Justice for a justice
Judge Sylvia Ash convicted of obstructing federal investigation
BY NELSON A. KING
Damian Williams, the
Jamaican-American United
States Attorney for the Southern
District of New York,
announced on Monday the
conviction of Sylvia Ash, a
Trinidad and Tobago-born
justice of the New York State
Supreme Court and former
chair of the Board of Directors
of Municipal Credit Union
(MCU) in New York, for conspiracy
to obstruct justice, obstruction
of justice and making
a false statement to a US
federal agent.
“These charges arose from
a scheme to impede the federal
criminal investigation into
fraud and corruption at MCU,
a non-profi t, multibillion-dollar
fi nancial institution, including
misconduct committed
by Kam Wong, the former
chief executive offi cer (CEO),
and Joseph Guagliardo, a former
New York City Police Department
Offi cer and member
of MCU’s Supervisory Committee,”
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said Williams, the
son of a Jamaican father, in a
statement.
He said Wong and Guagliardo
were charged separately
and previously pled guilty to
embezzlement from MCU.
Williams said Ash, 64, who
lives in Brooklyn and are of
Grenadian and Vincentian
parentage, was convicted after
a two-week jury trial before
US District Judge Lewis
A. Kaplan and is scheduled to
be sentenced on April 20, 2022
by Judge Kaplan.
“Today’s conviction demonstrates
our resolve in uncovering
criminal conduct at
the highest levels of MCU and
ensuring that those who attempt
to thwart a federal investigation
face consequences
for that corrosive conduct,”
Williams said.
“As the jury unanimously
found, Sylvia Ash took repeated
steps, over multiple
months, to seek to obstruct the
federal criminal investigation
into fi nancial misconduct at
MCU that took place during
Ash’s tenure as chair of the
Board of Directors,” he added.
“Obstruction of justice, particularly
by a sitting state court
judge, is a serious crime, and
Ash now faces punishment for
her obstruction scheme.”
According to the Complaint,
Indictment, Superseding
Indictment, publicly-available
information, court fi lings
and evidence presented during
the trial in Manhattan federal
court, MCU is a non-profi t fi -
nancial institution headquartered
in New York, New York,
which is federally insured by
the National Credit Union Administration
(NCUA).
MCU is the oldest credit
union in New York State and
one of the oldest and largest
in the country, providing
banking services to more
than 500,000 members, and
with more than US$4 billion
in member accounts, each of
which is insured for at least
US$250,000 by the National
Credit Union Share Insurance
Fund, which is administered
by the NCUA.
Membership in MCU is generally
available to employees
of New York City and its agencies,
employees of the federal
and New York state governments
who work in New York
City, and employees of hospitals,
nursing homes, and similar
facilities located within
New York State.
Williams said that, at all
relevant times, MCU was overseen
by a Board of Directors
(the Board) and a Supervisory
Committee (the Supervisory
Committee), each of which
was composed of members of
MCU, who were not supposed
to be compensated.
“As a result of severe defi
ciencies in the Board’s and
the Supervisory Committee’s
oversight of the credit union,
which came to light in connection
with the federal investigation,
the New York Department
of Financial Services
(DFS) removed the members
of the Supervisory Committee
in May 2018 and the Board
in June 2018,” Williams said.
“Subsequently, DFS appointed
NCUA as the conservator for
the credit union.”
Judge Sylvia Ash. File photo
Bill de Blasio
Mayor
Dave A. Chokshi, MD, MSc
Health Commissioner
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