Senator Espada at a House hearing
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MoreA federal grand jury in Brooklyn has charged outgoing state Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada and his son with embezzling more than half a million dollars from health care clinics they ran in the Bronx.
Espada founded Soundview Healthcare Center in 1978 to provide healthcare for poor Bronx residents. The health network takes in more than $1 million federal dollars a year. Prosecutors now say the Espadas used that money to maintain a lavish lifestyle.
Espada allegedly used Soundview's corporate credit card to pay for window treatments for his home, Broadway tickets, Yankee games and more than $100,000-worth of restaurant meals for the family.
The indictment also says the Espadas got Soundview to hire a family janitorial business and that they used the business to divert Soundview funds to pay for air conditioning work in the Espada home, after-school tutoring, pony rides and a petting zoo for a family birthday party, a down-payment for a Bentley and campaign expenses for the senator.
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who started investigating Espada last year and who has filed a lawsuit against the senator for breaching duties to Soundview, called Espada's alleged conduct "a really obnoxious perversion of intent." Cuomo said Espada used funds "that were supposed to go to provide healthcare for poor people to live a luxurious, extravagant lifestyle."
Senator Espada's lawyer, Susan Necheles, said in a written statement that it's a "sad day for Soundview and a sad day for the Espada family," but added that "Senator Espada and his son deny any wrongdoing and we intend to fight the charges in court."
Federal and state investigations have dogged the senator for years, and, in this September's primary, he lost his bid for re-election.
Espada and his son will appear in federal court in Brooklyn Wednesday afternoon. They 're both facing up to 10 years in prison on each of the most serious counts.
Ailsa Chang is an award-winning journalist who covers criminal justice, terrorism and the courts for WNYC. She found her way into public radio after practicing law for five years, and can definitely say that walking the streets of New York City with a microphone is a lot more fun than being holed up in the office writing letters to opposing counsel.
Comments [2]
Somehow the Assistant U.S. Attorney, the N.Y. Attorney General and the rest of this city's prosecutorial royalty continue to overlook the criminal antics engaged in by the members of the New York City Council despite the city council presidents admission of institutionalized embezzlement.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOqecrHyzko&eurl=http://www.observer.com/2008/quinn-holding-taxpayer-money
http://www.nypost.com/seven/12112008/news/regionalnews/council_in_lush_mess_143667.htm
I HOPE THEY THROW THE BOOK AT THIS LOSER AND HIS SON!!!
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