Pedro sent to the clink for 5 years

From CBS New York:

Former state Sen. Pedro Espada Jr., who pleaded guilty to tax fraud, was sentenced Friday to five years in prison.

Espada blew a kiss to supporters before deputy marshals took him out of courtroom. The once-influential politician was convicted previously in a separate case alleging he looted more than $500,000 from taxpayer-subsidized health clinics in the Bronx.

Espada founded and operated the Soundview Health Center for three decades until prosecutors accused him of turning the network into a personal ATM.

Prosecutors have said Espada spent some of the stolen funds on lobster dinners, the remodeling of his Westchester home, flowers for his wife and ponies for a grandchild’s birthday party.

Espada was apparently calm as he strutted into the courtroom on Friday, but that confidence was quickly erased as a judge handed the former Bronx State Senator five-years in jail. The sentence begins immediately, giving Espada no time to get his affairs in order.

Speaking before the sentence was handed down, Espada offered no signs of remorse.

This year in tweeding

From the NY Times:

With 2012 just about over, we in New York have reason to hold heads high. We showed over the past year that we remain a leader when it comes to political corruption. It’s not easy staying at the top of your game. But we New Yorkers proved, once again, that

First, let’s raise a cup to those this year who met the lofty standards of George Washington Plunkitt, the turn-of-the-last-century Tammany leader with a worldview that he neatly summed up this way: “I seen my opportunities and I took ’em.”

Here’s to Pedro Espada Jr. of the Bronx (or maybe Westchester), who used to insist that corruption charges against him amounted to a satanic plot.

Let’s give a cheer to Hiram Monserrate of Queens, another state senator who helped make Albany synonymous with dysfunction.

Yet another state senator, Shirley L. Huntley of Queens, called a new conference in August to announce not that she had a bill to propose but, rather, that she was about to be indicted on corruption charges.

Jimmy K. Meng, once a Queens assemblyman, admitted in court last month that he’d solicited $80,000 to help a friend get off lightly in a criminal case.

Let’s hear it for Larry B. Seabrook, a Bronx city councilman convicted in July of orchestrating a corruption scheme. And for Assemblyman Vito J. Lopez of Brooklyn — Gropez in New York Post headlines — who is under criminal investigation for alleged sexual harassment.

Pedro's party is over

From NY1:

Nearly every day for the last two months, Pedro Espada Jr. has been upbeat about his chances, but the former State Senate majority leader's optimism was no match for the jury.

On Monday, jurors in Brooklyn federal court found Espada guilty of four counts of theft. He was accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from his not-for-profit health care clinic in the Bronx, Soundview HealthCare Network.

Prosecutors said Espada treated the clinic like his personal ATM, funding a lavish lifestyle with money that should have been used to provide health care for the poor.

The former senator's son, Pedro G. Espada, was also on trial, but the jury was hung on all counts related to him.

A mistrial was declared on eight counts against the younger Espada and four counts against the elder Espada.

Trial doesn't stop the tweeding

From the NY Post:

Pedro Espada is still leeching off his Soundview Health Center even in its dying days.

The former state senator, about to face trial on charges of looting the clinics, continues to show up at the Bronx facilities — and collect his outsize salary — despite a judge’s stern suggestion to stay away, a source told The Post.

A Soundview spokeswoman insisted Espada has had “no association” with the clinics since December. But both Espada and his son Pedro Gautier Espada have been seen at the centers, sources said.

The elder Espada refused to answer questions about his salary. His pay package hit $611,901 in 2008, according to Soundview’s tax return for that year, which was filed July 2011, almost two years late.

While the Espadas continue to squeeze every dime out of the taxpayer-funded nonprofit they founded, the clinics are gasping their last breath.

On Friday, while some workers were allegedly getting pink slips, another of Espada’s sons, Alejandro — who was installed as Soundview’s executive vice president with a six-figure salary — pulled up to the headquarters in the family’s $62,000 Mercedes SUV.

