AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Salame, on Thursday, said he was not telling the truth during his plea agreement.
“You did it to induce me to accept your plea of guilty, right?” Kaplan asked Salame.
“Yes, your honor,” Salame said.
At the hearing, Salame said he wasn’t personally present during plea negotiations but believed the promise was made “based on what my lawyers communicated to me.”
“They believed charges against Ms. Bond would not be pursued if I plead guilty,” Salame said.
“It felt like an assurance at the time it was conveyed to me,” he elaborated later.
Danielle Sassoon, a prosecutor with the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, insisted no such promise was made. She said that what Salame said at his plea hearing was true, and that the claim about a promise not to prosecute Bond was an invention.
Christopher Bartolomucci, Salame’s lawyer, said Salame wanted to make a statement to fully explain his perspective — but Kaplan didn’t allow him to.
“There may be another opportunity,” Kaplan said.
Kaplan said he’ll decide later whether to revoke Salame’s plea — which might result in a new sentencing hearing.
The judge also raised the possibility of punishing Salame’s lawyers.
“I surely retain jurisdiction for sanctions,” he said.
Salame declined to answer questions after the court hearing Thursday.