Former Suffolk County Legislator And Co-Conspirator Convicted Of Defrauding Mortgage Lender Out Of More Than A Quarter Of A Million Dollars

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced the convictions of GEORGE GULDI, a former Suffolk County legislator and disbarred attorney, and VICTORIA DAVIDSON for defrauding Ditech Financial LLC, a mortgage lender, out of more than a quarter of a million dollars. The jury convicted GULDI and DAVIDSON of all counts following an approximately two-week trial before U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “George Guldi, while in prison, concocted and conducted a scheme along with his co-conspirator, Victoria Davidson, to brazenly steal more than $250,000 through blatant lies. Today, a jury held them accountable for their scheme, and they will both face justice for their shameless misconduct.” Read More

Suffolk County Conservative Party Chairman Edward Walsh Guilty In Scheme To Defraud The Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office

Late this afternoon, following three weeks of trial, a federal jury in Central Islip, returned a guilty verdict against Suffolk County Conservative Party Chairman Edward M. Walsh, Jr., on charges that he engaged in a scheme to steal wages for regular and overtime hours in connection with his employment with the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO). The jury convicted the defendant of both counts of an indictment charging him with theft of government funds and wire fraud, in violation of Title 18 U.S.C. §§ 666 and 1343, respectively.    Read More

Olivia former Suffolk County Police Department (“SCPD”) Detective was subject to a vindictive and retaliatory investigation and prosecution as a result of his provision of information to the news media and federal law enforcement concerning the misdeeds of former SCPD Chief of Department James Burke and others with ties to former Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota and his senior deputy Christopher McPartland. Oliva also alleges improprieties in connection with the conduct of the investigation.  Testimony and judicial factfinding m connection with the federal prosecution of Spota and McPartland, which is corroborated by evidence developed by the CIB, establish that the investigation and prosecution of Oliva were unconstitutionally vindictive, in violation of Oliva’ s Due Process rights.

December 14, 2012, the day of Loeb’s arrest and assault, McPartland’s Government Corruption Bureau handled the criminal case against Loeb.

February 8, 2013, in a meeting with the assigned prosecutor, Loeb’s lawyer alleged that Loeb was beaten by Burke and sought discovery on this issue.

After this meeting, Spota sought, and eventually obtained, the appointment of a special prosecutor from the Queens District Attorney’s Office to handle Loeb’s criminal case. The detectives would eventually meet with the Special Prosecutor in the Spring of 2013.

June 25, 2013, Bombace, Leto, and other officers were served with federal subpoenas. (Tr. 664–65, 1614.)

However, none of the officers who had witnessed the assault cooperated with the federal investigation.

October and November 2013, the state court judge presiding over Loeb’s criminal case held a suppression hearing where Leto testified and lied about the assault of Loeb. December 2013, the federal investigation was closed.

2013 FBI Special Agents served members of the SCPD with federal grand jury subpoenas. 

Burke, Spota and McPartland learned of the existence of the federal investigation. they instructed Hickey to debrief his Intel detectives and learn what was said by the FBI agents serving the subpoenas, and find out who might be cooperating with them. However, because of the threats and intimidation, none of the Intel detectives cooperated with the investigation, and it was closed eight months later, in December 2013. Through the efforts of the defendants and Burke, the initial grand jury investigation of Burke’s civil rights violation was successfully derailed. 

2015, Burke, Spota and McPartland learned that the federal investigation had been reopened.

They reacted swiftly to obstruct it by stopping detectives to cooperate with the FBI. In early aDecember 2015, a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of New York indicted Burke. 

August 17, 2015 meeting with Burke and McPartland where McPartland told Hickey that he “lost control of Bombace,” whom McPartland called a “rat.”

Burke pleaded guilty approximately two months later, admitting to his involvement in both the deprivation of Loeb’s civil rights and the conspiracy to obstruct justice. In November 2016, he was sentenced to 46 months’ in prison.  Case Recap

2016 Arrest and resignations

February 2016 Spota and McPartland both resigned from the District Attorney’s Office in light of the charges against them and have since been disbarred and Burke was sentenced to 46 months’ imprisonment.