Espada spent like a drunken sailor before he left

From the Daily News:

Disgraced former Senate Democratic Majority Leader Pedro Espada spent more on staff in the final three months of last year than any senator did during those same months and the following three combined, new records show.

The federally-indicted Espada, who is no longer a senator, spent $749,803 on staff in October, November and December, according to the latest Senate expenditure report.

Second was Sen. Carl Kruger, the criminally-charged Brooklyn Democrat, who in a six-month period from October through March spent $558,839 on staff. He was followed closely by John Sampson, who spent $520,526. The Brooklyn Democrat ended last year as the majority conference leader but this year is the minority leader given that the GOP reclaimed control of the house.

Current Republican Majority Leader Dean Skelos, who last year was the minority leader, spent $208,160 on staff during the six months, according to the Senate expenditure book.

All told, total Senate expenditures during the six-month period was $48 million, which Republicans say is $3 million less than the Democrats spent the previous six-month period they were in control of the chamber.

Hevesi to judge: "Please don't send my dad to prison."

From the Daily News:

In a letter to [Judge] Stone, Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi passionately argues that his father's wrongdoing should not overshadow a lifetime in public service.

"In short, your honor, Alan Hevesi has earned the right to spend the rest of his life surrounded by those who appreciate and love him for who he is, a great and flawed man," Andrew Hevesi wrote. "Please send him home to our family."

The younger Hevesi wrote of modeling his life after his father, a former assemblyman and city and state controller. He portrayed his father as a fighter for his family, people in need, equality - and "what is right."

He even appeared to blame his father's plight on the scam's ringleader - the ex-controller's longtime political guru Hank Morris - by noting his dad is loyal, "sometimes to a fault."

"Despite his failures and mistakes, I will not now or ever stop believing in him," Hevesi wrote. "Not just because I love him as the man who, with my mom, raised, protected and loved me, but because these transgressions will never define my father."

Also from the Daily News:

Disgraced ex-controller Alan Hevesi was in a hospital for an emergency procedure today -- on what was supposed to be his sentencing day.

Our Jose Martinez reports:

Facing up to four years in prison on a felony corruption charge for his role in a massive state pension fund pay-to-play scandal, Hevesi had to undergo an emergency endoscopy, defense lawyer Bradley Simon said.

Simon declined to get into the specifics of Hevesi's condition, saying it was a medical issue that popped up "over the weekend." (Ken Lovett says he understands the problem to be internal bleeding. - CK)

In other corruption news, Pedro Espada now faces more charges.

Pedro a really, really big spender

From the Daily News:

Former Bronx Sen. Pedro Espada was a one-man employment agency while in office, racking up a $1 million payroll over his final six months at the State Capitol.

Our Glenn Blain reports:

The scandal-scorched Espada, who was tossed by voters last September, spent more on staffers than any other senator -- by far.

"That is such a waste of taxpayer money," said Citizen's Union Executive Director Dick Dadey. "And for the Democratic leadership to be complicit in giving him that amount of staff is just outrageous."

Espada's 50-person staff included more than 20 "community outreach" and constituent liaison workers who made as much as $60,000 a year, new disclosure forms show.

It also included former Erie County Democratic Chairman Steve Pigeon, who earned $150,000 a year.

Party's over for Pedro

From the NY Post:

Federal prosecutors announced today that they plan to bring new tax evasion charges against former New York state Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada Jr., who already is awaiting trial after being accused of corruption.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Colleen Kavanaugh said the government plans to seek a new, expanded indictment from a grand jury to charge the Bronx Democrat with the tax crimes.

The prosecutors announced their decision during a hearing in Brooklyn federal court, where they also detailed the mountain of evidence they have collected against the former senator.

The evidence came from FBI warrant searches at Espada's health care firm, and includes "voluminous materials" - including 90 boxes containing "hundreds of thousands of documents," that prosecutors have already made available to defense attorneys, Kavanaugh said.

The prosecutors also told Judge Frederic Block that the government has additional evidence such as e-mails, computer hard drives, and even more paperwork seized during the raids.

