Hoboken Mayor Cammarano, Secaucus Mayor Elwell, Jersey City deputy mayor busted

[MCA™]

Ex-Jersey City official gets two and a half years in prison for corruption
By Michaelangelo Conte/The Jersey Journal
on January 15, 2013 at 2:02 AM

NEWARK -- A former Jersey City deputy health director who accepted $72,500 from Solomon Dwek was sentenced to 2 years in prison yesterday.

Maher Khalil was one of dozens charged in Operation Bid Rig III in July 2009, the single largest corruption sting in state history. Fighting back tears, Khalil told the court yesterday that “This was undoubtedly the worst decision I ever made in my life. . . . There is no excuse for my conduct . . . I accept full responsibility, your Honor.”

Yesterday’s sentencing came more than three years after Khalil pleaded guilty to taking money from Dwek, a federal informant posing as a developer, to set up meetings with multiple Jersey City officials. Khalil funneled some of the cash to former Jersey City Councilman Mariano Vega.

Vega himself pleaded guilty to accepting $30,000 in bribes and was sentenced to 30 months in prison in April 2011.

Khalil was also sentenced to one-year supervised release and he must forfeit the $72,500 he accepted from Dwek. Khalil must surrender to authorities on Feb. 25 to start his prison term.

It was recommended that Khalil serve his prison term in a Massachusetts facility where he can get treatment for diabetes, heart problems and depression, the court was told.

Prosecutors said Khalil was the first to plead guilty in Operation Bid Rig III and his cooperation with the feds merited a more lenient sentence. He could have been sentenced to seven years in prison.

Prosecutors noted that Khalil had offered to testify in a number of trials and his willingness to cooperate likely resulted in a number of guilty pleas.

About a week after Khalil pleaded guilty, Ed Cheatam, a former Jersey City Housing Authority commissioner, admitted accepting $70,000 in bribes, but U.S. Attorney spokesman Matthew Reilly said there’s no sentencing date set for him.

Cheatam confessed to introducing Dwek to other Bid Rig defendants, including former Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini, currently serving a three-year prison sentence for accepting $20,000 in bribes, and former assemblyman Lou Manzo, whose corruption charges were thrown out twice by a federal judge.

Unsuccessful 2009 city council candidates Lori Serrano and LaVern Webb-Washington are still awaiting trial. The two women saw their original corruption charges thrown out, and were re-indicted on fraud charges.

Serrano’s trial is set to begin March 18. Webb-Washington’s trial has been delayed as the parties negotiate a plea agreement, according to a Dec. 21, 2012 order by federal Judge Jose L. Linares.

[MCA™]

Two ex-Jersey City candidates all that remains unresolved of 'Bid Rig'
Published: Tuesday, July 24, 2012, 3:03 AM
Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

Three years ago yesterday, federal prosecutors rocked the Hudson County political establishment with their arrests of 44 politicians, public officials and rabbis on money-laundering and public corruption charges.

Dubbed Operation Bid Rig III, the sting put two Hudson County mayors behind bars, along with a Jersey City deputy mayor, a state assemblyman, the Jersey City City Council president and dozens of other public officials and failed political candidates.

After three years of guilty pleas, jury trials and acquittals, the only defendants from the sting’s political track remaining to be prosecuted are Lori Serrano and LaVern Webb-Washington, both failed council candidates in the 2009 Jersey City municipal election.

Like many of the other Bid Rig defendants, Serrano and Webb-Washington are accused of accepting cash bribes from federal informant Solomon Dwek. The two women have pleaded not guilty to fraud charges.

U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said Bid Rig showed public corruption is “still a problem” in the Garden State.

“People’s perceptions about how public officials behave and their confidence in the people who serve them is undermined by the number of people who abuse the privilege and opportunity of public service to enrich themselves,” Fishman said yesterday by phone.

Since last year’s second anniversary, there have been few developments. Former Jersey City housing inspector John Guarini was sentenced to six months in prison for accepting bribes, while charges against former Jersey City health officer Joseph Castagna were dropped in January. Former Secaucus mayor Dennis Elwell entered federal prison to serve his 30-month term.

Webb-Washington pleaded not guilty in September 2011 to four fraud counts, and lawyers in her case are expected back in court Aug. 15. Serrano pleaded not guilty to mail fraud in December 2011, and her lawyers in March filed a motion seeking to dismiss her case. A motion hearing in Serrano’s case was postponed last week.

Meanwhile, in February, a federal judge threw out all charges against former assemblyman and failed Jersey City mayoral candidate Lou Manzo, who was facing two counts of bribery and one count of failing to report a felony. It was the second time since Manzo’s arrest three years ago that the judge threw out charges against him.

Fishman said he doesn’t use a conviction rate to measure his happiness with a particular operation.

“Are the investigations and prosecutions consistent with the mission of the Department of Justice ... that’s what matters,” he said.

Manzo has not been shy about his feelings regarding Bid Rig. He contends that the entire case was an abuse of power by prosecutors who were not even authorized by their superiors to run the kind of sting that landed Manzo behind bars.

Today, Manzo, 57, is living at the Jersey Shore with his mother, his money gone and his former friends and political associates not returning his calls. He’s working on a book about his case and “misconduct” in the Justice Department.

“Yeah, my case was thrown out, but I suffered worse of a punishment or as much of a punishment as if I had gone to trial and had been convicted,” he said.

[shahaggy]

Beldini can at least look forward to some good Texas barbecue

[MCA™]

Former Jersey City deputy mayor enters Fort Worth prison to begin serving three years for corruption
Published: Tuesday, April 17, 2012, 9:08 AM
Updated: Tuesday, April 17, 2012, 9:09 AM
Michaelangelo Conte/The Jersey Journal

Corrupt former Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini now resides in a housing unit at a Texas federal prison where she is number 30118-050.

