Introduction
John George Koeltl (born 1945) is a judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan. His surname is pronounced "KOLE-t'l."
Education
Koeltl was born in New York City. He graduated from Regis High School in New York City in 1963. He then studied history at Georgetown University and then obtained his law degree from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. After graduating from law school Koeltl served as a law clerk for Judge Edward Weinfeld of the Southern District of New York and then for Justice Potter Stewart of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Legal career
Koeltl then worked briefly in the office of the Watergate special prosecutor before entering private law practice in New York. For several years, Koeltl was a partner at the New York law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton. During these years, Koeltl served on several committees of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and American Bar Association and was the author of several published articles on securities law and other topics.
Judicial service
In 1994, President Bill Clinton nominated Koeltl as a U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York, a position he still holds today.
Notable decisions
Judge Koeltl is known for his October 2006 decision to sentence civil rights lawyer Lynne Stewart to 28 months in prison for providing material assistance to a terrorist, her client, 1993 World Trade Center bombing mastermind Omar Abdel-Rahman, by secretly passing messages to his radical followers in Egypt. Koeltl rejected the prosecutors' recommendation of 30 years. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Koeltl to reconsider whether that sentence was too light and to take into account the government's arguments that she had committed perjury at her trial and abused her position as a lawyer. On remand, Koeltl cited remarks Stewart had made after being sentenced that indicated a lack of remorse. He changed the sentence to 10 years in prison.
In 2011, he presided over the case involving Raffaello Follieri, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy, fraud and money laundering in connection with purchases of property from the Catholic Church. The Follieri case received significant media scrutiny due to his relationship with celebrities, notably Anne Hathaway and several politicians, including former president Bill Clintonand 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain. Koeltl also presided over a case brought by Citigroup against Wells Fargo to halt the latter's purchase of Wachovia, which Citi had earlier announced plans to purchase. The litigation settled in 2010.
A U.S. appeals court, in an opinion written by Judge Koeltl, tossed out a $654 million jury verdict against the Palestine Liberation Organization for terrorist attacks in the early 2000s in Israel that killed or wounded Americans, saying the U.S. courts lack jurisdiction because the attacks were random and not aimed at the United States.