2016 McPartland took ex-police chief’s cash for legal defense

On February 18, 2016, D’Orazio received what he has described, in substance, as an out-of-the-blue phone call from defendant McPartland, who was seeking to meet with him. Per D’Orazio, and as supported by his phone records, this was the first time D’Orazio ever recalled McPartland calling him on the phone. In fact, McPartland did not even have D’Orazio’s phone number – in order to obtain it, McPartland had to contact another friend of Burke’s, who McPartland knew from the Suffolk County Police Department.

During this phone call, D’Orazio agreed to meet with McPartland. The two met at the Golden Dynasty (“Golden Dynasty”) restaurant in St. James. During the meeting, defendant McPartland asked D’Orazio if he would loan him $25,000 to aid defendant McPartland in paying his legal defense fees. Defendant McPartland promised that if D’Orazio made the Loan, McPartland would provide a promissory note and pay him back.

According to D’Orazio, he was stunned by this request, as the two were only acquaintances. D’Orazio was uncertain how to handle this, so he discussed the matter with Burke’s half-brother, John Toal (“Toal”), who had been placed in charge of handling Burke’s finances while he was incarcerated. The two men decided this should be brought to Burke’s attention.

Following the request, and just one day prior to visiting Burke in jail, on February 24, 2016, Toal removed cash and jewelry from a safe deposit box he held jointly with Burke at a TD Bank in St. James (“Safe Deposit Box 1”). He then met D’Orazio at a different TD Bank located in Centereach, and they opened a new safe deposit box in both Toal’s and D’Orazio’s names, but not in Burke’s name (“Safe Deposit Box 2”).1 Toal placed most of the contents of Safe Deposit Box 1 into Safe Deposit Box 2.

The following day (February 25, 2016), D’Orazio, Toal and Burke’s two other brothers visited Burke at the MDC. During the visit, D’Orazio advised Burke of McPartland’s request for the Loan. D’Orazio told Burke that, although he had the money himself, he did not want to provide the Loan to defendant McPartland, as McPartland was Burke’s friend, not his. Burke told D’Orazio to inform defendant McPartland, in substance, not to worry; and further instructed D’Orazio to tell McPartland that D’Orazio would get him the money. Burke then directed D’Orazio and Toal to remove the $25,000 that had previously been in his safe deposit box (i.e., Safe Deposit Box 1), and provide McPartland the funds.

Four days later, on February 29, 2016, D’Orazio and Toal went to the TD Bank in Centereach and removed $25,000 in cash from Safe Deposit Box 2 – i.e., the box held jointly in Toal and D’Orazio’s names, but which contained Burke’s cash. D’Orazio then contacted defendant McPartland and arranged, once again, to meet at Golden Dynasty.

October 25, 2017 FBI agents arrested Spota and McPartland

October 25, 2017 FBI agents arrested Spota and McPartland on charges including witness tampering and deprivation of civil rights.  Spota resigned his office in November.

Suffolk police arrested Loeb, then a heroin addict, in December 2012, after he allegedly stole a duffel bag containing a gun belt, ammunition, sex toys and pornography from Burke’s unmarked police car, which had been parked in front of Burke’s St. James home.

Three Suffolk detectives – Kenneth Bombace, Anthony Leto and Michael Malone – cursed and slapped Loeb at the Fourth Precinct to get Loeb to confess. Burke then “fiercely punched, kicked, kneed and screamed at Loeb, stopping only when the other officers intervened,” Livingston wrote.

 Burke, Chris and Hickey ensured that the detectives stayed quiet in response to the federal investigation. However, in Loeb’s criminal matter, the state court scheduled suppression hearings to determine whether Loeb’s statements to the officers at the precinct should be suppressed.

Hickey, Burke and McPartland all met together in Burke’s office in September 2013 to prepare Burke in case he had to testify at the suppression hearing. During this meeting, McPartland and Burke engaged in a brief mock examination during which they settled on a story that Burke stuck his head into the interrogation room to see “if he recognized Loeb from his neighborhood because . . . Burke, had an elderly mother who lived next door to him and the park across the street from his house was known for drug problems.”

At this meeting, they also discussed which of the detectives should testify at the suppression hearing. They agreed that Leto should testify because Malone was “too shaky” and Bombace was too inexperienced.

Leto ended up testifying falsely at the suppression hearing in Loeb’s criminal case, which was held over seven days in October and November 2013.

