Queens assemblyman denies travel voucher payment abuse as FBI seizes records
Assemblyman claims innocence during apparent probe of travel voucher abuse
By Jordan Carleo-Evangelist
Updated 10:37 pm, Wednesday, March 26, 2014
1 of 10
-
Assembly member William Scarborough speaks to reporters Wednesday Feb. 26, 2014 at the Legislative Office Building in Albany, NY. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)
Albany
William Scarborough rose early Wednesday in his Howard Johnson motel room to down a few ibuprofen for his pre-arthritis. That would only be the start of the state assemblyman's considerable discomfort.
FBI agents descended on the Queens Democrat's hotel room around 5:45 a.m. The same morning, agents visited his Capitol and district offices as well as his home as part of an apparent investigation into his use of the Legislature's travel voucher system, under which lawmakers can file for a $172 per diem payment for meals and lodging for each day they are in town on state business.
"This didn't help," Scarborough told reporters gathered outside his office Wednesday. "I took ibuprofen, and the next thing I knew there was a knock on the door."
Investigators carted away several boxes of documents from his office — "just about everything" — confiscated the assemblyman's smartphone and, he said, implied there might be indictments on the horizon.
But Scarborough said he is innocent, and that the investigators' questions seemed motivated by a misunderstanding of how the voucher system works. He said the believed the inquiry was triggered by a "hit job" in a New York City tabloid, an apparent reference to an October 2012 article in the New York Post that detailed the more than $59,000 in payments he collected in 2010 and 2011.
"I'm innocent," Scarborough said in an impromptu 15-minute news conference outside his sixth-floor suite of offices in the Legislative Office Building as groups of citizens in town to lobby lawmakers on the state budget streamed past.
"But I understand the reality," he said. "I understand what it means to stand here with you guys, and I understand how that's going to look. And I understand how it will never, ever be removed — even if this whole thing goes away. This is what it is."
Scarborough said agents quizzed him about per diem claims for days he was teaching an evening class at Brooklyn College. That class, he said, ended at 6:30 p.m., allowing him to hit the road for the roughly two-and-a-half-hour drive to Albany by 9 or 9:30 p.m.
"The Assembly regulations say that if I spend the night in Albany on that day, let's say the 4th, I'm entitled to claim that day as having been here," Scarborough said. "And so this is just one example of what I think is a misrepresentation or misreading of the rules. There were others. I don't know the universe of what they have. But of the ones that they presented to me, I think they are refutable."
A spokeswoman for the FBI in Albany confirmed that the bureau executed search warrants at Scarborough's Albany office and "multiple" other locations, including in New York City. But she declined to discuss the nature or scope of the investigation. A spokesman for Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office, which Scarborough said is involved in the inquiry, referred comment to the FBI.
In a statement, U.S. Attorney Richard Hartunian of New York's Northern District said the searches were part of an "ongoing" investigation, adding "Mr. Scarborough has not been charged and is presumed innocent."
The investigation appears to be joint effort between the Albany FBI's white collar crime section and Schneiderman's public integrity unit.
The raids are yet another ding in the reputation of the scandal-prone Legislature and of Scarborough's section of Queens, which was rocked almost exactly a year ago by a series of arrests that began with federal corruption charges against state Sen. Malcolm Smith, whose district covers almost all of Scarborough's.
They also come at an awkward time for lawmakers, who are in the final stages of negotiating a state budget that Gov. Andrew Cuomo has insisted include a package of reforms — including public financing of elections — to tamp down corruption.
William Scarborough rose early Wednesday in his Howard Johnson motel room to down a few ibuprofen for his pre-arthritis. That would only be the start of the state assemblyman's considerable discomfort.
FBI agents descended on the Queens Democrat's hotel room around 5:45 a.m. The same morning, agents visited his Capitol and district offices as well as his home as part of an apparent investigation into his use of the Legislature's travel voucher system, under which lawmakers can file for a $172 per diem payment for meals and lodging for each day they are in town on state business.
"This didn't help," Scarborough told reporters gathered outside his office Wednesday. "I took ibuprofen, and the next thing I knew there was a knock on the door."
Investigators carted away several boxes of documents from his office — "just about everything" — confiscated the assemblyman's smartphone and, he said, implied there might be indictments on the horizon.
But Scarborough said he is innocent, and that the investigators' questions seemed motivated by a misunderstanding of how the voucher system works. He said the believed the inquiry was triggered by a "hit job" in a New York City tabloid, an apparent reference to an October 2012 article in the New York Post that detailed the more than $59,000 in payments he collected in 2010 and 2011.
"I'm innocent," Scarborough said in an impromptu 15-minute news conference outside his sixth-floor suite of offices in the Legislative Office Building as groups of citizens in town to lobby lawmakers on the state budget streamed past.
"But I understand the reality," he said. "I understand what it means to stand here with you guys, and I understand how that's going to look. And I understand how it will never, ever be removed — even if this whole thing goes away. This is what it is."
Scarborough said agents quizzed him about per diem claims for days he was teaching an evening class at Brooklyn College. That class, he said, ended at 6:30 p.m., allowing him to hit the road for the roughly two-and-a-half-hour drive to Albany by 9 or 9:30 p.m.