Sunday was the 76-year-old’s surrender date. The Federal Bureau of Prisons website was updated yesterday and now says Beldini is in custody in Fort Worth at the Federal Medical Center Carswell.

Beldini, who was treasurer of Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy’s re-election campaign in 2009, was convicted in February 2010 on two counts of bribery. She was sentenced to three years in federal prison.

The jury found she accepted two $10,000 contributions from FBI informant Solomon Dwek in exchange for official action in helping Dwek get approvals for his supposed real estate deals.

Beldini’s lawyer has said in court that she suffers from a number of medical issues. She left for Texas Sunday on a 6 a.m. flight accompanied by her son.

The former operator of a Central Avenue real estate office, Beldini was one of more than 40 people arrested in July 2009 as part of the FBI’s massive Bid Rig III probe. The investigation centered on information gathered by Dwek.

[Frank M]

Ouch, that’s c-c-c-cold, Woodsy!

I don’t support corruption, but I also can’t find it in myself to get behind entrapment or the high rates of imprisonment for non-violent criminals.  Worse, should we really be impressed by their service to justice when the G-Men made this entire case by putting a clown like Schlomo on the track in a miniskirt and fuck-me pumps? 

[Woodsy]

Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye

my personal send off to Ms. Beldini

[MCA™]

Former Jersey City Deputy Mayor Beldini on her way to federal prison
Published: Monday, April 16, 2012, 3:00 AM
Michaelangelo Conte/The Jersey Journal

Former Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini is now federal prisoner number 30118-050.

She boarded a plane yesterday morning to fly to Fort Worth, Texas to surrender at the Federal Medical Center Carswell, officials said.

Officials at the Department of Justice Command Center in Washington, DC, said yesterday they would not be able to confirm the 76-year-old’s arrival at the women’s facility until this morning.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons website listed the former Burlesque queen as being “in transit” to the prison facility yesterday, and the website would not be updated until today.

Beldini, who was treasurer of Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy’s re-election campaign in 2009, was convicted in February 2010 on two counts of bribery. She was sentenced to three years in federal prison.

The jury found she accepted two $10,000 contributions from FBI informant Solomon Dwek in exchange for official action in helping Dwek get approvals for his supposed real-estate deals.

Beldini’s lawyer has said in court that she suffers from a number of medical issues. She left for Texas on a 6 a.m. flight accompanied by her son.

The former operator of a Central Avenue real estate office, Beldini was one of more than 40 people arrested in July 2009 as part of the FBI’s massive Bid Rig III probe. The investigation centered on information gathered by Dwek.

[MCA™]

Federal judge says former Jersey City deputy mayor Leona Beldini, 76, must start serving 3-year term for bribery
Published: Wednesday, April 11, 2012, 3:03 AM
Michaelangelo Conte/The Jersey Journal

Corrupt former Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini must begin serving her three-year prison term Sunday after a federal judge yesterday denied a motion seeking a new trial.

The 76-year-old onetime burlesque queen was one of more than 40 people arrested in July 2009 in the massive Bid Rig III probe that was based on information gathered by FBI informant Solomon Dwek.

Beldini, who was treasurer of Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy’s re-election campaign in 2009, was convicted in February 2010 on two counts of bribery. The jury found she accepted two $10,000 contributions from Dwek in exchange for official action in helping Dwek get approvals for his supposed real-estate deals.

Having already had her date for reporting to prison delayed a couple of times for health reasons, Beldini must now report on Sunday to Carswell Prison in Fort Worth, Texas. Beldini waived her right to be present at yesterday’s hearing, citing ongoing health issues.

“I’m disappointed and I feel terrible for her,” her attorney Peter Willis said after the ruling.

Before Judge Jose Linares the same judge who presided over Beldini’s trial Willis argued yesterday morning that the former deputy mayor should be granted a new trial because Dwek used words such as “corrupt” and “bribe” while testifying.

“I’m not here in any way to embarrass this court, I have too much respect for you,” Willis said yesterday while arguing the key government witness was allowed to prejudice the jury because Linares had not stopped his inappropriate language.

Willis said Dwek used the word “corrupt” or “corruption” 48 times, and “bribe” or “bribery” 37 times language that was barred from some of the subsequent Bid Rig III trials.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sandra Moser argued the motion wasn’t valid because the attorney who represented Beldini at trial, Brian Neary, hadn’t objected to the testimony, a position Linares ultimately agreed with.

“When you have an experienced, well-known criminal lawyer trying a case a certain way, because in his own mind he thinks it benefits his trial ... maybe it would have been an unfair trial if I had ‘policed’ him,” Linares said during yesterday’s hearing.

Neary could not be reached for comment.

Recent knee surgery and several “mini-strokes” have left Beldini in a severely weakened state, Willis said.

[MCA™]

With Ex-Jersey City Deputy Mayor Beldini hospitalized due to health issues, her team claims she is too sick to go to prison
Published: Thursday, March 22, 2012, 3:03 AM
Michaelangelo Conte/The Jersey Journal

Less than two weeks before she is scheduled to report to a federal prison in Texas, corrupt former Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini has been hospitalized due to several strokes and other health issues she suffered following recent knee surgery, her attorney said yesterday.

Attorney Peter Willis said he will file a new motion by tomorrow, asking a federal judge to stay imposition of Beldini’s year sentence for taking bribes. She was scheduled to report to prison on April 3.

Beldini is also asking the court for a do-over.

