Romance Didn’t Motivate Bribes Between Yonkers Councilwoman, Associate: Jury

A former Yonkers Councilwoman and a former head of the Yonkers Republican Party were convicted on bribery charges Thursday when they failed to convince jurors that gifts and money they exchanged were motivated by romance and not a scheme to buy votes.

Sandy Annabi, 41, and Zehy Jereis, 40, were convicted of all the charges against them, including collecting on bribes in return for Annabi’s City Council vote in favor of two development projects.

The local GOP leader said he showered Annabi with gifts and money because he fell in love with her.  He claimed to have paid her mortgage, school loans, cable bills, electricity bills and lease for a Mercedes between 2002 and 2008. Federal prosecutors accused Annabi of accepting almost $175,000 in payments from Jereis and another man.

Prosecutors claimed the money was used to guarantee Annabi’s vote to approve the development of a housing complex and a smaller construction project.  In one case, prosecutors said she received $20,000 in cash to reverse her long-held opposition to a project by Milio Management.

In another case, Annabi voted in favor of a $842 million housing and hotel complex to be developed by Forest City Ratner — the developer for the Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn — after the company agreed to give Jereis a $60,000 no-show consulting job.

The jury came to a verdict on its fifth day of deliberating.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara called the convictions “a victory for the citizens of Yonkers” and “another clarion call to corrupt public officials and those who contemplate buying their influence, that we will do everything within our power to root out, prosecute and punish this conduct.”

When WNYC asked Manhattan federal prosecutors why no charges were brought against either Milio Management or Forest City Ratner in the bribery scheme, spokesperson Ellen Davis said, “We make our charging decisions based on the facts and the law and do not publicly discuss our deliberative process.”

Meanwhile, Forest City Ratner weighed in on the conviction, pointing out the company was never accused of any wrongdoing.

“This trial was not about the actions of Forest City Ratner,” said company spokesman Joe DePlasco in an email statement.  “FCRC … had no knowledge of the financial relationship between Ms. Annabi and Mr. Jereis.”

No date has been set for sentencing.