Bombace, Leto, and Hickey were granted either immunity or cooperation deals, they admitted their role in the conspiracy to cover up the beating, and Burke was eventually charged in 2016 after resigning in late 2015. Det. Thomas Cottingham, the lead detective handling the Loeb case, left the force in July 2013.

Burke served 46 months in prison and three years of supervised release for his charges.

Fall of 2014, an incident occurred at the Central Islip Federal Courthouse involving Suffolk County detectives, which raised suspicions amongst Burke, McPartland and Spota that Bombace might be cooperating with the federal authorities.

June 3, 2015, Bombace learned from his lawyer that the federal investigation into the Loeb assault had been reopened. Despite the efforts by Defendants and Burke to obstruct the investigation, in September and October 2015, Bombace and Leto decided to cooperate and testified in the grand jury.

Before the end of October, Burke would resign as Chief and Hickey would himself be served with a grand jury subpoena.

In December 2015, Hickey began to proffer with the government and Burke was arrested.

At trial, Hickey recounted how, beginning in 2013, he discussed the Loeb assault with Defendants and Burke and how he was tasked with ensuring that the detectives under him stayed quiet. Hickey recounted numerous conversations in which McPartland and Spota: (1) discussed the need to “keep [B]urke out of jail,” keep Hickey’s guys “quiet and tight,” and “to not say anything about this”; and (2) repeatedly asked Hickey if Hickey’s guys were “holding up” and if they “are they towing line” and are “okay.”

At one point, Burke stressed to Hickey that there were two questions for the detectives to answer—“Did you hit anybody?” and “Did you see anybody hit anybody”—and that the answers were “Two nos. Period. Not that fucking difficult.”

June 4, 2015 meeting, which was held the day after Bombace learned that the federal investigation had been reopened. At this meeting, both Spota and McPartland threatened witnesses and, along with Burke, made numerous other incriminating statements. (Tr. 1689–97, 1835–1849.) At trial, the government argued that Hickey’s account of this meeting alone was sufficient to convict Defendants.

Hickey also recounted, inter alia, an August 17, 2015 meeting with Burke and McPartland where McPartland told Hickey that he “lost control of Bombace,” whom McPartland called a “rat.”

Burke’s girlfriend testified that Burke often spoke to McPartland during the summer of 2015 and that she overheard Burke tell McPartland that “if everyone would just be quiet, that this would all go away.” (Tr. 2935–37.)

The evidence at trial also revealed, inter alia, two incidents that occurred after Burke’s arrest and further corroborated Hickey’s account of Defendants’ involvement in the obstruction.

• After Burke was arrested and pled guilty, he instructed his lawyer to tell Defendants that he was not cooperating with the government—a message that his lawyer passed on to Defendants.
• Additionally, when McPartland needed money to pay for an attorney, he solicited and received a $25,000 cash loan from Burke’s close friend in extremely suspicious circumstances that made it clear that McPartland knew the money was coming from Burke, who was in jail at the time.

February 2013 and September 2013 Coaching Sessions Involving McPartland and Burke Hickey testified that he attended a meeting in February or March 2013 with Burke and McPartland where Burke and McPartland tried to come up with a “plausible explanation why Burke was at the Fourth Precinct” on December 14. (Tr. 1596, 1983.) Hickey’s testimony about this meeting is a primary focus of Defendants’ post-trial motion.

According to Hickey, at this meeting, Burke and McPartland talked about the possibility that Burke was there just to “pop his head in and nothing more.” (Tr. 1596.) During this backand- forth between Burke and McPartland, they discussed whether Burke should deny being at the precinct at all. McPartland, however, shot down that idea, reasoning that too many people had seen Burke at the precinct. (Tr. 1596–97.) Once it was decided that Burke had to admit he was at the precinct, Burke suggested that he could say that he “just stuck [his] head in” to “see if he recognized” Loeb.

McPartland approved this story as plausible and added that Burke could say that he “didn’t even know if the door was opened or closed.”

Bombace and Leto also testified that they met with Burke in March 2013 concerning the fabricated narrative of the assault which they were to follow.

