Norman Seabrook, Ex NYC Jails Union Boss, Convicted Of Bribery

NEW YORK, NY — The former head of New York City's largest jail guards union was convicted of taking a hefty bribe from a hedge fund manager in a retrial on Wednesday. A federal jury found Norman Seabrook guilty of honest services wire fraud and conspiracy charges for which he faces up to 20 years in prison, according to the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office.

Federal prosecutors accused Seabrook, the longtime president of the Correction Officers Benevolent Association, of taking a $60,000 bribe from financier Murray Huberfeld in exchange for investing $20 million of union money in Huberfeld's hedge fund.

The jury initially declared Seabrook guilty of bribery in a partial verdict. After that declaration, Seabrook told his family to stop crying and told reporters, "I'm still smiling," according to Newsday.

Seabrook led the nation's largest municipal jail union representing 9,000 officers for more than two decades, prosecutors have said. His first time before a jury in the case ended in a mistrial in November.

Brooklyn real estate businessman Jona Rechnitz, a donor to Mayor Bill de Blasio, reportedly served as the government's star witness in the case.

Rechnitz tried to help Seabrook get rich by brokering a deal in which Seabrook was promised kickbacks for feeding his union's money to Huberfeld's hedge fund, despite advisers warning it was unusual, according to prosecutors and reports.

Rechnitz reportedly delivered Seabrook a $60,000 payment in a Salvatore Ferragamo handbag. But Huberfeld's company, Platinum Partners, eventually went bankrupt and the union lost all but $1 million of its investment, the New York Daily News reported.

Huberfeld pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy in May. He was initially tried alongside Seabrook last year.

The end of Seabrook's case marked the fifth major corruption conviction for Manhattan federal prosecutors in as many months, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said. The others include Dean Skelos and Sheldon Silver, once two of the state's most powerful legislators; Joseph Percoco, a former top aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo; and Alain Kaloyeros, a key figure in the state's "Buffalo Billion" economic development initiative.

"As long as there are public servants who put self-interest above the people they are sworn to serve, public corruption will remain a top priority of this Office," Berman said in a statement.

(Lead image: Norman Seabrook leaves Manhattan federal court in 2016. Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)