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FM
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A Revenge Plot So Intricate, the Prosecutors Were Pawns
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07...were-pawns.html?_r=1
Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times

Seemona Sumasar spent seven months in jail, accused of robberies that Queens prosecutors say were invented by an ex-boyfriend she had accused of rape, Jerry Ramrattan

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Soon after Seemona Sumasar started dating Jerry Ramrattan, she had an inkling that something might be wrong.

Mr. Ramrattan in Queens Criminal Court last week. He is set to go on trial in October on charges of rape and conspiracy. His lawyer and supporters say he is innocent.
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He said he was a police detective, but never seemed to go to work. He seemed obsessed with “C.S.I.,” “Law & Order” and other television police dramas.

About a year after he moved into her house in Queens, their relationship soured. One day, he cornered her, taped her mouth and raped her, she said. Mr. Ramrattan was arrested.
But he soon took his revenge, the authorities said. Drawing on his knowledge of police procedure, gleaned from his time as an informer for law enforcement, he accomplished what prosecutors in New York called one of the most elaborate framing plots that they had ever seen.

One night, Ms. Sumasar was pulled over by the police. Before she could speak, detectives slapped handcuffs on her. “You know you did it,” she said one later shouted at her. “Just admit it.”
Ms. Sumasar, a former Morgan Stanley analyst who was running a restaurant, said she had no idea what that meant. Yet suddenly, she was being treated like a brazen criminal. She was charged with carrying out a series of armed robberies, based on what the police said was a wealth of evidence, including credible witness statements and proof that her car was the getaway vehicle.

In her first extensive interview about her ordeal, she recalled sitting in jail, consumed by one thought: “Jerry is behind this.”
But when she insisted to the authorities that he had set her up, they belittled her claims.
Now, though, they concede that Ms. Sumasar was right — an astonishing turn of events that has transformed her case into one of the most bizarre in the city’s recent history.
They released her from jail last December after seven months, acknowledging that the entire case against her had been concocted by Mr. Ramrattan, officials said.

“We prosecute tens of thousands of cases each year, but in the collective memory, no one has ever seen anything like this before,” said Richard A. Brown, the Queens district attorney.
“Few people have the capacity to pull off a master plot of this magnitude to exact revenge,” Mr. Brown said.
Mr. Ramrattan framed Ms. Sumasar because she would not drop the rape charge, prosecutors said.
And so even as Mr. Ramrattan remained free on bail in the rape case, Ms. Sumasar, who had no prior criminal record, was facing up to 25 years in prison.

Despondent, Ms. Sumasar passed her days behind bars scouring the indictments against her for clues that could help prove her innocence, even as news of lurid crimes that she had not committed were splashed in newspapers.
“From the beginning, I said he made it up,” Ms. Sumasar said. “I never thought my life would become a cop film.”
Ms. Sumasar, 36, is bubbly and petite. She never finished college but used her analytical skills to land six-figure jobs on Wall Street. Yet she acknowledged she can be too trusting.
After her arrest, she lost her restaurant franchise and her house in Far Rockaway went into foreclosure. She was separated from her daughter, Chiara, 12.

Ms. Sumasar is now planning lawsuits against the Police Departments in New York City and in Nassau County, the location of one of her purported robberies, over her arrest. Neither agency would comment.
Mr. Ramrattan never worked as a law enforcement officer, prosecutors say, but he often presented himself as a private investigator.

Mr. Ramrattan, who is being held at Rikers Island, appeared this month in a Queens court, where a judge refused a request for bail and set his trial date on the rape and conspiracy charges for Oct. 3. He has pleaded not guilty to both. He and his supporters are now voicing their own theory of the case: Ms. Sumasar framed him.
“My son is innocent, he was set up,” said Shirley Ramrattan, Mr. Ramrattan’s mother.
Mr. Ramrattan’s lawyer, Frank Kelly, said, “Everything about Ms. Sumasar and her associates will come out.”
Some legal experts say Ms. Sumasar’s story shows how the American justice system can be easily manipulated, with the principle of innocent until proven guilty turned on its head.
Prosecutors countered that the web of false evidence presented by Mr. Ramrattan was so detailed they had little reason to doubt it.