Motions were filed on her behalf last week, claiming she did not get a fair trial and asking a federal judge to grant her a new trial.

Beldini, 76, was one of more than 40 people arrested in July 2009 as part of the FBI’s massive Bid Rig III probe, which centered on information gathered by FBI informant Solomon Dwek.

Beldini, who was treasurer of Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy’s re-election campaign in 2009, was convicted on two counts of bribery in February 2010 for accepting two $10,000 contributions from Dwek in exchange for promises to help his obtain approvals for his supposed real-estate deals.

Among the allegations in the recent filings is that Dwek was allowed to give testimony at Beldini’s trial that was later barred at subsequent Bid Rig III trials of other defendants. It states that on the witness stand, Dwek used the word “corrupt” or “corruption” 48 times; “bribe” or “bribery” 37 times and often used the term “official action.”

Using such words tainted the trial, Willis argues.

In the petition for Writ of Coram Novis or Writ of Habeas Corpus, Willis argues Dwek “tossed around the phrase ‘official action’ like he knew what it meant, let alone had the right to comment on it.”

The government’s response filed late last week says the motion for Writ of Coram Nobis is an extremely rare remedy, available only to someone who has already completed their sentence. And the Writ of Habeas Corpus filing is inappropriate because no objections were made to the cited Dwek testimony during the trial.

Finally, the government says both should be denied because Beldini got a fair trial.

But Willis is also claiming Beldini is too sick to go to prison.

“During her recovery from the knee surgery she developed a series of mini-strokes and an irregular heartbeat that has been difficult to control with medication, so she has been re-hospitalized,” he said.

She is also experiencing erratic blood pressure, he added.

[MCA™]

New sentencing delay for former Jersey City housing inspector at heart of corruption scandal
Published: Friday, March 09, 2012, 3:00 AM
Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

A former Jersey City housing inspector has had his sentencing on tax evasion charges postponed yet again.

John Guarini, who was rounded up in the massive 2009 corruption sweep, was set to be sentenced yesterday morning. His sentencing was adjourned, with no new date set yet.

Guarini pleaded guilty in October 2011 to evading taxes on cash payments he accepted for obtaining expedited approvals for Solomon Dwek, a government informant posing as a crooked real-estate developer.

The former housing inspector unwittingly played a key role in Operation Bid Rid III, which had been focused on money laundering until Guarini’s interaction with Dwek led prosecutors to shift gears and target Hudson County public officials.

Last year, Guarini admitted accepting $20,000 from Dwek, and an additional $10,000 intended to bribe another official.

Guarini originally faced bribery and extortion charges. He faces up to three years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

[MCA™]

Former Jersey City official Jimmy King spared prison time in corruption sentencing
Published: Tuesday, January 17, 2012, 4:28 PM
Updated: Tuesday, January 17, 2012, 5:02 PM
Charles Hack/The Jersey Journal

Former Jersey City Jersey City Parking Authority Executive Director James "Jimmy" King -- who ran unsuccessfully for the City Council in 2009 -- was spared time in prison when he was sentenced this afternoon on a corruption conviction.

King, 69, was sentenced to one year probation and he was ordered to forfeit the $5,000 he admitted to accepting from a government informant who was posing as a shady developer.

King, who was one more than 40 public officials and political operatives arrested in a massive federal corruption sting in 2009, pleaded guilty in July to one count of mail fraud after the most serious charges of extortion were thrown out.

"The judge has been very gracious with his sentencing," King's attorney, Arthur J. Abrams, said after District Court Judge Jose L. Linares delivered the sentence, which also included a $500 fine.

Before sentencing King, who faced up to six months in prison, apologized to the court for his "big mistake".

"Your honor, I made a big mistake," King said. "I am 69 years old and never been in any trouble. I don't know why I did it. It was very foolish, and I embarrassed my family and friends."

Abrams told the judge that nine days after he had pleaded guilty he had turned in the $5,000 to the U.S. Marshals. He also said King had moved out of the city to avoid his former political allies.

In agreeing to the probation, Assistant U.S. Attorney Maureen Nakly said that King had cooperated with the FBI after his arrest and provided "unsolicited information" that was checked out as correct, although the information did not lead to any arrests.

Nakly also said King appeared to "exhibit genuine remorse" and was one of first to plead guilty.

Linares also said that while King had been involved in a "serious crime," he took into account that he had lived an "exemplary life" before the event.

"In my view you have taken some steps to protect the public already," Linares said. "I think you are remorseful for what you did, and gave back the money."

King admitted in federal court in July 2009 that he accepted $5,000 cash to his campaign for a Jersey City Council seat; with the understanding he was to help expedite zoning approvals for a planned luxury condo development. ¶

He was one of the first charged in Operation Bid Rig III to plead guilty, just two months after his arrest.

But federal prosecutors asked to have the first plea withdrawn because an appeals court judge had tossed a similiar charge against another unsuccessful candidate, former Assemblyman Louis Manzo, under the Hobbs Act.

King is a former executive director of the Jersey City Parking Authority and the former chairman of the Jersey City Incinerator Authority and a former Hudson County undersheriff.

Solomon Dwek, posing as a developer, approached King and other public officials and offered them cash to expedite any permits or paperwork inlvolving a Garfield Avenue project that in reality never existed.

Last week another Bid Rig defendant, Joseph Cardwell, a Jersey City political consultant, was sentenced to six months in prison and six months home confinement for taking $10,000 in bribes from Dwek.

