Posts tagged Norman Seabrook

    Prosecutors’ star witness in New York corruption trials wins new sentencing

    July 27, 2023 // Hellerstein, in denying Rechnitz's request for recusal in 2020, acknowledged that he had been close friends with Kaplan's father and had known Kaplan since he was born. Hellerstein said that when Kaplan asked for advice about the Platinum case, he had agreed to talk about it because he "felt that I should consider his request as if it were made by my son." Nonetheless, he said Kaplan did not have enough of a connection to Rechnitz's case to warrant recusal. The 2nd Circuit said that was a mistake. "Not only did the district judge have a close, near-paternal relationship with Kaplan, he also advised Kaplan on how to proceed in his pending criminal case arising from the Platinum fraud," the panel wrote. "The judge's relationship with Kaplan was sufficiently close, and Kaplan's case was sufficiently related to Rechnitz's case, that a reasonable person would have questioned the district court's impartiality."

    Disgraced NYC Union Boss to Recoup Ferragamo Shoes, ‘Bundles of Cash’

    July 5, 2023 // Former Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association leader Norman Seabrook will get back the designer shoes, as well as two “bundles of cash” that contained $5,600 and $1,000, according to a court filing signed last week by federal prosecutors in New York and Seabrook’s attorney. The feds also agreed to turn over a separate quantity of cash totaling $1,100, as well as a laptop and a cellphone seized during his 2016 arrest by federal agents for accepting bribe money. But one item Seabrook will not be getting back is the designer handbag he accepted stuffed with thousands of dollars in bribe money.

    Judge eyes shorter sentence for ex-NYC jails union boss

    April 20, 2022 // But he also said the former head of the New York City Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association did not deserve a new trial. Prosecutors said he accepted $60,000 in bribes in 2014 to funnel $20 million in union funds to a risky hedge fund.