But Anthony Grandinette, Ms. Sumasar’s former lawyer, said law enforcement was negligent.
“Why would a tiny woman with no criminal record, who worked 10 years on Wall Street, randomly hold up people at gunpoint at night dressed as a policewoman?” Mr. Grandinette asked.
Ms. Sumasar, the daughter of an Indian taxi company owner from the South American nation of Guyana, was the embodiment of immigrant success.

When Mr. Ramrattan, dressed in a suit and tie, first entered her restaurant in 2006 and introduced himself as a police detective, Ms. Sumasar, a single mother, recalled being impressed.
The two began dating, and Mr. Ramrattan eventually moved into Ms. Sumasar’s house. At first, he seemed attentive, but she grew suspicious of him. He lied constantly, she said.
“I said to Jerry, ‘You tell so many lies, I think you actually believe what you are saying,’ ” Ms. Sumasar said.
Throughout 2008, she said she begged him to leave but he refused.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07...were-pawns.html?_r=1

A version of this article appeared in print on July 26, 2011, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: A Revenge Plot So Intricate, The Prosecutors Were Pawns.

Replies sorted oldest to newest

That guy reminds of that used car salesman in the movie 'True Lies'. He messed up the poor girl's life with his fantsy of being a cop. Now he's in a real life CSI movie.

She should sell her story to Life Time Channel.
FM
quote:
About a year after he moved into her house in Queens, their relationship soured. One day, he cornered her, taped her mouth and raped her, she said. Mr. Ramrattan was arrested.
But he soon took his revenge, the authorities said. Drawing on his knowledge of police procedure, gleaned from his time as an informer for law enforcement, he accomplished what prosecutors in New York called one of the most elaborate framing plots that they had ever seen.

One night, Ms. Sumasar was pulled over by the police. Before she could speak, detectives slapped handcuffs on her. “You know you did it,” she said one later shouted at her. “Just admit it.”
Ms. Sumasar, a former Morgan Stanley analyst who was running a restaurant, said she had no idea what that meant. Yet suddenly, she was being treated like a brazen criminal. She was charged with carrying out a series of armed robberies, based on what the police said was a wealth of evidence, including credible witness statements and proof that her car was the getaway vehicle.

In her first extensive interview about her ordeal, she recalled sitting in jail, consumed by one thought: “Jerry is behind this.”
But when she insisted to the authorities that he had set her up, they belittled her claims.
Now, though, they concede that Ms. Sumasar was right — an astonishing turn of events that has transformed her case into one of the most bizarre in the city’s recent history.
They released her from jail last December after seven months, acknowledging that the entire case against her had been concocted by Mr. Ramrattan, officials said.


From a legal perspective, seems ridiculous to me. There is probably more than meets the eye here.
FM
Seemona Sumasar spent seven months in jail, accused of robberies that Queens prosecutors say were invented by an ex-boyfriend she had accused of rape, Jerry Ramrattan. She is a pretty girl, I hope she writes a book and has a good agent to market her experience into a career in advocacy.


Mr. Ramrattan in Queens Criminal Court last week. He is set to go on trial in October on charges of rape and conspiracy. His lawyer and supporters say he is innocent.

Hope this creep gets all he deserve in jail. Someone should tell the inmates he is a cop.
FM
quote:
Ms. Sumasar, 36, is bubbly and petite. She never finished college but used her analytical skills to land six-figure jobs on Wall Street.


not likely!Smile
then left to run a restaurant for pennies!
I smell a rat in this story Smile
FM
quote:
Originally posted by Mad Max:
quote:
Ms. Sumasar, 36, is bubbly and petite. She never finished college but used her analytical skills to land six-figure jobs on Wall Street.


not likely!Smile
then left to run a restaurant for pennies!
I smell a rat in this story Smile


bannas...is only so far bubbly and perky can tek yuh on Wall st Big Grin

anyway, good luck to her...this dude is ah real scum bag
FM
I dont know what it is with some Guyanese but I know People who only finished High School and ARE making 100K on Wall Street. I think is the Black water they used as drinking water and the Rice Flour Roti Burnham mek dem eat.
Nehru
quote:
Originally posted by Nehru:
I dont know what it is with some Guyanese but I know People who only finished High School and ARE making 100K on Wall Street. I think is the Black water they used as drinking water and the Rice Flour Roti Burnham mek dem eat.


compared to what the crooks they producing nowadaysm, Burnham seemed to have doen ah good thing Big Grin
FM
quote:
Originally posted by Nehru:
I dont know what it is with some Guyanese but I know People who only finished High School and ARE making 100K on Wall Street. I think is the Black water they used as drinking water and the Rice Flour Roti Burnham mek dem eat.


