Six admit role in MTA racket.Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau Robert Morris Morgenthau (born July 31, 1919) is currently the District Attorney for New York County, which is coterminous with Manhattan. Prominent family Robert Morris Morgenthau was born in 1919 in New York City, into a prominent Jewish family that emigrated from announced that six people and one corporation have pleaded guilty to racketeering Traditionally, obtaining or extorting money illegally or carrying on illegal business activities, usually by Organized Crime . A pattern of illegal activity carried out as part of an enterprise that is owned or controlled by those who are engaged in the illegal activity. charges and related crimes in the theft of millions of dollars from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Three of those pleading guilty were former MTA (1) (Message Transfer Agent or Mail Transfer Agent) The store and forward part of a messaging system. See messaging system. (2) See M Technology Association. 1. (messaging) MTA - Message Transfer Agent. officials. The MTA's former Director of Facility Operations, Howard Weissman, its former Facilities Manager, Ronald Allan, and former MTA building manager, Gary Weissbard pleaded guilty to participating in the corrupt activities of contractors doing business with the MTA, including plumbing contractor Figliolia Plumbing Co. Inc, d/b/a Alex Figliolia Contracting Corp ("Figliolia Plumbing) and its principals, Alex Figliolia Snr., his wife Janet Figliolia, and his son, Alex Figliolia Jnr., all of whom pleaded guilty last week. Specifically, Alex Figliolia Snr., and Alex Figliolia Jnr. pleaded guilty to enterprise corruption, while Janet Figliolia pleaded guilty to bribery in the second degree. Figliolia Plumbing pleaded guilty to grand larceny A category of larceny—the offense of illegally taking the property of another—in which the value of the property taken is greater than that set for petit larceny. At Common Law, the punishment for grand larceny was death. in the first degree. Weissman pleaded guilty to enterprise corruption. Allan pleaded guilty to bribe receiving in the second degree. Weissbard pleaded guilty to receiving a reward for official misconduct official misconduct n. improper and/or illegal acts by a public official which violate his/her duty to follow the law and act on behalf of the public good. Often such conduct is under the guise or "color" of official authority. (See: official) in the second degree. The Figliolia pleas were taken tby Acting Supreme Court Justice Roger Hayes. Under the terms of their pleas, the Figliolias will be sentenced on January 5, 2005. Alex Jnr. has been promised a sentence of from two and three-quarters to eight and one-quarter years in state prison. His father will receive a sentence of from one and three-quarters to five and one-quarter years and his mother will receive a sentence of five years probation. In their pleas, the Figliolias admitted that they were engaged in a criminal enterprise, denominated the "Figlolia Group," for the purpose of stealing millions of dollars from the MTA through a variety of schemes, including bribing the MTA officials, inflating invoices for materials, violating prevailing wage A prevailing wage is the median wage paid to workers in a specified locality. Scope Prevailing wage may include both wages and benefits. It incompasses the compensation for a worker given for performed labor. requirements, and engaging in money laundering The process of taking the proceeds of criminal activity and making them appear legal. Laundering allows criminals to transform illegally obtained gain into seemingly legitimate funds. . In addition to last week's guilty pleas, the Figliolias will forfeit a total of $6 million and approximately $750,000 worth of jewelry seized at their home pursuant to court-authorized search warrants. That forfeiture is in connection with the asset forfeiture Asset forfeiture is a term used to describe the confiscation of assets, by the State, which are either (a) the proceeds of crime or (b) the instrumentalities of crime. Instrumentalities of crime are property that was used to facilitate crime, for example cars used to transport suit brought by the District Attorney's Office in conjunction with their indictment. Upon the payment of the $6 million and the forfeiture of the jewelry, the civil suit will be settled. The MTA will receive at least $4 million in restitution. The rest of the money will be set aside to satisfy prevailing wage claims by Figliolia employees; any money left after those claims are paid will also revert to the MTA. In addition to the forfeiture, the Figliolias and their company will file amended state and federal tax returns for the time period covered by the pleas. In his plea, Weissman admitted to accepting money and things of value from contractors, including the Figliolias, in exchange for allowing them to overcharge the MTA for goods and services In economics, economic output is divided into physical goods and intangible services. Consumption of goods and services is assumed to produce utility (unless the "good" is a "bad"). It is often used when referring to a Goods and Services Tax. and to obtain millions of dollars of work. Weissman has not been promised a specific sentence, and will pay $100,000 in restitution to the MTA. In his plea, Allan also admitted to accepting money and things of value from contractors, including the Figliolias, in exchange for allowing them to submit fraudulent invoices for goods and services. Allan will receive one to three years in state prison and will pay $20,000 in restitution to the MTA. In pleading guilty, Weissbard admitted that he allowed the Figliolias to submit incomplete invoices when billing for goods and services. Weissbard will receive five years probation and pay $9,000 in restitution. For their assistance in the investigation, Mr. Morgenthau thanked: MTA Executive Director Katherine N. Lapp, Gary Dellaverson and Maureen Boll; MTA Inspector General Matt Sansverie, MTA Deputy Inspector General Michael Jaeger jaeger (yā`gər), common name for several members of the family Stercorariidae, member of a family of hawklike sea birds closely related to the gull and the tern. The skua is also a member of this family. , Financial Investigations Supervisor George Cullen, Financial Investigators Malvina Etis and DonnaLynn Gazza, and Associate Financial Investigator Ilene Gates; MTA Police Detective Joseph Trimarchi; MTA Counter Terrorism Task force Chief William Morange and Deputy Raymond McDermott; New York State Department of Taxation and Finance The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance (NYSDTF) is a core agency of the New York State in the United States of America. The agency is responsible for handling all tax forms and publications. Commissioner Andrew Eristoff Andrew S. Eristoff is a Republican Party politician from New York City who served as the Commissioner of Tax and Finance under New York State Governor George Pataki from September 16, 2003 until his resignation on November 3, 2006. , Deputy Commissioner Peter P. Farrell, Associate Attorney Christine Becker, Supervising Investigator John Toucher, and Auditor Stephen Kane; Barbara Ditata, Acting Inspector General for School Construction Authority and Senior Investigator Herman Klug; Mr. Morgenthau also thanked the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice for their assistance in conducting the searches at the Figliolia residence and in particular: Deputy Attorney General Mark Eliades; Supervising State Investigator Vickey Vreeland; State Investigator Brian Bruton; State Investigator Chris Donahue; State Investigator Jennifer Mazone; State Investigator Paul Kay; State Investigator P.J. Sole; and State Investigator Mario Estrada. The case was prosecuted by Rackets rackets Game for two or four players with ball and racket on a four-walled court. Rackets is played with a hard ball in a relatively large court (approximately 9 × 18 m), unlike the related games of squash and racquetball. Bureau Chief Patrick J. Dugan, and Assistant District Attorneys Evan Williams and Mark Krupnick. The asset forfeiture action was handled by Chief of the Asset Forfeiture Unit Raymond Marinaccio, and Assistant District Attorney Tara Miner, assisted by Melanie Guinyard. |
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