Newark, NJ.
Leona Beldini, a Jersey City deputy mayor arrested in last summer’s epic FBI sting, was convicted today on two of six corruption counts for taking bribes from a government informant who traversed the state with cash-filled envelopes and a gift for talking his way into meetings with powerful officials.
The 74-year-old Democrat stood impassively with her hands folded as a jury of eight men and four women in federal court in Newark announced she was guilty of accepting $20,000 in illegal campaign contributions from the informant, who posed as a developer offering bribes in exchange for building approvals.
Beldini was acquitted of four counts, including the three most serious: conspiracy to commit extortion and two counts of attempted extortion. She faces up to 10 years in prison for each of the two bribery counts, but could be sentenced to much less time under federal guidelines. Sentencing is scheduled for June 1.
The one-time burlesque dancer was charged last July in the money-laundering and corruption sting that netted five rabbis, three mayors, two assemblymen and one man accused of conspiring to sell a human kidney. Beldini was the first to face a jury.
"Every case like this that we bring is designed to send a message. And the message is that public service is about something other than enriching yourself and enriching your friends and your colleagues," U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman said.
Beldini’s lawyer, Brian J. Neary, denounced the verdict, saying it was "inconsistent" for jurors to acquit her of extortion, yet convict her of bribery. Both the extortion and bribery counts accused her of accepting the same $20,000 in campaign donations on behalf of Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy, who has not been charged. And they both accused her of agreeing to help the informant secure zoning changes for a 750-unit luxury condominium complex he claimed to be building.