Hook me up with some of them, man.
I still looking for a lil job!
FM
quote:
Originally posted by Mad Max:
quote:
Ms. Sumasar, 36, is bubbly and petite. She never finished college but used her analytical skills to land six-figure jobs on Wall Street.


not likely!Smile
then left to run a restaurant for pennies!
I smell a rat in this story Smile
I know a jewsh girl who left a 6 figure job to open a falafel sandwich shop.
FM
So eating Real Roti, Dhal, KFC, Domino's, Snapper, Goat, Lamb and I can go on and on, Is worst than Burnham time, right? Burnham used to feed yuh nah??:-)
quote:
Originally posted by raymond:
quote:
Originally posted by Nehru:
I dont know what it is with some Guyanese but I know People who only finished High School and ARE making 100K on Wall Street. I think is the Black water they used as drinking water and the Rice Flour Roti Burnham mek dem eat.


compared to what the crooks they producing nowadaysm, Burnham seemed to have doen ah good thing Big Grin
Nehru
quote:
Originally posted by D2:
quote:
Originally posted by Mad Max:
quote:
Ms. Sumasar, 36, is bubbly and petite. She never finished college but used her analytical skills to land six-figure jobs on Wall Street.


not likely!Smile
then left to run a restaurant for pennies!
I smell a rat in this story Smile
I know a jewsh girl who left a 6 figure job to open a falafel sandwich shop.


she has high school only, too?
FM
quote:
Originally posted by Mad Max:
quote:
Originally posted by D2:
quote:
Originally posted by Mad Max:
quote:
Ms. Sumasar, 36, is bubbly and petite. She never finished college but used her analytical skills to land six-figure jobs on Wall Street.


not likely!Smile
then left to run a restaurant for pennies!
I smell a rat in this story Smile
I know a jewsh girl who left a 6 figure job to open a falafel sandwich shop.


she has high school only, too?
No, MBA/JD and was employed by one of those large upscale fitness conglomerates.
FM
she still in business?
Restaurant is a demanding business with a huge propensity to fail, unless it's a fronto to launder funds. I wouldn't wish that on any one. She probably had other reasons to run away from her 6 fig job.
FM
Some people leave a well paid job for many reasons including going after something they have a passion for....

There are many young people doing a great job in management and very successful in business without any MBA .

Many people with MBA can't do the job that some community college graduates have.

"She never finished college but used her analytical skills to land six-figure jobs on Wall Street. "

"People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I
don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world
are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want,
and, if they can't find them, make them."

-- George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Irish Playwright
FM
quote:
Originally posted by Mad Max:
she still in business?
Restaurant is a demanding business with a huge propensity to fail, unless it's a fronto to launder funds. I wouldn't wish that on any one. She probably had other reasons to run away from her 6 fig job.
I have three friends with successful restaurants. I think one of our GN&I posters has a restaurant. My friend ( the Jewish girl) is still in business and has 4 of them that I know of.

I know her well. Her reason is she feels she can do what she does and make more and she is.
FM
quote:
"She never finished college but used her analytical skills to land six-figure jobs on Wall Street. "


Quantitative financial skills and VAR modelling techniques are not learnt in high school.

Anyone who tells me they used analytical skills from common sense to land a 6 fig Wall Street job doing analytical or quant work is delusional.
FM
quote:
Originally posted by D2:
quote:
Originally posted by Mad Max:
she still in business?
Restaurant is a demanding business with a huge propensity to fail, unless it's a fronto to launder funds. I wouldn't wish that on any one. She probably had other reasons to run away from her 6 fig job.
I have three friends with successful restaurants. I think one of our GN&I posters has a restaurant. My friend ( the Jewish girl) is still in business and has 4 of them that I know of.

