The Defense Screws Up and the People Pay for It

Yet another twist in the story of what Charlie calls "the scariest looking pairing he's ever seen." Yesterday Mahender Sabhnani and his wife Varsha were back in federal court on Long Island to answer to the allegation that they had violated their four and a half million dollar bail by running their perfume/scents business from outside of the confines of their home. Instead of ruling, U.S. District Judge Thomas Platt sent the pair back to their multi-million dollar mansion in Muttontown to wait until September 19, when he said he would rule on the case. Meanwhile, he instructed the prosecutors to get together with the defense privately to sort out all of the details. In court papers, however, it seems clear what happened. The bail that the Sabhnanis were released on stated that if the two wanted to continue to run their perfume business, then they should do it from their home and no place off site. Somehow, the Sabhnanis did not get the message and the defense attorneys who, from the way the court papers make it sound knew that the couple was violating parole, did not advise them of their misdeeds.

So, where does this leave everything? Well, the Sabhnanis are back at their Long Island palace despite clearly violating the conditions of their bail. The fact that their own defense attorneys did not advise them of their violation should not factor into it. At the end of the day they violated their bail which, in my opinion, they should not have received in the first place. Yet somehow Scaring and company get off the hook simply by saying to Judge Platt "Oops, my bad." I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that if a poor person of any ethnicity violated the conditions of his or her bail and tried to be given a second chance simply by saying, "Well, nobody told me I couldn't do it," the judge would laugh as their ass was hauled back to Rikers. It seems that if you want second or third chances in life you need to be rich. Peace.

Photos - Top left: Mahender Sabhnani (www.indiequill.wordpress.com), Top right: Varsha Sabhnani (www.nypost.com), Bottom: The couple's home in Muttontown, NY (newsfeedresearcher.com)