Pennsylvania Judge Mark Ciavarella Sentenced To 28 Years In Prison For Selling Children

 

By Emily Smith, Fri, May 03, 2013

Pennsylvania judge Mark Ciavarella Jr. has been sentenced to almost three decades in jail after conspiring with private prisons to trade kids for cash.

In the private prison industry, longer sentences earn more money from the state.

Since 2003, Ciavarella received millions of dollars in bribes for condemning minors to maximum prison sentences. In one case, Ciavarella sentenced a 10-year-old to two years in a detention facility for accidently bottoming out his mother’s car.

According to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, over 5,000 young men and women were unjustly sentenced to prison and denied their constitutional rights. Many of them have now been released and cleared of their charges.

Ciavarella, known for his harsh and autocratic courtroom manner, was convicted of racketeering, money laundering, mail fraud, and tax evasion. He was ordered to pay $1.2 million in restitution.

"Unfortunately, two judges in Luzerne County have caused unimaginable taint to the laudable efforts of many dedicated individuals,” Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille said, “conduct for which those two judges presently are paying dearly,"

Ciaveralla’s attorneys requested a reasonable sentencing, arguing that the media attention brought to the case was punishment enough: “He will forever be unjustly branded as the `Kids for Cash' judge.”

Pennsylvania judge Michael Conahan was accused as a co-conspirator, but pleaded guilty on the charge. Since 2003, he collected more than $2 million from PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care detention centers.

Sources: The Examiner, The Huffington Post

Brooklyn Senator John Sampson and the Missing $40,000.00

Funds earmarked by Sampson are missing

Posted on May 20, 2013 at 8:20 am by Jimmy Vielkind, Capitol bureau in John Sampson, Pork

LINK

I reported this morning that state officials are are trying to claw back nearly $40,000 in member item funding that Brooklyn Sen. John Sampson steered to the One Caribbean Foundation, a non-profit group attached to an ethnic radio station — where Sampson and other pols were commentators.

Sampson, a Brooklyn Democrat who was indicted earlier this month on embezzlement charges, went into business with One Caribbean Foundation President Edmon Braithwaite in a liquor store he opened shortly after the state funding came through, records show. It’s unclear exactly what their financial relationship was: the State Liquor Authority refused to release information about their license because doing so “would interfere with an ongoing investigation.”

Read the entire article here. And below, check out One Caribbean’s application for tax-exempt status. It lays out its mission and some of its finances. (I redacted phone numbers and e-mails as a courtesy.)

2010 One Caribbean Exempt App Redacted by Jimmy Vielkind

New York: Unforgivable Conduct in Albany by Vito Lopez and Sheldon Silver, et al.

         

Vito Lopez

Unforgivable Conduct in Albany
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD, NY TIMES
LINK

The sordid details of how a once-powerful Brooklyn politician pawed, groped and taunted young women on his staff are more than an indictment of one politician, Assemblyman Vito Lopez. They provide a galling picture of the way Sheldon Silver, the Assembly speaker and one of New York’s top legislative leaders, failed to provide an environment in which young women could work without fear of being sexually assaulted by a bully like Mr. Lopez.

The degrading abuse of at least eight women, as outlined in a harrowing ethics report released on Wednesday, should enrage members of the Assembly enough to expel Mr. Lopez from public office immediately, not wait for his promised resignation in June. Assembly Democrats should also seize the opportunity to remove Mr. Silver from a leadership post he has occupied since 1994 and is clearly no longer fit to hold. It should not be beyond their capacities to find an honorable leader who cares more about the public than about Albany’s seedy status quo.

We know that Democratic Assembly members are scared witless by the thought of challenging Mr. Silver. After a challenger failed in 2000, Mr. Silver made certain that the rival and his followers also lost power, money and office space. But the Lopez case demands a response, even from timid Democrats. It demonstrates not only Mr. Silver’s customary imperiousness but a long-standing moral blindness to the way powerful men around him intimidate and sexually harass young women working in the Capitol.

In 2006, after two women had accused one of Mr. Silver’s staff members of sexual assault, Mr. Silver and the Assembly leadership authorized a $500,000 payment to settle a lawsuit accusing the speaker of tolerating a culture of sexual harassment. The aide later pleaded guilty.