I know her well. Her reason is she feels she can do what she does and make more and she is.


Who is the GNI poster with a restaurant?
FM
quote:
Originally posted by Mad Max:
quote:
"She never finished college but used her analytical skills to land six-figure jobs on Wall Street. "


Quantitative financial skills and VAR modelling techniques are not learnt in high school.

Anyone who tells me they used analytical skills from common sense to land a 6 fig Wall Street job doing analytical or quant work is delusional.


wow, for once, we agree.
FM
quote:
Originally posted by Mad Max:
quote:
Originally posted by D2:
quote:
Originally posted by Mad Max:
she still in business?
Restaurant is a demanding business with a huge propensity to fail, unless it's a fronto to launder funds. I wouldn't wish that on any one. She probably had other reasons to run away from her 6 fig job.
I have three friends with successful restaurants. I think one of our GN&I posters has a restaurant. My friend ( the Jewish girl) is still in business and has 4 of them that I know of.

I know her well. Her reason is she feels she can do what she does and make more and she is.


Who is the GNI poster with a restaurant?
Not for me to say. They can say so if they want.
FM
quote:
Originally posted by the new yorker:
quote:
Originally posted by Mad Max:
quote:
"She never finished college but used her analytical skills to land six-figure jobs on Wall Street. "


Quantitative financial skills and VAR modelling techniques are not learnt in high school.

Anyone who tells me they used analytical skills from common sense to land a 6 fig Wall Street job doing analytical or quant work is delusional.


wow, for once, we agree.


hey...you can uhe your 'analytical" skills to land ah 6 figure job...dont be ah hatah Smile
FM
quote:
Originally posted by D2:
Not for me to say. They can say so if they want.


Well, I did an interview with the owners of Soca Paradise and/or Club Tobago a couple of years ago. I understand they tried their hand at the restaurant business in downtown Manhattan and it failed, whereas the club/s prospers.
FM
quote:
Originally posted by Mad Max:
quote:
Originally posted by D2:
Not for me to say. They can say so if they want.


Well, I did an interview with the owners of Soca Paradise and/or Club Tobago a couple of years ago. I understand they tried their hand at the restaurant business in downtown Manhattan and it failed, whereas the club/s prospers.
That was Ramish and his brothers' business. I think Soca paradize was sold to one of the Baldeo's brother and in its hay day it was a grimy hole in the wall club frequented by the lower end of the social spectrum. Ramish is dead and his wife runs what used to be his place. I do not know if that is healthy. His brother has another club and that is up in hack with some Trinis robbing him blind. That does not have a long life ahead of it. He owes too much. I am not talking about that kind of place but a real restaurant.
FM
quote:
Originally posted by raymond:
hey...you can uhe your 'analytical" skills to land ah 6 figure job...dont be ah hatah Smile


where/when did i say i have "analytical" skills? i speak from experience though, having worked for a number of wall street firms since 1998, and one thing i can tell you for sure is educational background is super, super important. i'm not saying it's impossible to rise the ranks without a degree, but it's very close to impossible. if one were to do it, it's a lot easier to get away with not having a degree at some of the smaller firms, but the biggies like morgan stanley and goldman will almost never allow it, especially for client facing/advising roles (where the big bucks are). not only does one need advanced degrees to move up the ranks at these institutions, but one needs them from the best, best schools out there.

as for ms. sumasar, i don't doubt that she worked at one of these places and earned "six figures." i know people who work in operations and various other "non analytical" departments and with a salary of for example $65k, some overtime and modest annual bonuses, it's possible to earn over $100k. heck, on wall street, assistants to high ups in management earn $200k. the jobs are great paying ones for sure, but can hardly be considered analytical. the article makes it seem like ms. sumasar was a trader, salesperson or banker, and i can unequivocally tell you that is not the case.

i don't envy what she's been through, and i know after this whole debacle, she'll likely never have to work another day in her life. she should sue everyone she has suits against. they f-ed up big time. good luck to her. she deserves every penny she collects.
FM

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