BY BEN BRACHFELD
Former southern Brooklyn
Councilmember Chaim
Deutsch was sentenced July
29 to 3 months in prison and
1 year of supervised release,
along with $107,000 restitution
to the government and a $5,500
fi ne in relation to federal tax
fraud charges.
The former pol appeared
alongside his attorney, family,
and friends before US Magistrate
Judge James Cott at
Manhattan federal District
Court to face sentencing, after
pleading guilty in April to
evading nearly $83,000 in taxes
he owed between 2013 and 2015
as the owner of real estate
fi rm Chasa Management. The
charges against Deutsch carried
maximum penalties of up
to a year in prison, a year of
supervised release, and a fi ne
of $100,000. Deutsch’s attorney,
Henry Mazurek, had asked
that he be sentenced to probation,
community service, and
restitution of the tax liability
plus about $25,000 in interest.
Deutsch, a Democrat who
represented the 48th Council
District, which includes Brighton
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Beach, Manhattan Beach,
Sheepshead Bay, Homecrest,
and part of Midwood, was expelled
from the City Council
in April, a few days after
copping to the charges. City
Council Speaker Corey Johnson
cited the state’s public offi
cers law stating that an offi ce
was automatically vacated after
its holder is convicted of a
crime involving the violation
of their oath of offi ce in a statement
after expelling Deutsch.
“I want to apologize to the
court, my family, my former
staff from the City Council’s
offi ce, and most of all, my former
constituents of District
48,” Deutsch said in remarks
before Judge Cott. “I apologize
for the conduct that brings me
to my sentencing today. I was
wrong for what I did. I should
never have tried to avoid paying
my fair share of taxes. I’ll
have to live with these bad decisions
for the rest of my life.”
Eli Mark, the prosecutor
in charge of the case with the
Southern District of New York,
however, argued that what
Deutsch did was not a mistake,
but rather continuous, systematic
fraud that occurred,
at least partially, while he was
charged with representing his
community in a position of
high public trust.
“This was not aberrant conduct
that occurred on a single
occasion,” Mark said. “It was
deliberate conduct that occurred
year after year.”
Cott also argued that
Deutsch’s position of public
trust exacerbated the offenses
he committed in handing down
a sentence, and said that his
sentence should act as a deterrent
to both members of the
community and other public offi
cials that tax evasion wouldn’t
be tolerated even by powerful
people. “There is no doubt that
his conduct was intentional. ...
I do believe, given all the circumstances
here, that a period
of incarceration is necessary.”
Mazurek noted that Deutsch
will have to sell his house to pay
restitution, though Mark noted
Former Councilmember Chaim Deutsch. File photo
that the house was purchased
while the tax fraud was being
committed.
Cott ordered that Deutsch
surrender to federal custody
to begin his sentence by October
29. Mazurek asked that
Deutsch be remanded to the federal
prison at Otisville, Orange
County, which Cott agreed to
recommend, though ultimately
the determination is up to the
federal Bureau of Prisons.
Deutsch, 52, was fi rst elected
to the Council in 2013 and was
reelected in 2017. Prior to serving
in public offi ce he worked
as a political aide, in real estate
and property management, in
fashion manufacturing, and
volunteered with the Flatbush
Shomrim patrol, which he
founded in 1991.
Deutsch’s real estate business
was relatively lucrative: before
the Council voted to limit outside
income in conjunction with a pay
raise, he had some of the highest
side earnings of any member of
the Council, with earnings from
Chasa Management topping six
fi gures. Deutsch in 2017 pledged
to divest from his real estate
holdings by the time the new outside
income limits went into effect
on Jan. 1, 2018, the fi rst day
of his second term; Judge Cott
noted at sentencing that Deutsch
had not received income from
Chasa Management since 2017.
Deutsch sentenced
Former lawmaker gets 3 months in prison
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