Since then, Mr. Silver has toughened the sexual harassment policy considerably. But the report this week from the state’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics and a more limited investigation by the Staten Island district attorney, Daniel Donovan Jr., show the same kind of protective instincts at play. After two of the women made their accusations about Mr. Lopez, Mr. Silver agreed to a confidential payment of $100,000 in taxpayer funds — an act he now says he regrets.

When word of the deal leaked out, Mr. Silver’s staff said everything had been kept confidential to protect the women’s privacy. The real reason, the report says, was to keep the women quiet and protect the institution. After the Assembly moved the women to other jobs, Mr. Lopez found two new attractive young women to replace them. Those women then filed complaints a few months later, charging that Mr. Lopez had ordered them to wear no bras and shorter skirts and pressured them to go on trips, even asking “one bed — yes or no?” He threatened to demote one of them if she resisted.

What is truly infuriating is that Mr. Silver certainly knew of Mr. Lopez’s abuse of women when the settlement was paid and should have demanded his resignation at that time. It was not until the second wave of complaints last July that Mr. Silver’s staff did the right thing and forwarded them to the Assembly’s ethics committee. Mr. Lopez was eventually censured and stripped of his committee chairmanship, perks and staff.

Given the latest report, that is not good enough. Mr. Lopez should be expelled from the Assembly now. And Mr. Silver — whose colleagues made last-minute efforts to redact critical details from the report — should be replaced as speaker. Enough.

New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver Assisted Vito Lopez In A Coverup By Giving Victims $103G Public Funds As Hush Money

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin Ordered To Send Out Apology Letters For Her Abuse of Office

Judge convicted of corruption is ordered to send a photo of herself with a signed apology to all 500 judges in Pennsylvania

Capo | May 10, 2013 | 0 Comments

LINK

Punishment: Former state Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin was ordered to wear handcuffs for her sentencing hearing on Tuesday in Pittsburgh, Penn. She was convicted in February of corruption

A Pennsylvania judge has ruled that a fellow jurist, convicted of corruption charges, must send a photo of herself signed with an apology to all of her former judicial colleagues.
Former Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin avoided prison time on Tuesday for her campaign corruption conviction but was ordered to send notes of contrition to judges because she abused her office.
At her sentencing hearing in Pittsburgh, Penn., Judge Lester Nauhaus chided Melvin for engaging in crimes of ‘arrogance’ and ordered her to immediately have her picture taken by a county photographer, so she can write apologies on them and send them to several hundred state judges.

Melvin, her sister and former aide Janine Orie each received house arrest for illegally using the judge’s state-funded staff as part of her two campaigns for a seat on the state’s highest court.
Although Nauhaus didn’t imprison the women as prosecutors hoped, he admonished Melvin for claiming to be a role model for her children.
‘What kind of role model are you? These are felonies, this isn’t a parking ticket, and your children’s mother is a convicted felon,’ Nauhaus told Melvin, 57, a married mother of six.

The sisters were convicted of theft of services and other crimes for using Melvin’s former court staff – and the staff of a third sister, former state Sen. Jane Orie – to work on Melvin’s political campaigns in 2003 and 2009. Melvin was a Superior Court judge at the time, and lost the first election before voters picked her for the state’s highest court.
Melvin, a devout Catholic, was sentenced to three years of house arrest during which she may leave only for church – unless she receives specific permission from the judge for other activities – followed by two years’ probation. She is also barred from referring to herself as a judge while under sentence.

Janine Orie, 58, was sentenced to one year of house arrest and two years of probation for helping coordinate the illegal campaigning.
One Melvin staffer said she was shunned by Janine Orie and Melvin after objecting to the campaign work and another, law clerk Lisa Sasinoski, claimed she was fired – although jurors were unable to reach a verdict on a count of official oppression relating to that claim.
‘She violated the law, she ruined the lives of an awful lot of people,’ Nauhaus said in explaining Melvin’s sentence.
Nauhaus also ordered the sisters to write letters of apology to any staff who were made to do the illegal work.