[MCA™]

Attorney for corrupt former Jersey City deputy mayor argues for new delay in sending her to prison, says she needs a pacemaker installed in a few months and has other health issues
Published: Friday, November 18, 2011, 3:02 AM
By Michaelangelo Conte/The Jersey Journal

NEWARK The attorney representing Leona Beldini argued yesterday that prison time could prove fatal for the 76-year-old former Jersey City deputy mayor, who was found guilty in February 2010 of accepting bribes.

Before U.S. District Court Judge Jose Linares, attorney Peter Willis said the prison system is ill-equipped to care for Beldini, who was sentenced in June 2010 to three years in federal prison at a facility in Texas.

Beldini will need a pacemaker in six to 12 months, Willis said, adding the prison system only provides one of the five drugs she needs for cardiac problems. And serving her term 1,500 miles from her nearest relative amounts to cruel and unusual punishment that would be potentially fatal, he argued.

“I just think that we should all pause and ask ourselves what is it we are trying accomplish in this case,” said Willis, who also noted Beldini has had at least two strokes and recently underwent knee surgery. “Are we really trying to put Miss Beldini through the nightmare of nightmares in this facility,” he added.

Willis asked Linares for time to ensure that Beldini can get the drugs she needs at the prison and to get a pacemaker prior to beginning her sentence.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sandra Moser argued that the Federal Bureau of Prisons is capable of caring for prisoners’ medical needs and said Beldini’s request for a stay amounts to stalling.

“At the end of the day, what they want is to delay the inevitable, and I said that back in 2010 when the motion was filed,” said Moser, adding that the B.O.P. has said it can care for Beldini and that she can stay on her current medications until she is evaluated by prison medical staff. “The Bureau of Prisons deals with thousands and thousands of prisoners that have significant medical issues,” Moser said. “We are not planning a honeymoon here.”

Linares said yesterday he would decide soon whether to revoke Beldini’s bail and assign a surrender date.

Beldini was found guilty of taking $20,000 in illegal campaign contributions for Mayor Jerramiah Healy from FBI informant Solomon Dwek, the key witness in the massive Operation Bid Rig III sting.

[MCA™]

Convicted former Jersey City deputy mayor again avoids starting prison term
Published: Thursday, November 17, 2011, 11:35 AM
Updated: Thursday, November 17, 2011, 11:38 AM
By The Associated Press

JERSEY CITY — Jersey City's former deputy mayor won't be reporting to prison just yet to start serving a 3-year sentence for corruption. A federal judge in Newark today said he would consider medical evidence submitted before rendering a decision on when Leona Beldini must surrender.

Her attorney, Peter Willis, argued the 76-year-old faces serious medical issues that could jeopardize her life if she's incarcerated.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sandra Moser argued Beldini was trying to delay the inevitable and the prison system is equipped to deal with almost any medical issue.

Beldini has been free on bail since her 2009 arrest in New Jersey's largest public corruption sting. Beldini was convicted of accepting $20,000 from an FBI informant in exchange for the promise of future real estate commissions.

[CeeDub]

Brooklyn man pleads guilty to trafficking black market kidneys to N.J. residents
By Ted Sherman/The Star-Ledger
Published: Thursday, October 27, 2011, 12:40 PM     Updated: Friday, October 28, 2011, 5:54 AM

"Levy Itzhak Rosenbaum pleaded guilty in federal court to helping an FBI informant procure a kidney as part of an elaborate federal sting.

"The case served as one of the more bizarre chapters of the sweeping federal sting that led to the arrests of 46 people on charges of money laundering and political corruption in July 2009 — a case that included three mayors, two legislators and more than 20 candidates for public office who were charged with taking cash bribes to help green-light questionable development projects.

"At the center of the three-year investigation was failed Monmouth County real estate investor Solomon Dwek, who began secretly cooperating with prosecutors after he was caught passing a $25 million bogus check at a bank drive-through window in an unrelated Ponzi scheme.

"The kidney sale was never allowed to proceed beyond an initial deposit paid by Dwek."

[shahaggy]

Federal prison system 'ill-equipped' to handle former Jersey City deputy mayor Leona Beldini's medical issues: attorney

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

Lawyers for former Jersey City deputy mayor Leona Beldini's prison sentence should be delayed because the federal prison system is “ill-equipped” to handle her myriad health issues, Beldini's attorneys write in a motion filed in court yesterday.
Beldini, 76, was sentenced to three years in prison last June after being convicted of bribery charges stemming from the massive 2009 corruption sweep. A jury found her guilty of accepting $20,000 in illegal campaign contributions from federal informant Solomon Dwek in exchange for promising to support Dwek’s purported real-estate deals.
After an appellate court denied Beldini’s appeal of the conviction, federal prosecutors asked that her bail be revoked. Peter Willis, Beldini’s attorney, filed a motion yesterday asking the court to stay her sentence, seemingly indefinitely.
Beldini suffers from serious maladies which can result in “sudden death,” including strokes, abnormal heart rhythm and blood clots in her veins, Willis writes in his motion. In addition, the former deputy mayor takes four medications daily that may not be available in the federal prison system without special approval, Willis writes.
A federal Bureau of Prisons spokesman said inmates aren’t always permitted to continue medications prescribed to them before their sentences began. The bureau’s staff reviews prescriptions and then determines whether the inmates may continue using them, he said.
Willis doesn’t make clear in his motion when he believes Beldini would be able to begin her prison sentences. He requests a stay “for an indeterminate period of time subject to reviews of her ongoing medical condition by the court.”
Beldini is no flight risk and poses no danger to her community, the motion reads.
Beldini appeared in court earlier this month for a bail hearing, but the decision was delayed when she changed attorneys, from Hoboken lawyer Brian Neary to Willis and John Young of Jersey City. Judge Jose Linares rescheduled the hearing for Nov. 9 at 2 p.m., telling Beldini: “There will be no further adjournments.”

