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Former New York State Assemblyman Pleads Guilty
to Honest Services Mail Fraud
30-Year Queens Assemblyman Anthony Seminerio Used Consulting Company To Conceal Approximately $1 Million In Corrupt Payments
LEV L. DASSIN, the Acting United States Attorney for
the Southern District of New York, announced that former New York
State Assemblyman ANTHONY SEMINERIO pleaded guilty today in
Manhattan federal court to defrauding the public of his honest
services. SEMINERIO, who represented New York's 38th Assembly
district in Queens until his resignation yesterday, admitted to
using a consulting firm he controlled to receive corrupt payments
from various entities with business before the State of New York.
SEMINERIO entered his guilty plea to the charge contained in a
one-count Superseding Indictment before United States District
Judge NAOMI REICE BUCHWALD. According to the Superseding
Indictment:
SEMINERIO served as a member of the Assembly from 1978
until his June 23, 2009, resignation from that body. His
official duties included voting upon legislation, acting as a
public advocate on behalf of constituents and others, and
discussing, persuading, and influencing other legislators with
respect to matters before the Assembly. Like all elected
officials in New York, SEMINERIO owed a duty of honest services
to the citizens of New York State. New York law makes it a crime
for a member of the Assembly to receive payments of any kind for
taking official action. Similarly, New York law imposes a duty
on elected officials, including members of the Assembly, to avoid
any business or professional engagements that are in substantial
conflict with the proper discharge of the member's official
duties.
From 1999 through September 2008, SEMINERIO engaged in
a scheme to defraud the public of his honest services by using a
purported consulting firm, "Marc Consultants," to solicit and
receive "consulting" payments from persons and entities having
business before the State of New York. SEMINERIO did little or no consulting work but nonetheless received approximately one
million dollars from various entities with business before the
State of New York, who thereby benefitted from favorable
treatment within the state government. Those entities included
hospitals and related entities; a consulting firm associated with
an educational institution; and a firm engaged in marketing
supplemental insurance packages to public institutions.
In 1999 SEMINERIO, among other things, approached the
founder of a Queens-based consulting company for whom he had
previously worked and demanded a share of the company's revenue.
When the consultant resisted, SEMINERIO retaliated by writing and
calling many of the consultant's clients, telling them he was no
longer associated with the firm, and pressuring some of them to
stop paying the consultant and instead hire SEMINERIO. As a
result, the consultant lost his client base and his company
folded.
That summer, SEMINERIO also pressured the president of
a Queens, New York-based non-profit organization that depended
largely on New York State funding. SEMINERIO asked the
organization's president to become his consulting client,
repeatedly advancing his request when the president refused to
respond. In January 2000, SEMINERIO met with the organization's
president at his Albany legislative office and warned that if the
president failed to hire him, SEMINERIO would "kill" any bill the
president tried to pass in Albany and would ruin the relationship
between the president and any legislator working with him. After
this meeting, the organization's president agreed to hire
SEMERINO and paid a monthly fee for approximately two years to
Marc Consultants.
More recently, on July 10, 2008, SEMINERIO called a
senior New York State health department official and assured him
that he had "a friend of me in the Assembly." The official
mentioned that he had been speaking with a New York State Senator
who supported the acquisition of certain hospitals by a
particular hospital (that had not paid consulting fees to
SEMINERIO). SEMINERIO replied that he would rather see another
hospital (that had paid him consulting fees) "get it." SEMINERIO
did not disclose to the official that the second hospital had
hired him, nor did he disclose that the first hospital had
refused to hire him. During today's plea proceeding, SEMINERIO
specifically admitted that he had a conversation on July 10, 2008
with a representative of a New York State agency, during which he
advocated in favor of Jamaica Hospital in connection with a New
York State matter. SEMINERIO acknowledged that he intentionally
did not disclose to the representative the fact that he was being paid a consulting fee by the hospital, and that his conduct had
the effect of depriving others of the right of honest services,
stating, "I knew that my conduct was illegal and wrong."
"Instead of using his office to help New Yorkers,
Anthony Seminerio used his office to help himself. Anthony
Seminerio was caught red-handed violating the law and the
public's trust by taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in
corrupt payments," Mr. DASSIN stated. "Today's guilty plea marks
another significant step in our ongoing effort to combat public
corruption."
SEMINERIO, 74, of Queens, New York, pleaded guilty to
one count of honest services mail fraud, which carries a maximum
sentence of 20 years in prison. The Government did not enter
into a plea agreement with SEMINERIO. Sentencing is scheduled
for October 20, 2009, at 10:00 a.m. before Judge BUCHWALD.
Mr. DASSIN praised the investigative work of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation in this case. The investigation
is continuing.
The prosecution is being handled by the Office's Public
Corruption Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys DANIEL L.
STEIN and WILLIAM J. HARRINGTON are in charge of the prosecution.
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