Leffler is accused of getting notorious southeast Queens real estate…
By Courtney Dentch
A Manhattan judge dismissed four of the 13 campaign finance fraud charges against former northeast Queens City Councilman Sheldon Leffler last week and scheduled his trial for October.
Leffler is accused of getting notorious southeast Queens real estate mogul Rita Stark to donate 38 money orders for $250 each in the names of other people so that he could claim matching city funds to finance his failed bid for the borough presidency, said Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau.
During pretrial hearings last week Leffler, a Democrat who had been known for his integrity, and his attorney argued the indictment should be dismissed because the testimony of his alleged accomplices was not corroborated, according to papers filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan.
Judge Daniel Fitzgerald disagreed, saying a recording by Stark, who had agreed to wear a hidden microphone to tape Leffler in August 2001, provided the verification.
“The tape recordings of the defendant’s own conversations are ample evidence ‘tending to connect’ the defendant to all of the criminal charges,” Fitzgerald wrote in his decision.
The judge did throw out three counts of falsifying business records and one count of violating election law, saying the crimes allegedly took place in Queens and would not fall under the jurisdiction of the Manhattan court.
A spokeswoman for the Queens district attorney’s office declined to comment on bringing possible charges under that jurisdiction.
The trial on the remaining nine counts was scheduled to start Oct. 20 in Manhattan.
Fred Hafetz, Leffler’s attorney, had no comment on the judge’s decision.
Leffler, 60, was indicted Jan. 9 on charges he schemed to defraud the city of $40,000 by dividing donations from Stark into smaller amounts to make the money eligible for the matching funds program, Morgenthau said. The alleged scheme would have allowed Leffler to collect $1,000 per $250 contribution — a total of $40,000 — under the voluntary Campaign Finance Board program that provides $4 of public money for every $1 raised by candidates who agree to spending and fund-raising limits, Morgenthau said.
If convicted, Leffler, a Hollis Hills resident, could face up to seven years in prison.
He represented the communities of Hollis Hills, Queens Village, Little Neck, Douglaston, Bayside, Bellerose, Floral Park, Glen Oaks, Hollis and Fresh Meadows from the time he was elected to the Council in 1978 until he was forced out of the seat by term limits in 2001. Leffler vied for the Queens borough presidency, but came in third in the Democratic primary behind Helen Marshall and former Board of Education President Carol Gresser.
According to the indictment, Leffler and Stark, a family friend who inherited her wealth and a number of properties in Queens from her father, Fred Stark, allegedly agreed that she would donate a total of $10,000 to his campaign in the form of 38 $250 contributions made in the names of Stark’s employees, tenants, relatives and employees’ relatives.
Stark later recorded a conversation in which Leffler asked her to get the 38 people whose names she had used to sign contribution cards. When Stark said they did not know the contributions had been made in their names, Leffler allegedly said “they don’t have to contribute a dime, all … they’re asked to do is sign the cards.”
At a news conference Leffler held in his lawyer’s office in September, he called Stark an “overzealous supporter” whom he considered a bundler, or a contributor who rallied other donations from friends and associates. When it became clear that was not the case, Leffler ordered the money returned, he said.
Stark has not been charged with any crimes, a spokeswoman for Morgenthau said.
Reach reporter Courtney Dentch by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com, or by phone at 229-0300, Ext. 138.