Melvin has surrendered her law license and resigned her court seat effective May 1, but Nauhaus still saw fit to formally remove her from office.
Nauhaus also fined Melvin $55,000.
Although Melvin will likely lose a state pension estimated at $140,000 annually, she was entitled to a refund of her payroll pension contributions.
Nauhaus said the fine – and still-to-be-determined court costs and restitution – are designed to ‘exhaust’ the pension money.
Deputy District Attorney Lawrence Claus had asked for a sentence similar to the 2 ½- to 10-year prison sentence Jane Orie is serving.
The 51-year-old ex-lawmaker was convicted of misusing her state-funded Senate staff on her own campaigns, and forging defense documents used at her initial mistrial, though she was acquitted of making her staff campaign for Melvin, too.
Melvin’s attorney, Patrick Casey, argued for probation noting that the aggregate value of the illegal campaign work Melvin received from state-paid staffers was about $34,000.
Nauhaus acknowledged the illegal work was a pittance compared to roughly $1 million Melvin reportedly spent on each of her Supreme Court campaigns, but said arrogance, not necessity, drove the abuses.
‘I don’t believe that Joan Melvin is an evil person, I’ve never believed that,’ Nauhaus told the courtroom. ‘But I do believe that her arrogance is stunning.’

State Senator John Sampson Arrested For Embezzlement

State Sen. John Sampson allegedly used US Attorney staffer to track embezzlement probe: feds

• By MITCHEL MADDUX
• Last Updated: 4:50 PM, May 6, 2013
• Posted: 1:20 PM, May 6, 2013
• LINK 

A diagram unveiled by the US Attorney and the FBI shows John Sampson's alleged embezzlement scheme

 State Sen. John Sampson, of Brooklyn, was arrested by the FBI this morning and charged with embezzling $440,000 between 1998 and 2008, funneling some of the cash into his unsuccessful 2005 campaign to become Brooklyn district attorney — and chillingly using a mole in the federal prosecutor's office to try and identify witnesses against him so he could arrange to "take them out."

At a press conference announcing the veteran politician's arrest, Eastern District US Attorney Loretta Lynch revealed the disturbing allegations that Sampson had a Justice Department mole in her office to keep tabs on the criminal probe into his activities — and leak information about the identify of federal informants.

Gabriella Bass

John Sampson leaves court today.

"He did attempt to trade on a personal relationship with an administrative employee [of the Justice Department]...to gain information," Lynch said this morning.

The feds charge that Sampson explained to an unnamed real estate associate that he was attempting to discover the identities of federal witnesses in the Brooklyn US Attorney's mortgage fraud probe into his activities.

In one ominous exchange, Sampson allegedly told the real estate associate that if they could learn the identity of the federal informants, that "Sampson could arrange to 'take them out,'" the feds said today.

That Brooklyn federal employee has since been terminated, but Lynch declined to offer details about an internal probe that followed — saying aspects of the investigation into Sampson's alleged wrongdoing is ongoing.

The criminal charges against Sampson — who sat on the state Senate's Ethics and Judiciary committees — undermines the public trust in their elected representatives and "causes people to become more cynical," Lynch said at the press conference.

Lynch said the underlying ethos behind Sampson's alleged illegal conduct was the Democratic legislator's selfishness.

"The fact that he was trying to become the top state prosecutor in this borough shows the extreme arrogance and hubris" that appears to pervade Sampson's character. "It's all about him," the prosecutor said.

Lynch said the embezzlement scheme stems from Sampson's work as an attorney who also served as court-appointed referee over foreclosure proceedings in the Brooklyn Supreme Court.

In this capacity, Sampson controlled escrow accounts that held funds from the sale of the foreclosure properties.

Sampson is charged with embezzling some $440,000 from the foreclosure sale of four properties in Brooklyn.

It was those embezzled funds that Sampson allegedly used in part to help underwrite his campaign to become Brooklyn's top law enforcement officer, when he ran for DA in 2005, Lynch said.

Lynch said Sampson also allegedly stole $188,500 from a real estate associate after promising to pay the loan money back, the feds say.

After the feds began probing this alleged incident, Sampson allegedly tried to discourage the real estate associate from cooperating with investigators and encourage the person to lie, said George Venizelos, who heads the FBI's New York office.

Federal prosecutors charged Sampson today with witness and evidence tampering for this alleged misconduct.