"We anticipate turning over hundreds of thousands of more" documents to defense attorneys, Kavanaugh said.

Prosecutors informed the judge that they plan to offer Espada, 56, and his son, Pedro Gautier Espada, 35, plea deals that would require them to admit wrongdoing in exchange for reduced sentences.

Indictment of Espada expected

From CBS 2:

Sources tell CBS 2 HD that federal prosecutors are getting ready to indict the embattled Bronx politician on a raft of charges relating to his use of money from his Soundview healthcare empire for his personal and political use.

One potential charge is mail fraud, sources said.

As CBS 2 HD first reported last summer, Espada sent out political mailings believed to have been paid for with money from the health clinic. The political mailings had the same postage permit number as the Soundview clinic -- reportedly a no-no.

But that's not all. The state Democratic Party is trying to give Espada the bum's rush. They want him out of the party. In part because, as CBS 2 HD first told you, he doesn't live in his Bronx district. He lives in Mamaroneck.

They don't want him out because he doesn't live in his district. They want him out because he is one of the gang of four that voted with the Republicans last year. Please get your facts straight.

New state ethics bill introduced

From the Times Union:

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance stood beside Eric Schneiderman and a group of senators to unveil yet another piece of legislation to beef up New York's ethics laws.

The bill would require public officials to abide a "duty of faithful public service" -- a broad and hopefully less onerous standard for prosecutors to enforce -- as well as tightening laws against bribing a public official.

"It's time for local prosecutors such as myself to play a primary role in addressing public corruption," said Vance, who took office earlier this year. The new language is similar to the federal "honest services" language which led to the conviction last year of former Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno, R-Brunswick.

Bruno, who faces up to 8 years in prison when sentenced Thursday, has said he will appeal the conviction.

But Vance said the new language is more narrowly construed than the federal statute, which is under constitutional challenge before the U.S. Supreme Count. He and others believe it is a necessary tool to add to prosecutors' war chests as legislators say "bad apples" have fueled an overall perception of corruption. Recent cases resulting in convictions include Bruno and former Queens Assemblyman Anthony Seminerio, who received a 6-year federal term, were pursued by federal prosecutors. The state Attorney General's Office is pursuing two civil cases against Sen. Pedro Espada Jr., who is also under federal investigation.

"This is 2010. We are not living in the Boss Tweed era anymore, and yet there is seemingly a tide of graft and corruption scandals that flood out of New York, scandals which reinforce New Yorkers' perception that all of us lawmakers are crooks or clowns," said Assemblyman Micah Kellner, D-Manhattan, who is carrying the bill in the Assembly. Schneiderman is the measure's prime sponsor in the Senate.

"People who want to go into public service for the right reasons are deterred by some bad apples, and this will hopefully help out the good apples," said Sen. Neil Breslin, D-Bethlehem.

The latest crooked pol roundup: Espada, Smith, Parker & the Boylands

From the Daily News:

Senate President Malcolm Smith ripped off an elderly Queens couple he'd promised to build a dream house for in a land deal under scrutiny by the FBI, the Daily News has learned.

Cora Wheeling, 70, and her husband, Eddie, 71, wound up with no home to show for the $88,200 they put down toward a split-level Smith claimed he'd build them.

They sued in 1998; Smith still owes them more than $60,000.

"I didn't know he's a rat," an irate Cora Wheeling said. "I should have known better."

The house was supposed to be part of a subdivision Smith was trying to build on 230th St. in Cambria Heights. That deal is at the center of an expanding federal probe, sources said.

The FBI is also looking at why Smith got a steep discount from an architect hired for a job at that same address. The architect then got work at nonprofits Smith has funded with taxpayer dollars.

Investigators want to know if Smith used his influence as an elected official to benefit himself financially, a possibly criminal conflict of interest.

From the NY Post:

A do-nothing Brooklyn charity created with the help of state Sen. Kevin Parker used most of the $18,750 in taxpayer funds he steered to it to hire the brother of his chief-of-staff as a "planning consultant."