[MCA™]

Former Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini gets adjournment for new lawyers to study, then file brief on health issues they claim merit at least a reduction in her three-year prison sentence for corruption
Published: Wednesday, October 12, 2011, 3:00 AM
Michaelangelo Conte/The Jersey Journal

Corrupt former Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini received a 30-day adjournment yesterday after her lawyers told a federal judge in Newark that they need time to file a brief on her poor health.

Beldini used a cane when she appeared before Judge Jose Linares, who was to decide yesterday if and when the 76-year-old would begin her prison term.

“She has had strokes, she has had surgeries, and we are trying to get the court to deal with the reality of today,” Peter Willis of Willis and Young told Linares at the hearing.

The former burlesque dancer’s hair was gray yesterday, a far cry from the dyed blonde hairdo she sported during her trial.

“We certainly will be asking the court to make a review of everything,” said Willis, who revealed yesterday that his firm has replaced Beldini’s former attorney, Brian Neary. No reason was given.

In February 2010, Beldini was found guilty of taking $20,000 in illegal campaign contributions from FBI informant Solomon Dwek, the key witness in the massive Operation Bid Rig III sting. She was sentenced to three years in prison, but Linares allowed her to remain free on bail while she appealed.

Last month, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Beldini’s conviction and federal prosecutors then moved to have her bail revoked. That set the stage for yesterday’s hearing, at which Linares was to hear arguments on whether a surrender date should be set, or if Beldini should remain free pending the outcome of her petition for a rehearing of the appeal.

Instead, it was revealed that Beldini had switched attorneys and her new counselors told Linares her health had deteriorated.

The judge gave Beldini’s lawyers until Oct. 24 to file the brief in which they may argue for a reduced sentence based on her health, and try to affect the decision on the type of facility where she will be held.

Linares rescheduled yesterday’s bail hearing for Nov. 9 at 2 p.m. He told Beldini: “There will be no further adjournments.”

[MCA™]

Former Jersey City council candidate LaVern Webb Washington indicted on new charges in government sting
Published: Thursday, September 08, 2011, 3:00 AM
By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

Former Jersey City City Council candidate LaVern Webb Washington was indicted in federal court yesterday on charges of defrauding her campaign by accepting unreported payments from government informant Solomon Dwek, officials said. Webb Washington, 63, was charged with three counts of mail fraud and one count of wire fraud. She was one of dozens of New Jersey pols arrested in the massive 2009 corruption sweep.

Federal officials said yesterday that Webb Washington agreed in 2009 to accept $15,000 from Dwek in exchange for her official assistance. At the time, Webb Washington was running for the Ward F council seat. She lost the race in May 2009. Webb Washington intentionally concealed these contributions from her campaign and its treasurer, and approximately $11,000 of the funds was never delivered to the campaign, officials said.

This is the second time federal officials have gotten Webb Washington indicted. Her original corruption charge, to which she pleaded guilty, was tossed when an appellate court ruled earlier this year that the corruption charges filed by federal officials did not apply to candidates for public office.

If convicted of these new charges, Webb Washington faces up to 20 years in prison and a possible $250,000 fine. After her initial guilty plea, she was sentenced to one year and a day in prison.

Webb Washington could not be reached for comment.

[MCA™]

U.S. appeals court denies conviction appeal of former Jersey City deputy mayor Leona Beldini
Published: Tuesday, September 06, 2011, 1:25 PM
Updated: Tuesday, September 06, 2011, 1:52 PM
By Jason Grant/The Star-Ledger

NEWARK — The 3rd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals today denied former Jersey City deputy mayor Leona Beldini's appeal of her conviction last year on federal bribery charges. Beldini, 76, had been arrested in the FBI's 2009 Operation Bid Rig III money-laundering and corruption sting, and after being convicted, she was sentenced to three years in prison.

She had argued on appeal that said the judge in her nine-day trial gave the jury flawed instructions on the bribery counts -- and she had sought to have the bribery convictions dismissed, or at least to win a new trial. But the appeals court affirmed the trial court's conviction.

"We are pleased that the Court of Appeals shares our confidence that Beldini’s conviction was appropriate," said Rebekah Carmichael, spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman.

Beldini's attorney, Brian Neary, was reached briefly and said he would have a comment later on today's judicial opinion.

Beldini is currently on bail pending the Third Circuit decision. The U.S. Attorney’s office can now ask the U.S. District Court to order Beldini’s surrender.

A petite woman who long ago worked as a burlesque dancer, Beldini was convicted of illegally accepting two $10,000 campaign contributions, including one for the 2009 campaign fund of Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy, who was not charged. During the trial, Neary vehemently argued that Beldini did not profit from the $20,000 and was duped by government informant Solomon Dwek into making incriminating statements.

After the trial, Neary said Beldini's jury should have gotten instructions that pointed out bribery only occurred if the $10,000 contributions were in exchange for specific, official actions she took as deputy mayor.

[MCA™]

Some tidbits from today's Star Ledger article on the legacy of Operation Bid Rig:

On the government informant:

"And Solomon Dwek — the informant at the center of the investigation known as Bid Rig III who agreed to cooperate with the government after being charged in an unrelated $50 million bank fraud — is in the Essex County Jail. His bail was revoked last month after he lied to the FBI about his arrest involving a rental car that had not been returned.

[...]

"Defense attorney Michael Critchley, who represented Ridgefield Mayor Anthony Suarez — one of only two people acquitted in the case — hit Dwek hard during cross-examination, called him a "dangerous witness" whose flaws are now coming back to haunt the U.S. Attorney’s office.