2013, Hickey—acting at the direction of Burke and Defendants— ensured that the detectives stayed quiet in response to the federal investigation. However, in Loeb’s criminal matter, the state court scheduled suppression hearings to determine whether Loeb’s statements to the officers at the precinct should be suppressed. According to Hickey, in advance of these hearings, Hickey, Burke and McPartland all met together in Burke’s office in September 2013 to prepare Burke in case he had to testify at the suppression hearing.

During this meeting, McPartland and Burke engaged in a brief mock examination during which they settled on a story that Burke stuck his head into the interrogation room to see “if he recognized Loeb from his neighborhood because . . . Burke, had an elderly mother who lived next door to him and the park across the street from his house was known for drug problems.”

October 30, 2015, Hickey was served with a grand jury subpoena. That same day, Hickey met with Burke and learned that “Leto had collapsed in the grand jury.”

McPartland and Spota were indicted in October 2017. Jury selection for trial began on November 12, 2019 and opening statements commenced on November 14, 2019.

As discussed infra, prior to trial, the prosecution and the defense fought over the disclosure and admission of Hickey’s medical records, which were ultimately admitted at trial.

Thirty-three days prior to trial, the government turned over to the defense 3500 material, which contained over 70 pages of 302 reports and agent interview notes from Hickey’s proffer sessions. As part of his cooperation, Hickey met with the government 17 times between December 4, 2015 and November 11, 2019. (Tr. 1777.) Additionally, after November 11, 2019, Hickey also met with the government on three or four occasions to prepare for trial.

During trial, the defense subpoenaed the notes of Hickey’s attorneys. After receiving the subpoena, Hickey took the extraordinary step of waiving attorney-client privilege and produced 75 pages of his attorneys’ notes and outlines as well as four pages of notes that Hickey himself drafted in preparation for his first meeting with Sapone in November 2015.

Failure to disclose any Giglio material concerning Hickey’s testimony

December 9, 2019, McPartland’s attorney, Larry Krantz, spoke over the phone with an Assistant United States Attorney (“AUSA”) on the trial team. Mr. Krantz advised the government that he was concerned about the government’s failure to disclose any Giglio material concerning Hickey’s testimony and stressed that the “government could not rely on the 3500 material as sufficient disclosure in that regard, because the defense had no way of knowing what may have been said by Hickey, in his government interviews, that was not contained in the 3500 material.”

(The AUSA responded that she had conferred with the prosecution team and there were no Giglio disclosures to make. (Id.) The next day, both the defense and the government rested.

Defendants’ Request for a New Trial Based on the Current Record

Defendants argued that Hickey committed perjury when he testified that he witnessed the February/March 2013 coaching session involving McPartland and Burke. Defendants’ argument concerning this testimony is two-pronged. In their opening brief, Defendants appear to argue that they are entitled to a hearing on this claim and also that, based solely on the current record, there is sufficient evidence for the Court to find that Hickey perjured himself on this point and therefore to order a new trial. Defendants’ reply brief, however, abandons this argument and instead focuses on their request for a hearing on all of their claims. It was Denied.

James Burke Trial Records

July 27, 2017

Suffolk County Police Officer Christopher McCoy was charged today with depriving an arrestee of the right to bodily integrity by forcing her to perform a sexual act in the precinct.

According to the complaint (as the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the description of the alleged activity set forth herein constitutes only allegations, and every fact described should be treated as an allegation), on March 16, 2017, while on duty, McCoy arrested Jane Doe as she was the subject of several outstanding warrants in connection with unresolved vehicle and traffic offenses. Jane Doe was transported to the First Precinct in Wyandanch. During arrest processing, while McCoy and Jane Doe were alone in the precinct’s juvenile room, McCoy forced Jane Doe to perform oral sex. Upon her release, Jane Doe promptly reported the incident.

McCoy was arrested this morning by FBI agents on Long Island.

“This type of behavior is outrageous. It won’t be tolerated within our criminal justice system, and those who subject others to such cruel conduct will be swiftly removed from serving in any official capacity. Many thanks to our partners from the Suffolk County Police Department for working with us and providing assistance throughout the course of this investigation, which is currently ongoing. We ask any individuals who may have been a victim of Officer McCoy to call us at (212) 384-2166,” said Assistant Director in Charge William F. Sweeney, Jr. Read More