The only community program the Building Blocks Local Development Corp. managed to implement since it was created in 2004 was a part-time vegetable stand staffed by local teens at a farmers market on Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn.

Parker has been uncharacteristically mum on Building Blocks, which has no office or discernible staff and only sporadically filed IRS forms designed to provide accountability of its spending.

That didn't stop Parker from trying to fund the organization -- authorizing $75,000 in pork-barrel money in five separate member-item grants since 2004.

From the NY Post:

A hospital group linked to an influence-peddling scandal in Albany put three members of a prominent family of Brooklyn politicians on its payroll, records and e-mails obtained by The Post show.

Prosecutors say MediSys Health Network, which runs Jamaica, Flushing and Brookdale hospitals and other ventures, gave $390,000 in "corrupt payments" to crooked ex-Assemblyman Anthony Seminerio's bogus consulting firm for help with government funding and acquisition of hospitals.

It also paid three members of the Boyland family, a force in central Brooklyn politics for decades:

* Assemblyman William F. Boyland Jr., a Democrat who represents Brownsville, was a "patient recruiter" for the MediSys-managed Brookdale Medical Center for years while helping the hospitals get state grants and lobbying for the network.

* His father, former Assemblyman William F. Boyland Sr., spent years on Brookdale's payroll, doing "public outreach."

"I improved the image of the hospital and tried to get patients to go there," he told The Post. He said he "retired" last June, the same month Seminerio pleaded guilty to fraud.

* Boyland Jr.'s sister, former City Councilwoman Tracy Boyland, helped Brookdale get $2.6 million in grants when she represented Brownsville. After leaving office in 2005, she was hired by Neighborhood Health Providers, a MediSys health-insurance company. She did not return calls.

The US Attorney's Office said only that its probe stemming from the Seminerio case is ongoing.

From the NY Post:

State Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada Jr., already slapped with two lawsuits over alleged corruption at his Bronx health centers, may still be on the hot seat for Medicaid fraud.

State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit asked for patient records from the Bronx Democrat's Soundview HealthCare Network, according to an October letter sent to Espada and included in court records.

The letter requests the "entire treatment history" and original charts for 259 patients.

One of those patients, Alfreda Alston, 54, of The Bronx, made repeated trips to the Soundview dental clinic over a year -- all paid for through Medicaid. Despite X-rays and exams, the staff could find nothing wrong with Alston's aching tooth, according to her daughter, Alfreda Jones.

Alston finally went to another dentist who fixed the ailment with a simple extraction.

Cuomo brings suit against Espada

From the Daily News:

State Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada Jr. was accused Tuesday of looting his taxpayer-backed health clinic of $14 million, including $80,000 in meals and fancy trips to Puerto Rico, Miami and Las Vegas.

The stunning lawsuit by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo charged Espada, the president and CEO of the Soundview Health Clinic, with using the facility to secure a $9 million severance package while running up $450,000 in credit card bills and $100,000 in campaign expenses.

The lawsuit included a dizzying array of corruption, including allegations that:

- Espada received a severance package worth an estimated $9 million - a deal that would force the non-profit into bankruptcy if the senator collected.

- Soundview paid $80,000 in restaurant bills for Espada and his supporters, including $20,000 from a pair of sushi restaurants near Espada's Westchester County home.

- Soundview paid for Espada and family members to take lavish trips to Las Vegas, Miami and Puerto Rico.

- Soundview provided Espada with an American Express card that he used to ring up $450,000 in personal charges between 2006-09.

- Espada rigged bids to insure that his son collected a $400,000 janitorial services job at Soundview.

- Espada covered the cost of $100,000 in campaign literature by funneling money through Soundview.

Pedro disagreed.

And then his office was raided.

Smith, Espada & Sampson subpoenaed

From the NY Times:

Three senior State Senate Democrats have been subpoenaed by the office of the state inspector general as part of an investigation into the awarding of a casino contract at the Aqueduct racetrack in Queens, people briefed on the matter said on Tuesday.

