Here’s a really quick recap of Tony’s story…

  • Tony was an extremely outgoing, kind, successful real estate broker in Cleveland, Ohio who owned a real estate brokerage firm Realty Corporation of America.
  • Tony was simultaneously indicted by both federal and state prosecutors who called Tony’s case “the nations’ largest mortgage fraud case” in a May 6, 2010 press release.
  • Tony loses his federal trial.
  • As Tony is awaiting sentencing on his federal conviction and before his subsequent state trial begins… a bombshell is dropped upon Tony!
  • Turns out the girl who Tony thought was just his friend, was actually a member of the Federal/State Joint Task Force that was secretly spying on him since after his initial indictment!
  • Dawn Pasela, merely an office manager for the task force was directed by the Federal and State prosecutors to secretly spy on Tony and record her conversations with him (which tapes by the way are mysteriously lost). The prosecutors even directed Ms. Pasela to contribute funds towards Tony’s legal defense fund. (I know you’re asking yourself if any of this post indictment shenanigans is legal… no it’s not.)
  • Ms. Pasela eventually told Tony how her supervisors  engaged in unlawful “win at all costs” litigation by hiding evidence which would have exonerated Tony at his federal trial and which he later used at his state trial where he was found innocent (Yes, innocent. Even his state trial judge, Daniel Gaul, is offering to help Tony any way he can. See an attached letter from Judge Gaul to Tony here.).
  • Ms. Pasela also told Tony how the prosecutors would host meetings at their office with  multiple government witness present at the same time to help them manufacture false witness testimony. (In Tony’s state trial the witnesses later recanted their federal testimony.)
  • Ms. Pasela then told Tony about how the prosectors oversaw the destroying and shifting of exculpatory evidence between state and federal jurisdictions and locations in order to keep that evidence from Tony’s defense.
  • What happened to Ms. Pasela? Tragically, Ms. Pasela died.
  • Prosecutors threatened Ms. Pasela “with prosecution” if she appeared in court to testify. Detectives Arvin Clar, Donald Cleland and FBI Agent Jeff Kassouf surrounded Ms. Pasela’s apartment and threatened her with “federal prison” if she testified on Tony’s behalf. Please see affidavits from the Pasela family here. Days later, Ms. Pasela was found dead in her apartment by her parents.
  • Armed with this information obtained from Ms. Pasela, Tony, from prison, with NO attorney, won his subsequent state trial which was prosecuted by the same Federal/State task force.
  • Since that state trial in April 2012, Tony has sat in a federal prison waiting for his federal Appeal to be heard.

After Tony proved his innocence in state court, Tony’s state trial judge, Daniel Gaul provided transcripts and exhibits to Tony “at no cost in the interests of justice,” (see letter from Judge Gaul to Tony) but Tony’s federal trial judge, Donald Nugent, denied Tony’s request to add those state transcripts unto the federal record.

Judge Nugent has enabled prosecutorial misconduct by sealing key records, holding hearings about the case without Tony’s presence and denying Tony’s motion to compel prosecutors to turn over tapes made by Ms. Pasela.

And here we are nearing the end of October 2015 and Tony Viola still remains in a federal prison…