It’s 10 years in prison for Brian.
Judge Richard Sullivan handed down the sentence to disgraced former Assemblymember and head of the New York City Central Labor Council (CLC) Brian McLaughlin on Wednesday afternoon, May 20. McLaughlin, dressed in a blue pinstriped suit and accompanied at the sentencing by his three children, pleaded guilty in March of 2008 to embezzling nearly $2.2 million from organizations he worked for and people he served – including the local little league.
The judge said that while he considered all of the letters he received in support of McLaughlin, he could not overlook the nature of the defendant’s conduct.
“This is a day of failure for everyone,” said Sullivan, who called McLaughlin’s sentence – which includes three years of supervised release after the prison time – an “appropriate” one.
In October of 2006, federal authorities unsealed a 186-page indictment that said that McLaughlin stole money from numerous organizations including the CLC, the state of New York and even non-profit organizations. McLaughlin, who was also the head of J Division of Local 3 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), also used union employees to perform personal tasks for him including shoveling snow, doing electrical work at his house and even capturing mice in his basement, according to the indictment.
However, one of the most egregious charges against McLaughlin was that he stole nearly $100,000 from the Electchester Athletic Association, which runs little league teams in the neighborhood.
“Obviously he touched a lot of people and he hurt a lot of people,” said retired electrician Lenny Waxman, who is better known as “Lenny from the Little League” and has coached teams in the neighborhood for nearly 30 years. Waxman noted that he was “really shocked” at the length of McLaughlin’s sentence.
“That’s a long time. I guess justice has been served,” he said.
For his part, McLaughlin asked the judge and the court for mercy and leniency before Sullivan handed down the verdict on his sentence.
“I don’t have very much to say. I am, of course, very, very sorry for all of my inappropriate conduct and criminal activity,” McLaughlin said. He added, “I make no excuses…”
Since the bombshell indictment, McLaughlin has kept a relatively low profile, working different jobs and trying to make money for his family. Family members and friends wrote letters to Sullivan asking for leniency in McLaughlin’s sentencing.
However, McLaughlin has reportedly been talking with federal investigators as his name surfaced in connection with another federal indictment of fellow Assemblymember Anthony Seminerio. According to reports, McLaughlin may have been an undercover federal informant who helped investigators reveal an alleged $1 million in bribe money Seminerio took in exchange for legislative favors.