State Senator Pleads Not Guilty in Federal Corruption Case

By Joe Valiquette, Marc Santia and AP

|  Monday, May 6, 2013  |  Updated 4:44 PM EDT

 

 

 

 

 

LINK

State Sen. John Sampson, a Democrat representing parts of Brooklyn, pleaded not guilty in federal court on Monday on charges of embezzlement, obstruction of justice and lying to the FBI. 

Federal prosecutors already have offered a plea deal to Sampson, who had his first court appearance Monday. His lawyer did not respond publicly to the offer.

Sampson was a court-appointed referee to watch over escrow accounts for sales of foreclosed properties in Brooklyn. It's alleged he embezzled $440,000 between 1998 and 2008.

He's also accused of funneling funds into his failed campaign for Brooklyn DA.

The charges against Sampson come less than a week after prosecutors revealed that former Sen. Shirley Huntley made numerous secret recordings of other elected officials in a bid for leniency in her own corruption case.

Sampson, who represents the 19th senatorial district encompassing Canarsie, East New York, Mill Basin, Marine Park and Sheepshead Bay, was elected to the Senate in 1996. 

He is a member and past chairman of the New York Senate Judiciary Committee. 

Senate Democratic Conference Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said Sampson has been stripped of his ranking positions and committee assignments.

FBI Assistant Director George Venizelos said in a statement Monday that "incumbent and defendant cannot be accepted as interchangeable."

"Elected officials are referred to as public servants, and that should not be confused with self-serving," he said.

Messages left with Sampson's district office and his attorney were not immediately returned.

U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch said Sampson allegedly abused public trust "for years" and stole from New Yorkers whose homes were in foreclosure.

“But the former Senate ethics leader didn’t stop there," Lynch said in a statement. "Senator Sampson allegedly stole that money to fund his own ambition to become Brooklyn’s top state prosecutor, then engaged in an elaborate obstruction scheme to hide his illegal conduct, going so far as to counsel lies and the hiding of evidence.”

The allegations against Sampson follow last month's arrests of State Sen. Malcolm Smith, New York City Councilman Daniel Halloran and two New York City GOP leaders on federal bribery charges.

According to court documents, Smith, a Democrat, allegedly schemed with Halloran, a Republican, to bribe Bronx and Queens Republican county chairs for a GOP line on this year's mayoral ballot. All four pleaded not guilty to various corruption charges in late April.

Separately, New York State Assemblyman Eric Stevenson was also arrested in April, charged withaccepting bribes in exchange for official acts. He denies the allegations.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced several anti-corruption proposals in the wake of the bribery scandal.

Ellen Biben Resigns As Executive Director of the Joint Commission on Public Ethics

JCOPE director Biben is resigning

State ethics panel leader will pursue private sector job

By Jimmy Vielkind

Published 10:27 pm, Thursday, May 2, 2013

LINK

Albany

Ellen Biben, executive director of the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, is stepping down, the second major departure from the ethics watchdog in as many weeks.

Biben is pursuing an opportunity in the private sector, according to a statement from JCOPE Chairman Daniel Horwitz. Her resignation will take effect at the end of this month.

"We are grateful to Ellen for the excellent work she has done helping to build this agency and for leading it to great accomplishments in its first year, including historic disclosure requirements for lobbyists and their clients and the first independent ethics investigation involving the legislative branch resulting in the report that was issued to the Legislative Ethics Commission in February," Horwitz said. He referred to JCOPE's examination of how the Assembly handled allegations of sexual harassment against Assemblyman Vito Lopez.

"We also recognize and appreciate her extraordinary commitment to integrity through her career in public service," Horwitz said.

Biben arrived at JCOPE after a brief stint as the state inspector general. Filling a 14-month vacancy, Cuomo said Thursday that Catherine Leahy Scott would be promoted from acting inspector general. Biben previously worked as an aide to Cuomo when he was attorney general, spearheading public corruption cases stemming from abuse of the state pension fund. She cut her teeth as a prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney's office.

Running the commission has proven to be somewhat thankless, though, and Biben was criticized for her ties to Cuomo. She told The Wall Street Journal that she had always intended to stay at JCOPE for a year, and was proud of what she accomplished.

"I feel really good and proud of what we've achieved so far," Biben said. "We've done a terrific body of investigative work. A lot of it is not open to the public, or the public may not know about it, but we've reviewed and disposed of hundreds of investigative matters."

Biben's exit follows that of Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore, who said on April 22 that she would step down as JCOPE's chair to focus on her re-election.

John Milgrim, a JCOPE spokesman, said recruiting and selecting an executive director is a matter for the commission to decide. The next meeting is expected in the last week of May.

jvielkind@timesunion.com

Catherine Leahy Scott Is Appointed The New Inspector General

Habemus IG: After 14-month tryout, it’s Catherine Leahy Scott

Posted on May 2, 2013 at 2:17 pm by Casey Seiler, Capitol bureau chief in Inspector General

Just 14 short months after the departure of former state Inspector General for the post of executive director of the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has selected Catherine Leahy Scott as the new state Inspector General; she had been serving in an acting capacity since Biben left.

News of the appointment coincides with the Wall Street Journal’s report that Biben will be departing JCOPE for private practice. The IG is responsible for investigating possible leaks from JCOPE, which was tricky due to the number of IG staffers who joined the ethics panel with Biben.

I began writing about the administration’s seeming reluctance to name a new non-acting IG around the six-month mark, and really kicked it into gear around the one-year anniversary of Biben’s exit.

Here’s the release from the press office:

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that he has appointed Catherine Leahy Scott to serve as the Inspector General of New York State. Ms. Scott has been serving as the Acting Inspector General since February 28, 2012.

“For more than a year, Catherine has been running the Inspector General’s office with integrity and impeccable results and I know she will continue this record of accomplishment.” said Governor Cuomo. “Her record as a fair, independent and tenacious attorney makes her highly qualified to continue this work as our State’s Inspector General.”

“It is an honor to be appointed by Governor Cuomo as we work to make New York a fairer, more just state for all,” said Ms. Scott. “I look forward to serving the people of the State of New York and working to enhance the performance and safeguard the integrity of state government.”

While Ms. Scott served as Acting Inspector General, the New York State Inspector General’s Office has had numerous significant investigations, findings and reports, including:

• The investigation of a state employee for stealing nearly one million dollars in federal government funds that were intended to be used by New York State to provide rent subsidies for low income families. This investigation resulted in the federal prosecution and conviction of this state employee.
• The investigation of improper lab practices in the Monroe County Public Safety Laboratory, which involved the destruction of key evidence in criminal cases in that region.
• An investigation which led to the indictment of the director of a Bronx not-for-profit corporation for bribery. The Inspector General’s investigation revealed the director received thousands of dollars in home improvements from contractors with whom his not-for-profit was doing state business, and who received government-funded renovation contracts intended to assist low and middle income residents.
• An investigation that found mismanagement, faulty procurement practices and security lapses at the New York State Fair. The investigation resulted in sweeping changes at the State Fair.
• Earlier this year, Ms. Scott trained the heads of all Executive branch agencies and authorities, as well as their chief counsels and ethics officers. Her statewide presentations provided uniform standards to the Executive branch, including codes of conduct and best practices to ensure integrity and the efficient operation of state government.

Prior to becoming Acting State Inspector General, Ms. Scott served as First Deputy Inspector General, where she oversaw the Inspector General’s office operations, supervised and managed the agency’s caseload, and represented the office before the State Forensic Commission and the Stimulus Oversight Panel where New York State was provided $26 billion through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Previously, Ms. Scott served as an Assistant Attorney General for New York State, investigating and prosecuting criminal matters with an emphasis on white-collar fraud and public integrity cases. Ms. Scott also served for more than thirteen years at the Columbia County District Attorney’s Office, eight of which as First Assistant District Attorney. In that role, Ms. Scott investigated and prosecuted all levels of crimes, created new and innovative court-affiliated drug treatment programs, and supervised all prosecutors working within the office. During that time, Ms. Scott was appointed to the New York State Committee for Establishing Protocols for Forensic Child Interviews, and was a member of both the New York State and National District Attorneys’ Associations.

Ms. Scott also served as a Columbia County Assistant Public Defender, and worked in the general practice of law as a sole practitioner in Columbia County.

Ms. Scott received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Hofstra University, where she was named Hofstra University’s Woman of the Year in 1981, and her law degree from the Hofstra University School of Law.