6 The Queens Courier • may 16, 2013 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com HUNTLEY GETS YEAR AND A DAY FOR EMBEZZLEMENT CHARGES BY TERENCE M. CULLEN [email protected] State Senator Shirley Huntley was sentenced last week to serve one year and one day in federal prison for embezzling thousands of dollars through a non-profit group she helped establish. Huntley’s sentence, delivered on Thursday, May 9, is less than the recommended 18 months in part because she helped federal authorities investigate other elected officials last summer. That group included State Senators Malcolm Smith and Jose Peralta as well as Councilmember Ruben Wills. Smith was arrested on April 2 after U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said the embattled leader tried to rig the mayoral race to get himself on the Republican ballot. Wills served as Huntley’s chief of staff before his election to the council in 2010. Peralta, a candidate for borough president, said in a statement that he is not under investigation. “I have been assured by the U.S. Attorney’s office that I am not a target of their inquiry,” he said. Sally Butler, Huntley’s lawyer, said FBI agents were regularly brought in and out of the Huntley home. The former senator was working with the authorities as recently as last week. Officials said aside from Smith and State Senator John Sampson, none of the names are confirmed as actually being under investigation. It has not been confirmed whether Huntley’s tapings directly resulted in either man’s arrest. Wills said last week he was also assured he was not the subject of an investigation. He added he was open to working with officials. Huntley pleaded guilty to stealing $87,000 from the non-profit and admitted to taking a $1,000 bribe while working with federal investigators. She was also sentenced to three years’ probation and ordered to pay $100 along with returning the embezzled money and bribe. In court, Huntley said she regretted her decisions and asked presiding Judge Jack Weinstein to be easy on her to so she could rebuild her reputation. Sally Butler, Huntley’s lawyer, appealed to Weinstein before the sentencing on easing the disgraced pol’s sentence for family and safety reasons. Much to the chagrin of federal prosecutors, Weinstein ordered the pre-sentencing statements to be unsealed to the public the day before. The files included names of seven elected officials and two political consultants Huntley had recorded during several conversations between June and August 2012. U.S. attorneys present said they were not opposed to a lessened statement because of Huntley’s work with investigators over the last year, which they described as productive to an extent. However, authorities did not offer Huntley a full cooperation deal because investigators found she lied about some items. Butler countered that Huntley was constantly nervous about what she was doing and the pressure she faced from the New York Attorney General’s office. Weinstein ordered Huntley to report to her designated penitentiary within 10 days of its selection by the Bureau of Prisons. Huntley exited court with friends and family on Thursday afternoon to a media blitz. She had no comment. FAMILY MATTERS In the minutes leading up to the sentencing, there was a general silence in the federal courtroom. Huntley and her husband waited at the end of a row lined with friends and family members waiting to learn the ex-senator’s fate. Once the proceeding were underway, Butler weaved the personal side of Huntley’s experience into the sentencing. The attorney said the effects on Huntley’s family have been substantial and asked the judge to consider that in the sentencing. Butler added that Huntley cooperated with investigators and essentially allowed FBI agents to live in her Rochdale home. The only person aside from Huntley and Butler who knew about the agents, the lawyer said, was her husband Herbert. When the couple’s daughter found out about the investigations, she had a stressinduced stroke and aneurism, Butler said. An apparently calm Huntley stared at the table during the proceeding. Her husband, however, became emotional—his eyes welling up and face turning red. Herbert, 75, also said he was physically accosted outside a supermarket days before the sentencing. He told Weinstein a young man approached him and asked to confirm he was Huntley’s husband. The man then threatened the elderly man. Peralta: On the record on wiretap BY TERENCE M. CULLEN [email protected] State Senator Jose Peralta says he did not have any illegal discussions with his former colleague, Shirley Huntley, when she secretly recorded him last year. “I was as surprised as anybody to have my name on this list,” Peralta told The Queens Courier. “I did no wrong-doing whatsoever. I know that nothing on these tapes would implicate me on anything with the exception of the fact that I was recorded.” Peralta said his lawyers were assured by authorities that he is not the topic of a federal investigation, unlike some others on the list released last week. State Senators Malcolm Smith and John Sampson were arrested within a month of each other on federal corruption charges. Prosecutors have not confirmed whether Huntley’s cooperation with the FBI aided in those arrests. Because there are still ongoing investigations, Peralta could not say what he discussed with Huntley. However, he did say that it was nothing of substance and “people will be scratching their heads” at the content recorded. Peralta’s own tenure in the Senate came on the heels of another legislator’s removal from the chamber. He won a special election in March 2010 after the Senate voted to expel disgraced pol Hiram Monserrate, who was convicted of a misdemeanor. Monserrate tried to reclaim his seat in the special election, but with the loss of the Democrats’ backing, he finished third. “I ran against someone who really shocked the confidence of his constituents,” Peralta said. “I wanted to make sure I was as transparent and as forwardthinking as possible.” Peralta said the recordings of seven elected officials and two political consultants were an effort by Huntley to point fingers and divert charges away from her. “She must have thought she can get a plea bargain by pointing fingers at others,” he said. “I’m not saying there are no bad apples,” but “most of us are hardworking, transparent individuals.” Peralta told The Courier that since he is not under investigation, the wiretap will not impact his run for borough president. “I think it’s a minor setback, of course,” he said. “But I’ve been on the campaign trail and people see it for what it is.”
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