"It’s one thing to send out a witness like Dwek when crime is actually occurring. It’s fair game if someone’s involved in ongoing criminal matters," he complained. "I get a little concerned and frightened when you send someone like Dwek out to entice people into committing a crime."

"He said he still wonders why the government didn’t use an FBI undercover agent, rather than Dwek. "Maybe they didn’t realize what they were dealing with and got blinded by the thought of the mother lode," Critchley suggested.

"Fishman would not second-guess the decision to use Dwek. "We use undercover informants all the time. Some come with more baggage than others," he said. "When we construct an investigative plan, we make sure we do it ethically, legally and correctly."

On the cost:

"U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman would not put a figure on the cost and manhours that went into the three-year investigation and subsequent prosecutions.

"Any large prosecution, particularly one that involves this many defendants, obviously involves a substantial commitment of time and energy by a number of people in the office," he said Thursday.

"However, he said, it "clearly sent a message" the office is serious about political corruption — a focus Fishman said has not changed.

"There is no question that a number of attorneys were tied up for the last two years on cases that have emanated out of Bid Rig. That meant they could not put their time into new investigations," he said. "But we have the same commitment of resources to corruption that we always have."

On who's left:

"Four of the eight still awaiting trial are charged with corruption, including former Jersey City building and taxi inspector John Guarini; former Jersey City council candidate Lori Serrano; former Jersey City health officer Joseph Castagna; and [former Assemblyman Louis] Manzo."

[MCA™]

Onetime Jersey City council candidate King pleads guilty to federal charge, admits accepting cash and promising to help federal informant Dwek
Published: Friday, July 22, 2011, 3:03 AM
Ted Sherman/The Star-Ledger

NEWARK With a federal court having tossed out the most serious charges against him after he had already pleaded guilty to them, former Hudson County Undersheriff James P. King yesterday morning pleaded to a single count of mail fraud in connection with the largest federal corruption sting in New Jersey history.

King, one of the first to plead guilty in the case that resulted in the arrests of more than 40 people two years ago, told a federal judge that he accepted a $5,000 cash payment to his campaign for a Jersey City City Council seat, with the promise that he would use his influence after the election to expedite zoning approvals for a planned luxury condo development.

Under the reduced charges, he faces a far less severe sentence of up to six months in prison. He could have received up to 16 months under the original plea agreement. He also agreed to forfeit the $5,000.

The money paid to King came from FBI informant Solomon Dwek, who was posing as a corrupt developer for a fictitious residential project.

King, 69, is a former executive director of the Jersey City Parking Authority and ex-chairman of the Jersey City Incinerator Authority. He first pleaded guilty in the case in September 2009, just two months after his arrest.

But the case against him was thrown into question after an appeals court ruled that another candidate in the May 2009 municipal election, former Assemblyman Louis Manzo, could not be charged with public corruption if he did not hold public office.

In federal court before U.S. District Judge Jose Linares, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Howe asked to have the 2009 plea withdrawn and King entered a new plea to an information charging him with mail fraud.

"He admitted that he did wrong. He wishes to go on with his life," said his attorney, Arthur J. Abrams.

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Former Jersey City council candidate charged with corruption out of federal prison
Published: Friday, June 17, 2011, 10:35 AM
Updated: Friday, June 17, 2011, 10:35 AM
By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

A former Jersey City City Council candidate who was the first Operation Bid Rig III defendant sentenced is now out of prison.

Guy Catrillo, a former city planning aide who ran for a Ward E council city in 2009 on Mayor Jerramiah Healy's ticket, was sentenced in January 2010 to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to accepting $15,000 in bribes from federal informant Solomon Dwek.

Catrillo, reached by phone in his Downtown residence, said he wasn't permitted to speak to the press. Though he's out of prison and permitted to work, he's on home confinement until July 5, he said.

"I'm not allowed to talk to you. I can't," he said.

Catrillo, a former member of Healy's constituents services bureau, admitted taking the $15,000 in return for promising to help Dwek secure building approvals for his phony scheme.

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N.J. developer gets prison term for money laundering, bribing Jersey City building inspector
Published: Thursday, March 31, 2011, 8:56 PM
Updated: Friday, April 01, 2011, 5:34 AM
By Jason Grant/The Star-Ledger

JERSEY CITY — At turns crying, shaking his leg and bobbing up and down, a small-time developer begged for leniency from a federal judge today, saying he was persuaded to break the law for the first time after FBI informant Solomon Dwek pleaded with him for financial help.

Now, said developer Moshe Altman, he was deeply remorseful.

But U.S. District Judge Jose L. Linares did not appear to be convinced by Altman’s tale and sentenced him to nearly 3½ years in prison for money laundering and bribing a Jersey City building inspector. The term was within the sentencing guideline range of 41 to 51 months.

Altman, 41, had a real estate development office in Union City and was an early target in the investigation that led to the FBI’s sweeping 2009 public corruption bust. More than 44 people were taken down. Altman, who was among those charged, pleaded guilty last year to laundering $668,000 for undercover FBI informant Dwek. He also admitted to arranging a $20,000 payoff to the inspector. (more)

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Politician who admits he took $20,000 from FBI informant says all outside "consulting" work he did in his county office was done during lunch hours
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
By TERRENCE T. McDONALD
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

The powerful Hudson County political operative who acknowledges accepting $20,000 in cash from FBI informant Solomon Dwek has told county officials he used his county office to conduct personal business only during lunch hours or in lieu of taking lunch breaks, a county spokesman said yesterday.

In an FBI surveillance video that was brought to light this week by The Star-Ledger, Harold "Bud" Demellier, who ran Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy's 2009 re-election campaign, is seen talking with Dwek about politics and making phone calls on his behalf in connection with bogus development deals Dwek was using as a ruse to engage potentially corrupt individuals.

