Christie’s Attorney General’s Office Picking Up Where Christie’s U.S. Attorney’s Office Left Off
By Art Gallagher
U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman may not think there is a culture of public corruption in New Jersey, but that doesn’t mean that The Soprano State is no longer plagued with graft.
As Gannett’s Bob Jordan points out, New Jersey Attorney General Paula Dowd, who works for Governor Chris Christie and used to work for U.S. Attorney Chris Christie, is continuing the work that was started during Christie’s seven years as New Jersey’s federal prosecutor.
Jordan is referencing the Attorney General’s Annual Report which touts the accomplishments of Dowd’s team against public corruption, gang activity, fraud, and organized crime.
According to a press release from Dowd’s office, their first year accomplishments include:
- Obtained an eight-year prison sentence against former State Assemblyman and former Perth Amboy Mayor Vas, who solicited an illegal payment from a city vendor and illegally funneled money into his congressional campaign via straw donors; a seven-year sentence against former Irvington Mayor Steele, who took kickbacks from contractors while serving as business administrator for the Irvington schools; a three-year prison term against former Jersey City Municipal Court Administrator Virginia Pagan, who admitted to fixing hundreds of parking tickets; the forfeiture of office of former Assemblyman Anthony Chiappone, who admitted to filing false reports with the Election Law Enforcement Commission.
- Obtained a five-year prison sentence against former Assemblyman Neil Cohen, who admitted to viewing and printing child pornography on a computer in his legislative office.
- Secured convictions and prison sentences against individuals responsible for more than $16 million in fraud including investment fraud, embezzlement and identity theft.
- Took legal action to protect students by holding schools accountable for preventing bullying. Among other actions, Findings of Probable Cause were issued against two school districts – Old Bridge and Emerson — accused of failing to protect students who had been bullied and harassed for years.
- Resolved three major civil prosecutions of mortgage foreclosure “rescue” fraud, resulting in defendant payments of $17 million in penalties, judgments, restitution and other fees.
- · Fought traditional organized crime, obtaining a major indictment charging the Lucchese crime family hierarchy with running an illegal sports betting network that employed violence and extortion and, in a separate case, joining with the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor to arrest a top official of the International Longshoremen’s Association, three ILA members, and a Newark police officer in an alleged scheme to extort money from dock workers.
- Obtained indictments charging nine defendants in connection with illegal gun trafficking. The indictments were obtained as the result of a cooperative investigation with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. One indictment outlined a network that allegedly trafficked firearms from the Eastern Shore of Virginia to Trenton, where they were allegedly sold to gang members and other criminals.
- Spearheaded the Fugitive Safe Surrender program in Central New Jersey. The four-day initiative resulted in approximately 4,000 fugitives surrendering, voluntarily, to authorities on outstanding warrants for predominantly non-violent crimes.
- Achieved a 170 percent increase, compared with the prior year, in the amount of civil monetary penalties executed by the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor. OIFP also increased both the number of indictments filed and the number of defendants charged in 2010.
- Implemented a statewide Summer Warrant SWEEP initiative resulting in the arrests of more than 1,100 high-risk parole and probation absconders during the months of July and August, when violent and property crimes tend to peak.
- Protected investors by settling four Auction Rate Securities cases. The four companies repurchased $1.1 billion in Auction Rate Securities held by New Jersey investors and paid the N.J. Bureau of Securities $7.2 million in penalties for failing to disclose the risks of Auction Rate Securities to investors.
- Provided emergency assistance to thousands of residents and motorists during four federally-declared natural disasters. During the December 2010 blizzard, State Police handled 1,077 accidents and provided emergency assistance to an additional 2,889 motorists.