Disgraced former City Councilman Dan Halloran will have another six weeks to practice his scuba diving techniques after a federal judge this week adjourned sentencing for his role in a bribery scheme during the 2013 mayoral campaign.
Halloran, who was scheduled to be sentenced on Wednesday, is now due to go before U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth Karas on March 4, according to court officials who said the earlier sentencing date had been adjourned.
After a trial in federal court in White Plains, Halloran was convicted by a jury in July on all five counts of bribery, wire fraud and racket?eeri?ng charges brought against him by U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara.
He faces a maximum 55 years behind bars on the charges. But federal probation officials have recommended that he be sentenced to six-and-a-half to eight years in prison. Halloran’s attorneys are asking that the judge sentence him to either house arrest or community service.
In a bid for leniency, Halloran’s latest attorney Jonathan Edelstein wrote to Karas earlier this month explaining that his client, a former lawyer who lost his license, now wants to pursue a career as a scuba instructor, the New York Post previously reported.
“Even after being indicted in this case, Mr. Halloran has continued to improve his skill set by becoming a first-aid and CPR instructor as well as a scuba instructor, so that he may continue to follow a useful career after the loss of his law license,” Edelstein wrote, according to the report.
Halloran has been on home confinement since his conviction.
A Republican, Halloran was investigated by the feds for his role in a $200,000 attempt to help steer the Republican mayoral nomination to then-Democratic state Sen. Malcolm Smith. Under state election law, Smith needed the approval of three of the city’s five Republican county committees to get on the GOP ballot.
The jury found Halloran guilty for charges stemming from pocketing $20,500 in cash bribes for orchestrating talks to help arrange Republican support for Smith. He was also convicted for taking $18,300 in cash bribes and $6,300 in straw-donor campaign contributions in exchange for steering $80,000 in City Council funds to a private company seeking work with the city.
Smith is now before a federal court in White Plains, where he is being retried for his role in the case after an earlier attempt to win a conviction ended in a mistrial. Smith is no longer a state senator. He was defeated in a primary last fall by Leroy Comrie.
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