The video was taken as part of the massive 2009 Operation Bid Rig III corruption sting, which has led to the arrests of more than 40 political and religious figures, nearly two dozen of them from Hudson County.

The video was filmed in Demellier's seventh-floor office in the county Administration Building on Newark Avenue in Jersey City, where he works as the $127,800-a-year director of the Department of Roads and Public Property.

Demellier, who did not respond to a phone call from The Jersey Journal requesting comment, told The Star-Ledger he had an outside consulting company called DUB Inc., and that he had agreed to help Dwek with development opportunities.

Yesterday, County Counsel Donato Battista sent a memo to Demellier asking him to detail the number of times he used his office for personal business, including dates and times.

Demellier responded that he used his office to conduct personal business fewer than five times, all during lunch hours or in lieu of taking lunch breaks, according to county spokesman Jim Kennelly.

Kennelly described Demellier as a "very aggressive" department head who doesn't take overtime but still works long hours, especially during snowy weather.

"He certainly can't be described by anyone as someone who isn't a hands-on manager," Kennelly said of Demellier. "The last thing they would say is he's a disengaged or distracted director."

The county is reviewing its policies to determine whether its directives on employees who conduct personal business during working hours "are clear enough," Kennelly added.

There is no disciplinary action planned for Demellier, according to Kennelly.

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Hudson County operative says he was paid $20K as consultant on informant Solomon Dwek's payroll
Published: Sunday, March 13, 2011, 8:15 AM
Updated: Sunday, March 13, 2011, 8:19 PM
By Star-Ledger Staff

JERSEY CITY — One of Hudson County’s most powerful operatives, a close and feared associate of Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy, was secretly on the payroll of infamous FBI informant Solomon Dwek, according to a confidential government surveillance video. Harold "Bud" Demellier — a key Democratic strategist who ran Healy’s 2009 re-election campaign — can be seen on the video, talking with Dwek about politics and making calls on his behalf in connection with several development deals. Those projects were later revealed to be part of a massive FBI undercover sting.
 
Demellier, in an interview, did not deny an association with Dwek and admitted Dwek paid him $20,000 in cash for consulting work. Demellier said he did nothing wrong. Unlike others caught up in the investigation, he was never charged, arrested or even named in any of the criminal complaints that ensnared more than 44 mayors, legislators, Orthodox rabbis and others in the summer of 2009.

The surveillance video was discovered as part of the research for a new book on the federal investigation, "The Jersey Sting: A true story of corrupt pols, money laundering rabbis, black market kidneys, and the informant who brought it all down." It is to be released Tuesday by St. Martin’s Press. The disclosures mark the first time that Demellier has been linked to the case, and the most vivid sign yet of just how close the FBI was moving toward the mayor of the state’s second-largest city.

Demellier, a political kingmaker whose connections helped land him a $127,800-a-year job as director of the Hudson County Department of Roads and Public Property, said he met several times with Dwek — a man he knew at the time as David Esenbach.

"This was someone I thought was involved in a syndicate that had money," he said from behind the desk in his seventh-floor corner office of the county administration building. It is the same office that can be seen in the surveillance video Dwek shot. Demellier said Dwek never gave him money for Healy’s campaign and he denied ever trying to sell influence. Asked if he mentioned his involvement with Dwek to Healy, Demellier replied, "I don’t remember."

Healy, through a spokeswoman, declined comment.

Former acting U.S. Attorney Ralph Marra, who was running the investigation when it became public, had nothing to say about Demellier. The current U.S. attorney, Paul Fishman, said he would not discuss any pieces of the Dwek case that have not been made public through official channels, including what — if anything — investigators were pursuing in connection with Healy.

Federal prosecutors never made it a secret that they were interested in Healy. Never accused of any wrongdoing in connection with the case, the colorful Jersey City mayor nevertheless played a starring role in other stark surveillance videos captured by Dwek. At a March 2009 sit-down at the Medical Center Luncheonette, Healy met with political consultant Jack Shaw, Jersey City Housing Authority commissioner Ed Cheatam, Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini and Dwek. The FBI informant played the role of a corrupt developer in the three-year-long corruption and money-laundering probe.

TOP OF THE PILE
At the meeting, Healy did not respond to any of Dwek’s attempts to draw him into the sting. At one point, he tells the mayor he wants his permit applications on the "top" of the pile. Healy simply laughs.

"We like to smooth the path for people to invest in our city," was all the mayor said, referring Dwek to the city’s planning office. In other surveillance recordings and transcripts released during Beldini’s trial, Shaw was also heard trying to set up meetings aimed at putting Dwek and Healy together.

Beldini was ultimately convicted in February 2010 of accepting $20,000 in illegal campaign contributions for Healy’s campaign. Shaw died just days after his arrest in the case.

Demellier’s introduction to Dwek came at the end of a chain of meetings with others tied to the sting operation, which the FBI called Operation Bid Rig III. According to records and transcripts, Maher Khalil, then-Jersey City’s assistant director of health and a former member of the zoning board who has already pleaded guilty in the case, put Dwek in touch with former Jersey City councilman Tom Fricchione. Then Fricchione introduced Esenbach to Demellier.

Fricchione died in December 2009. His name never surfaced in connection with the Dwek investigation, but he was a recurring character in the FBI’s surveillance recordings. In those videos, Demellier and Dwek talk politics and poll numbers before turning their attention to how to get zoning approvals to build a luxury condo development in Jersey City. The project, located in an industrial section of the city atop a chromium waste site, was bogus and concocted by the FBI as part of the sting.