The subpoenas, which the Senate is seeking to quash, were issued last week to the offices of John L. Sampson, the Senate’s top leader, as well as Malcolm A. Smith, the Senate president, and Pedro Espada Jr., the Senate majority leader.

Austin Shafran, a spokesman for Senate Democrats, declined to comment on the Senate’s move to quash the subpoenas, which seek documents relating to the contract. However, legislative officials have bristled in the past over subpoenas issued by the inspector general, who reports to the governor’s office and runs an executive branch agency.

The awarding of the Aqueduct contract to a politically connected bidder, the Aqueduct Entertainment Group, has been mired in controversy almost from the moment Gov. David A. Paterson announced the selection in January.

On March 11, he announced that Aqueduct Entertainment would not get the franchise after all; state officials said the state’s Lottery Division had determined that it could not license some of the company’s investors.

Also from the NY Times:

Senate Democrats said on Wednesday that they would make public some documents related to the controversial awarding of a casino gambling contract at the Aqueduct racetrack in Queens, even as they waged a legal battle to quash subpoenas from the state inspector general’s office, which is investigating the Aqueduct deal.

A top Senate lawyer indicated that whatever documents the Senate does release to the public, they are unlikely to be as much as the inspector general is seeking, reinforcing the chamber’s unwillingness to make a full accounting of how it handled the Aqueduct bidding process.

The Senate leader, John L. Sampson, said on Wednesday that he intended to be open about his chamber’s handling of the deal, but his words were undercut by his office’s actions in court. Senate lawyers have sought to seal court proceedings as they fight the subpoenas, but their request was denied by a state judge this week.

And while Senate officials argue that they should not be subject to subpoenas from the inspector general, who reports to the governor, their counterparts in the Assembly are cooperating with the investigation.

Photo from the Daily News

Taxing colleges and public authorities?

From the Times Union:

A plan that would require nonprofit organizations -- from private colleges to public authorities -- to pay property taxes is being put together by a high-ranking lawmaker as Democrats who dominate the Senate develop a budget that will come with some real estate tax relief.

"It's our No.1 priority," said one senator headed for a private budget conference of Senate Democrats Tuesday.

Three Senate officials said a budget resolution to be released soon would likely include at least parts of a circuit-breaker bill introduced by Sen. Jeff Klein, D-Bronx, and quite possibly the whole package. The component of Klein's bill most likely to be part of the plan calls for a $290 million STAR program for low-income senior citizens. The circuit breaker Klein envisions would give property taxpayers a credit or rebate based on their income level.

While Klein's proposal would cost money -- Senate officials estimate $1.2 billion -- Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada, D-Bronx, said he is researching a revenue-raising proposal. It would require nonprofits to pay into the real estate tax base so that tax relief would be spread through a community. He said he wants to include public authorities owned by the state in the group of currently tax-exempt entities that would have to share the real estate tax burden.

"Have nonprofits contribute at a time of national sacrifice," Espada said. "It's not such a bad idea." A person familiar with his plan said he is expected to introduce a bill next week. It is projected to raise hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Espada plan would likely require nonprofit property owners, including private colleges, to pay taxes. He is proposing some exemptions, such as for small nonprofits. It is unclear whether his bill would cover the nonprofit health services network he runs in the Bronx.

The idea follows a plan developed by Richard Ravitch before he became lieutenant governor. He came up with a payroll tax for all New York metropolitan-area employers, including nonprofits, as a new revenue stream for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

It sounds interesting until you realize that the MTA is a public authority that owns property and that many public authorities are funded by taxes. So...

More like this, please!

I was going to say "caption this photo," but it looks like someone already did...

Photo courtesy of WNYC

Espada pays workers less than minimum wage

From CBS 2:

Embattled Bronx Sen. Pedro Espada is again under investigation. This time he's accused of luring impoverished members of his community to work as janitors at his health clinics, and paying them way below minimum wage.

