On Saturday, I got the idea of rewriting my blog post of the day before, and submitting it to Civil Beat as a follow-up to the story Civil Beat published on Wednesday.

After I wrote that earlier story, a second new plea deal was announced, and both plea agreements became publicly available after the change of plea hearings in federal court were over.

The written agreements showed I made a mistake in the earlier story, and a follow-up to clarify the situation seemed in order. But I considered it a quick-and-dirty piece not destined for much attention.

Civil Beat published it yesterday (Sunday), and I was very surprised to get up this morning and find that it had moved to #1 in CB’s “post popular” list.

Just click on the thumbnail to read the story.

But here’s a preview:

Their plea agreements were different in one key respect from those of the previous seven defendants to plead out.

Unlike each of those prior deals, these latest plea agreements do not require the defendants to cooperate with prosecutors, divulge everything they know and testify against their former associates. This had been standard provisions of the seven previous plea agreements.

A story published in advance of Moon’s court appearance incorrectly anticipated that his guilty plea would also include cooperation. A review of the written plea agreements by Moon and Young, filed in federal court this week, show the cooperation requirement was not included.