Demellier on the video tells Dwek he was moving ahead with getting the approvals in place to build the massive Garfield Avenue project. Demellier can be heard instructing him on which lawyer to hire: "I’ll call him and tell him to expect it. … Actually I’m on his payroll for various things in other places."
 
As the discussion shifted to another proposed project in Bayonne, where Demellier had connections as well, the county official immediately took out his BlackBerry and punched in the number of Bayonne City Hall, leaving a message for the mayor’s chief of staff.

"A friend of mine, I understand, submitted some drawings … when you get a chance give me a call, we can chat a little bit about it," he can be heard saying on the video.

NO PLANS
Demellier, when asked about the surveillance video and his meetings with Dwek, said he had an outside consulting company called DUB Inc. He had agreed to help the man he knew as Esenbach with development opportunities. "He never showed any knowledge of zoning laws," Demellier said. "He never had any building plans. I got irritated a little because he had no plans."

He did not believe the consulting business conflicted with his role as a county official. He said Dwek never gave him money for Healy’s campaign. He denied ever trying to sell influence. At first, he said he not spoken with FBI agents about the matter. A few minutes later, he corrected himself and said he spoke to the FBI only once, when one of the agents connected to the case called after the takedown. But, he said, "they didn’t ask me anything."

Demellier said he is not cooperating with federal investigators. "People that know me know that’s not something they should believe," he stated. He still has the $20,000 in cash that he received from Dwek. Demellier said he has never been asked to give it back.

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Jury acquits second consecutive official in massive N.J. corruption investigation
Published: Friday, December 17, 2010, 7:30 AM
Updated: Friday, December 17, 2010, 8:08 AM
By MaryAnn Spoto/The Star-Ledger

JERSEY CITY — In the second serious setback for federal prosecutors in as many trials, former Democratic Assemblyman L. Harvey Smith was acquitted yesterday of taking $15,000 in bribes from an undercover informant posing as a corrupt developer. The verdict came after Solomon Dwek — who was the key witness at the center of last year’s massive corruption and money laundering sting — was kept off the stand.

Instead, federal prosecutors confronted Smith, who maintained his innocence, with hidden surveillance video during the trial. The video showed money being exchanged through an intermediary, who the defense attacked as a liar set out to destroy the Hudson County lawmaker’s reputation.

‘‘It’s easy to lose your reputation when you’re accused of something like this and it’s hard to get it back,’’ a visibly relieved Smith said outside the federal courtroom in Newark. ‘‘I never expected my life would be in this position at this time, in this age.’’

When the jury foreman reached the last of the six not-guilty verdicts minutes earlier, Smith’s wife Gail stood up and shouted, ‘‘Praise the Lord.’’ Her 6-foot-5 husband slumped over the defense table and wept, his face buried in his arms.

While Dwek was on all the undercover surveillance videos, he was not in the courtroom. Instead, Edward Cheatam, a former Jersey City housing authority commissioner and board of education member who first introduced Dwek to Smith, was brought out as the key witness. In his closing arguments, defense attorney Peter Willis noted how Cheatam seemed unconvincing and frequently unsure of himself on the witness stand.

Some defense attorneys argued Dwek himself was a flawed witness, leading to the acquittal in October of Ridgefield Mayor Anthony Suarez . That verdict broke a decade long string of convictions against political figures, large and small, which had some convinced that it was impossible to beat a political corruption case in New Jersey.

Cheatam told jurors he acted as an intermediary in delivering $10,000 to Smith in the parking lot of the Malibu Diner in Hoboken on July 17, 2009. He also testified he converted a $5,000 cash payment on April 30, 2009, from Dwek to Smith into money orders and checks which he delivered to Smith’s home. At one point on the videotapes, Smith told a rambling Dwek to stop talking and wondered aloud if he should pat him down.

On the witness stand, Smith insisted the $5,000 was a contribution for what turned out to be an unsuccessful bid for Jersey City mayor. He said he kept the $10,000 in the basement of his Jersey City home while he went on vacation to Virginia with his wife because he didn’t want the money but he didn’t know what to do with it. He was arrested six days after getting that second payment.

Prosecutors argued Smith, 61, knew he was getting paid for making phone calls to state officials to expedite transportation, zoning and environmental permits. In one meeting on the videotape, Smith joked about the $5,000 payment not being enough.

U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said the verdict was ‘‘disappointing.’’ ‘‘We had every confidence in the strength of the evidence but, as always, we respect the jury’s verdict,’’ he said in a prepared statement. ‘‘The loss of an individual case is clearly disappointing, but we are undeterred in our mission to root out those who use official positions to betray the trust of the people of New Jersey."
 
But Willis said his client was the victim of unreliable informants who were overeager to please federal investigators to the point of forcing the money on Smith even after the lawmaker said he does not accept cash for favors. ‘‘The jury accepted Harvey’s history of honesty, dedication and public service and I really believe that that is what led to their verdict,’’ Willis said. ‘‘They were willing, based on his reputation, to give him the benefit of the doubt.’’

The U.S. Attorney’s Office was on a 10-year streak of convictions in public corruption cases until last month when Suarez was found not guilty of taking a $10,000 bribe from Dwek through middleman Vincent Tabbachino. Tabbachino, a former Guttenberg councilman, was convicted at that same trial.

Of those arrested with Smith, 24 have pleaded guilty. The U.S. Attorney’s Office dropped charges last month against Richard Greene, Smith’s spiritual advisor who was initially accused of being the middleman between Dwek and Smith. Those convicted at trial were Tabbachino, former state Assemblyman Daniel Van Pelt and former Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini.