Posted on 05/21/2009 5:13:34 AM PDT by reaganaut1
Rejecting requests for leniency from the defense and the prosecution, a federal judge in Manhattan sentenced the former president of the nation’s largest municipal labor council to 10 years in prison on Wednesday, saying his abuse of the trust placed in him “staggers the mind.”
“You had every opportunity,” said the judge, Richard J. Sullivan of Federal District Court, “and you used those opportunities and squandered them for your own benefit on a monumental scale.”
The defendant, Brian M. McLaughlin, 57, who had also been an assemblyman from Queens, pleaded guilty in March 2008 to racketeering charges that included using embezzlement, fraud and bribes to take money from taxpayers, labor unions and contractors, even from a Little League team in Queens.
A document made public on Wednesday shows that Mr. McLaughlin has agreed to forfeit more than $3 million in illegal proceeds from his crimes.
Prosecutors had asked for a lenient sentence, saying Mr. McLaughlin had helped the government in investigating others. But Judge Sullivan said Mr. McLaughlin’s betrayal of public trust outweighed any assistance he had given. He also fined the defendant $25,000.
Mr. McLaughlin’s assistance, for instance, helped lead to the arrest of Anthony S. Seminerio, another Queens assemblyman, a person involved in the case has said. Mr. Seminerio was charged last year with a fraud scheme; he has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors charged that Mr. McLaughlin had misappropriated more than $330,000 from his own re-election committee; $185,000 from the New York City Central Labor Council, which he led; and more than $35,000 from the State Assembly. They said he had created fictitious jobs within the labor council and on his own legislative staff, and took kickbacks from the jobholders.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Another 0bama supporter heading to ‘The Big House’ when they THOUGHT they’d be heading to dinners at ‘The White House,’LOL!
Is this guy a ‘rat politician?
Yes, that's why I put (D, NYC) in the title.
ping
Presidential pardon in 3,2,1.
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