Espada went to an upstate duck farm recently to take up the cause of migrant workers and demand they get fair pay and good treatment.

"What you're doing here is absolutely criminal," Espada said.

Pity that he apparently doesn't feel the same way about people working as janitors at Soundview Health Clinics, which Espada owns.

CBS 2 HD has learned that a company he controls that provides custodial services at Soundview was apparently running a sham internship program where workers received no training and were paid dramatically below minimum wage.

CBS 2 HD: "How much were you paid?"

Carlos Gonzalez: "I was paid $150."

That's $150 for two weeks work -- 80 hours at $1.87 an hour. The state minimum wage is $7.25.

Cuomo investigates Espada for dishonest graft

From the Daily News:

AG Andrew Cuomo's office has found "extensive evidence" of illegal and improper actions by embattled Sen. Pedro Espada Jr. and the companies he controls, DN Albany Bureau Chief Ken Lovett reports.

Portions of a potential legal case against Espada were outlined this morning in a bombshell filing Cuomo's office made in Manhattan Supreme Court that asked a judge to compel Espada to cooperate with a subpoena.

In the papers, Cuomo's office charged that Espada has not complied with a subpoena issued Aug. 25 to a management company he created and entirely controls, Soundview Management Enterprises.

According to the papers...Cuomo’s office has been investigating Soundview's parent company, Comprehensive Community Development Corp. for nine months.

Cuomo’s office says it has found “extensive evidence of potential violations” of the state not-for-profit corporation law by Soundview Healthcare and a number of its officers, including Espada, who is its president and CEO.

Cuomo investigating Espada

From CBS 2:

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is getting phone and e-mail records and other documents in his investigation of state Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada.

Espada says he will fully cooperate with the subpoena seeking records held by him, his Bronx health clinic, and the Democrat-led Senate. Cuomo has been probing state grants provided to the Soundview Health Care Network, a Bronx clinic for the poor founded by Espada.

The Democratic senator says Thursday he suspects some political motivation behind the subpoena issued by Cuomo, a fellow Democrat widely viewed as planning a run for governor. The subpoena was issued an hour before Gov. David Paterson's State of the State address Wednesday, when he railed against corruption in Albany and called for reforms.

In August, CBS 2 learned that Espada was embroiled in a new pay controversy, allegedly doling out raises and jobs to friends and cronies with money he got after he re-defected to the Democrats in the Albany Senate coup he led last year.

The coup was the gift that kept on giving -- to Espada. After the renegade politician agreed to rejoin the Democrats -- giving them the majority -- he received $568,000 for increases to his staff.

Good government groups take issue with who Espada hired -- several cronies with ties to the Soundview Health Clinic he owns in the Bronx.

Espada aide had issues

From the NY Times:

Pedro Espada Jr., the majority leader of the State Senate who is already at odds with tenant advocacy groups, appointed a new deputy chief of staff last month who in recent years managed dozens of low-income buildings with chronic housing code violations — even after state regulators revoked his real estate broker’s license in 2004, citing “gross untrustworthiness” after he failed to return deposits to would-be renters.

Mr. Espada said he was unaware of the record of the aide, Onix A. Sosa, as a property manager until he was asked about it by The New York Times on Monday. After a discussion with Mr. Sosa, Mr. Espada fired him from his $60,000-a-year job. (Also see The New York Post.)

Friends of Pedro are in the money

From NY Magazine:

The hiring of Pedro Espada's son, Pedro G. Espada, didn't quite work out according to plan. But the recently crowned Senate majority leader isn't the type of guy to put all his eggs in one basket, either. In fact, in the midst of the uproar over his son, Espada was able to secure jobs and raises totaling $350,000 for some of his close friends, all of whom, we're sure, were both totally necessary and utterly qualified. People like Jerry Love. Jr, whose mom, an employee of Espada's Soundview health clinic, pleaded guilty in 2004 to funneling state money designated for AIDS treatment into Espada's political campaign. Think what you will about the guy —- you can't say he's not a good friend.