Teny R. Geragos

Pursuing the defense position from the start, Teny R. Geragos asked on Day 1 for a prompt government decision on whether an alleged third victim would testify, explaining that the answer would determine whether the defense addressed those allegations in opening. The court directed continued contact efforts and left room for renewed argument. On Day 5, Geragos delivered the defense opening, acknowledging anticipated evidence of violence while arguing that it did not establish racketeering, sex trafficking, or prostitution offenses.

Geragos handled recurring evidentiary and presentation disputes tied to cross-examination. She sought exclusion of Casandra Ventura's husband under Rule 615 based on a possible impeachment need; the court instead set an advance-notice and sidebar process. When the government sought marked defense exhibits before Ventura's cross-examination, Geragos raised fairness concerns; the court required disclosure of relevant marked exhibits and reserved the broader discovery dispute. On Day 19, she objected that a compilation of motion-activated hotel footage could compress recording gaps and mislead viewers. The court deferred admission until testimony and cross-examination addressed the sequence, timestamps, and edits.

Her examinations repeatedly tested how evidence was collected, processed, and presented. Geragos questioned Yasin Binda about the basis for treating $9,000 as bulk cash, Gerard Gannon about planning and documentation of the 2 Star Island search, Joshua Croft about extraction work and his limited post-extraction review, Sylvia Oken about hotel-record details, Frank Piazza about timestamp jumps and apparent gaps in the InterContinental footage, and Enrique Santos about capture dates and screenshot metadata.

From Day 24 through Day 26, Geragos cross-examined Jane with texts, recordings, and other exhibits concerning affectionate communications, hotel-night planning, financial support, relationship pressure, and the June 2024 confrontation and encounter involving Antoine. Her questions tested Jane's descriptions of reluctance and obligation against continued contact and messages showing affection or some participation in planning. Jane acknowledged affectionate messages and some planning while maintaining that pressure, emotional dependence, and financial support shaped her participation and harmed her.

Geragos extended that completeness challenge to government charts through cross-examinations of Ananya Sankar, DeLeassa Penland, and Joseph Cerciello. She introduced additional communications and videos and questioned who selected the charted material. Penland said the trial team selected the March 2016 timeline's contents and that she had not reviewed police or incident reports for it; the Cerciello proceedings likewise clarified that the charts reflected selected records provided to the agent. Geragos argued that two text-message chains were needed for context under Rule 106, and the court denied the completing-text request. She separately raised privilege and hearsay concerns over Khorram communications; the court admitted some while narrowing or excluding others.