"The Assembly regulations say that if I spend the night in Albany on that day, let's say the 4th, I'm entitled to claim that day as having been here," Scarborough said. "And so this is just one example of what I think is a misrepresentation or misreading of the rules. There were others. I don't know the universe of what they have. But of the ones that they presented to me, I think they are refutable."
A spokeswoman for the FBI in Albany confirmed that the bureau executed search warrants at Scarborough's Albany office and "multiple" other locations, including in New York City. But she declined to discuss the nature or scope of the investigation. A spokesman for Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office, which Scarborough said is involved in the inquiry, referred comment to the FBI.
In a statement, U.S. Attorney Richard Hartunian of New York's Northern District said the searches were part of an "ongoing" investigation, adding "Mr. Scarborough has not been charged and is presumed innocent."
The investigation appears to be joint effort between the Albany FBI's white collar crime section and Schneiderman's public integrity unit.
The raids are yet another ding in the reputation of the scandal-prone Legislature and of Scarborough's section of Queens, which was rocked almost exactly a year ago by a series of arrests that began with federal corruption charges against state Sen. Malcolm Smith, whose district covers almost all of Scarborough's.
They also come at an awkward time for lawmakers, who are in the final stages of negotiating a state budget that Gov. Andrew Cuomo has insisted include a package of reforms — including public financing of elections — to tamp down corruption.
Three weeks ago, Brooklyn Democrat William Boyland
Jr. was bounced from his Assembly seat when a federal jury convicted
him of extortion and soliciting bribes. Boyland was also convicted of
submitting some $70,000 worth of bogus per diem and travel vouchers.
"There's no question that we are under scrutiny ... in the Assembly," Scarborough said. "It is also true that my particular area of southeast Queens is also under scrutiny for various reasons. ... The irony to me is I've tried to go out of my way to keep on the straight and narrow."
In 2012, Scarborough topped the Assembly in per diem payments, pulling in an additional $33,986 above his $79,500 base salary and $12,500 bonus (known as a "lulu") for chairing the Small Business Committee.
Scarborough's expense and per diem haul dropped to $28,438 last year, according to data from state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli's office. He has claimed $10,349 so far this year.
The lawmaker said his claims are consistently high because "I have a habit of coming up here off-session."
"I don't see where I can just leave my office here for six months and not come here and think that business is being taken care of," he said.
Scarborough, who said he was shocked by the raid, said agents pressured him help them further other investigations.
"They said to me for example, you know, 'All right, we'd like you to take responsibility and help us if you know of any corruption.' And the reality is I don't know of any corruption because if anything seems to come my way I try to get out of it," Scarborough said. "I was at a disadvantage. It would have been easier for me to say, 'OK, yeah, I know of this person. We sat down and we talked about putting money under the table.' But I don't know about that."
Scarborough said he believes agents will come up empty-handed. And he said investigators sent mixed signals about the likelihood that there will be charges.
"What I was told was that there might be indictments and I would not be one of them. When I spoke with people here (later), they seemed to have kind of tempered that statement, so I have no idea," Scarborough said. "It was implied. I don't want to misstate, but that was the implication at the time."
He added: "In this business, you're guilty until proven innocent. That's just the fact, OK? And I have always felt — because I've seen it with colleagues, I've seen it with others — that an accusation, an allegation, becomes an indictment."
jcarleo-evangelist@timesunion.com • 518-454-5445 • @JCEvangelist_TU
« Previous1 |2"There's no question that we are under scrutiny ... in the Assembly," Scarborough said. "It is also true that my particular area of southeast Queens is also under scrutiny for various reasons. ... The irony to me is I've tried to go out of my way to keep on the straight and narrow."
In 2012, Scarborough topped the Assembly in per diem payments, pulling in an additional $33,986 above his $79,500 base salary and $12,500 bonus (known as a "lulu") for chairing the Small Business Committee.
Scarborough's expense and per diem haul dropped to $28,438 last year, according to data from state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli's office. He has claimed $10,349 so far this year.
The lawmaker said his claims are consistently high because "I have a habit of coming up here off-session."
"I don't see where I can just leave my office here for six months and not come here and think that business is being taken care of," he said.
Scarborough, who said he was shocked by the raid, said agents pressured him help them further other investigations.
"They said to me for example, you know, 'All right, we'd like you to take responsibility and help us if you know of any corruption.' And the reality is I don't know of any corruption because if anything seems to come my way I try to get out of it," Scarborough said. "I was at a disadvantage. It would have been easier for me to say, 'OK, yeah, I know of this person. We sat down and we talked about putting money under the table.' But I don't know about that."
Scarborough said he believes agents will come up empty-handed. And he said investigators sent mixed signals about the likelihood that there will be charges.
"What I was told was that there might be indictments and I would not be one of them. When I spoke with people here (later), they seemed to have kind of tempered that statement, so I have no idea," Scarborough said. "It was implied. I don't want to misstate, but that was the implication at the time."
He added: "In this business, you're guilty until proven innocent. That's just the fact, OK? And I have always felt — because I've seen it with colleagues, I've seen it with others — that an accusation, an allegation, becomes an indictment."
jcarleo-evangelist@timesunion.com • 518-454-5445 • @JCEvangelist_TU
No comments:
Post a Comment