Rockland Mayor Charged in Corruption Probe

A Rockland County mayor and her deputy mayor today face charges in a federal corruption probe, which the U.S. Attorney's Office also says has led to charges against Bronx Republican Party Chairman Jay Savino.

Savino, who has an influential White Plains law firm, was hired by the Town of Clarkstown to handle its property tax litigation matters.

A 28-page complaint unsealed by the U.S. Attorney's Office this morning reveals a corruption investigation that includes state Sen. Malcolm Smith and New York City Council member Dan Halloran. The complaint includes Spring Valley Mayor Noramie Jasmin and Deputy Mayor Joseph Desmaret, and Savino and Queens County Republican Party Vice Chairman Vincent Tabone.

The charges include bribery, extortion, and wire and mail fraud.

“Today’s charges demonstrate, once again, that a show-me-the-money culture seems to pervade every level of New York government," said U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara this morning. "The complaint describes an unappetizing smorgasbord of graft and greed involving six officials who together built a corridor of corruption stretching from Queens and the Bronx to Rockland County and all the way up to Albany itself. As alleged, Senator Malcolm Smith tried to bribe his way to a shot at Gracie Mansion – Smith drew up the game plan and Councilman Halloran essentially quarterbacked that drive by finding party chairmen who were wide open to receiving bribes. After the string of public corruption scandals that we have brought to light, many may rightly resign themselves to the sad truth that perhaps the most powerful special interest in politics is self-interest. We will continue pursuing and punishing every corrupt official we find, but the public corruption crisis in New York is more than a prosecutor’s problem.” 

The Rockland County corruption charges, according to federal court papers, involved bribery in connection with a real estate project in Spring Valley.

The New York City corruption charges stem from efforts to get state Sen. Malcolm A. Smith, a Democrat, the necessary paperwork to run on the Republican Party line in the New York City mayoral race.

Spring Valley real estate

The federal charges in Spring Valley date back to about August 2011, when Jasmin, a Democrat, is accused in a fraud scheme in which she would voted in favor of the sale of Spring Valley village-owned land to a company in exchange for an ownership interest in the company and to also steer New York State funds to the company for the real estate project.

The charges contend that Desmaret, also a Democrat, received cash payments in exchange for his vote of the land sale and helping to steer state funds to the project. 

The federal complaint filed by the FBI states that a cooperating witness who pleaded guilty on March 11, 2013, provided information in the investigation. The land deal, according to complaint, dates back to a meeting in a Rockland County restaurant, where Jasmin is accused of describing her plan to obtain land through the village's eminent domain authority and then take bids from private developers to develop the property.

Desmaret is accused of meeting with the cooperating witness in a car in January 2012 and sought $20,000. Later, Jasmin met repeatedly with the cooperating witness at a hotel in Ramapo and in a car to work out details of a hidden partnership arrangement.

In Octoter 2012, undercover FBI agents began to take part in meeting posing a straw developers who would make presentations on the real estate development to the Spring Valley Village Board. While meeting with them, according to the federal complaint, Jasmin walked the straw developers through their cover stories on how they got involved with the project.

When the Village Board voted on the project on Oct. 23, 2012, according to the complaint, Jasmin did not disclose her true connection to the project and the developers. In 2013, Jasmin and Desmaret agreed to steer the FBI's witness and the undercover agents to state Sen. Malcolm A. Smith to obtain state funding.

The complaint details more than $10,000 worth of bribes obtained by Desmaret from Feb. 28, 2012 to March 6, 2013, and locations in Ramapo and White Plains. The complaint also details how Jasmin provided the cash and identity information or a relative who does not have the same last name to create a holding company that would be needed to make the illicit land deal happen.

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