Aspen co-defendant’s lifestyle not supported by ankle monitor, attorneys say

ASPEN, Colo. — He’s a former Aspen resident, a California surfer, and allegedly connected to high-powered foreign actors.

Written pleadings to a federal judge recently gave a glimpse into the life of former Aspen resident Matthew Grimes, who was arrested in July on allegations that he aided billionaire Thomas Barrack in a scheme to lobby the U.S. government covertly on behalf of the United Arab Emirates.

Grimes and Barrack are due in Brooklyn federal court Jan. 5, and they’ll both be wearing GPS monitoring devices as ordered by the court. Grimes would prefer not to, based on a recent pleading from his legal team to Judge Brian M. Cogan. The pleading, written as a letter, asked the judge to modify his bond conditions, including freeing Grimes, 28, from the ankle monitor.

“The electronic monitoring device on Mr. Grimes’s ankle is uncomfortable and unnecessarily burdensome given that Mr. Grimes poses no flight risk whatsoever,” the letter said.

The letter-styled pleading, which was signed by attorneys Abbe David Lowell, of Washington, D.C., and Matthew L. Schwartz of New York, also said the ankle monitor drew unwanted attention to Grimes and hampered his professional ambitions.

Read the full article in the Aspen Times.  

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