manos’ crimes struck me as counter-intuitive, Van Susteren’s rationale was that it would be optimal for me to be free and clear of those offenses as she dealt with my 43-count federal quagmire.
“The angst and apprehension of the preceding year that culminated in my indictments had left me existentially exhausted, and I acquiesced to Van Susteren’s recommendations. As I was in the midst of making restitution for Manos’ larceny, I had a status hearing before Judge Greene, which is an informal discussion between the judge, the prosecution, and the defendant about the progress of a case.
“When I departed the status hearing, I was arrested at the courthouse by Virginia authorities for the various offenses that Michael Manos had committed in Virginia. Secret Service agent Paul Ware was conspicuously present when the Virginia authorities arrested me.
“Greta Van Susteren filed an 11-page motion that would force the U.S. Attorney’s office to release my client list, which had been seized by the Secret Service via search warrants and subpoenas. But Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan Strasser stonewalled her motion. He refused to release my client lists, because “he fears intimidation of government witnesses due to the embarrassing nature of the case.”
“The government had been the primary intimidator of my client list, so I found Strasser’s rationale for quashing Van Susteren’s motion to be extremely ironic. If the government was unwilling to release the names of my clientele, Van Susteren put forth an alternative motion that would prohibit prosecutors from entering the seized items into evidence for the trial.
“In early October, Judge Greene ruled on Van Susteren’s motions. He released the documentation to Van Susteren and banned my clients list's public disclosure. After the ruling, Van Susteren started to undergo a metamorphosis. She eventually advised me to start cooperating with the government. I found her change in strategy to be perplexing.
“I’ve since wondered if Van Susteren’s maneuver to publicly expose my clientele had been her one-trick pony or if she had sub rosa motivations. By that time, however, I was utterly spent, and I obsequiously complied with Van Susteren’s counsel. If she had recommended that I jump off the Empire State Building, I would’ve booked the next flight to New York.
“I ultimately pled guilty to conspiring to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and credit card fraud, and I agreed to “cooperate” with government. Although those two counts carried a maximum aggregate sentence of 25 years, Van Susteren assured me that my cooperation would result in a “downward departure” from the sentencing guidelines and probation was the likely outcome.”