Pol Funneled $ Through Nonprofit
Former City Council Member and State Sen. Hiram Monserrate pled guilty last Friday, May 4, in Manhattan federal court to mail fraud offenses relating to his misuse of more than $100,000 in City Council discretionary funds, it was announced.
The 44-year-old Jackson Heights resident, who was expelled from the State Senate in 2010 following his conviction in an unrelated domestic assault case, entered a guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and one count of mail fraud before U.S. District Court Judge Colleen McMahon.
Sentencing is scheduled to take place on Sept. 14; Monserrate faces a maximum term of 20 years in prison for each charge.
“As a City Council member, Hiram Monserrate was supposed to help deserving community groups by directing city funds to them, not to use one of those groups as a front to illegally finance his State Senate campaign,” U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara said in a statement last Friday. “Sadly, Monserrate took money out of the pockets of needy people to fund his own political career. We will continue to pursue and prosecute elected officials who foolishly think that they can corruptly use public money for their own benefit.”
“As an elected official, [Monserrate] should have protected his constituents and taxpayer funds,” added city Department of Investigation (DOI) Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn. “Instead, he abused them to gain political advantage and support a failed bid for State Senate [in 2006].”
Monserrate served as a member of the City Council between 2002 and 2008, representing the 21st Councilmanic District that includes the neighborhoods of Corona, East Elmhurst and Jackson Heights. In 2006, he unsuccessfully challenged then-State Sen. John Sabini for the 13th Senatorial District seat.
Between 2005 and 2006, federal law enforcement sources said, then- Council Member Monserrate directed approximately $300,000 in discretionary funds to the Latino Initiative for Better Resources and Empowerment Inc. (LIBRE), a tax-exempt organization dedicated to working with “churches, civil rights organizations and community organizations … to counsel and assist individuals to secure their legal rights.”
In fact, according to the charges, Monserrate used $109,000 of the funds allocated to LIBRE to finance his State Senate campaign in 2006. From June through September of that year, while seeking the Democratic Party nomination for the office, he directed certain LIBRE employees to perform work on behalf of his political campaign, for which the organization paid them thousands of dollars.
In 2006, after LIBRE used its discretionary funds to conduct a voter registration drive in Monserrate’s senate district, the legislator directed the organization to create a database of registered voters and provide it to his Senate campaign. Because LIBRE deliberately delayed providing the same information to the state Board of Elections until shortly after the deadline, prosecutors stated, Monserrate gained an unfair advantage in the campaign, as he was the only candidate aware of the individuals whom LIBRE registered to vote.
Finally, in June and July of 2006, Monserrate directed LIBRE to use its discretionary funds to pay workers to gather signatures of registered voters for petitions to secure his place on the Democratic primary ballot for the 13th State Senate district. From July through September 2006, authorities noted, LIBRE used the discretionary funds to pay workers to canvass neighborhoods of the 13th Senate District on Monserrate’s behalf.
Though Monserrate ultimately lost the 2006 primary to Sabini, he would win the 13th State Senate District seat in 2008, months after Sabini resigned to accept his appointment as chair of the New York State Racing and Wagering Board.
Shortly after his election, Monserrate was arrested in December 2008 for assaulting his girlfriend inside his apartment. He would later be convicted of a misdemeanor assault charge, but though he was not sentenced to jail time, the State Senate voted in February 2010 to expel him from office.
Monserrate unsuccessfully tried to win back the State Senate seat in a March 2010 special election, which was won by then-Assemblyman Jose Peralta. The ousted state senator then ran for Peralta’s Assembly seat in the November general election and was beaten by then-Democratic District Leader Francisco Moya.
Bharara praised the investigative work of DOI and thanked the office of Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown for its assistance with the investigation.
The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Public Corruption Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brent S. Wible and Carrie H. Cohen were in charge of the prosecution.
