Top Democratic Donor Now In The Jail House

Two years! Betcha the judge was a Dem LOL!

March 5, 2005

Democratic Donor Receives Two-Year Prison Sentence

By RONALD SMOTHERS

EWARK, March 4 - Charles Kushner, a multimillionaire real estate executive, philanthropist and one of the top Democratic donors in the country, was sentenced on Friday to two years in federal prison after pleading guilty to 18 counts of tax evasion, witness tampering and making illegal campaign donations.

Mr. Kushner, 50, built a construction business begun by his father into a private real estate empire that owned more than 25,000 apartments, millions of square feet of commercial and industrial space and thousands of acres of developable land.

But Mr. Kushner also became embroiled in a bitter family feud over the business and how proceeds were distributed. That dispute, plus his growing prominence as a political financier, helped lead to his downfall. The intrafamily acrimony was such that Mr. Kushner retaliated against his brother-in-law, who was cooperating with federal authorities, by hiring a prostitute to seduce him. He then arranged to have a secretly recorded videotape of the encounter sent to his sister, the man's wife.

The two-year sentence was the most Mr. Kushner could have received under a plea agreement, reached last September with the United States attorney, Christopher J. Christie, that called for 18 to 24 months in prison. But it was less than the sentence of nearly three years that Mr. Christie had sought in recent weeks after concluding that Mr. Kushner had failed to show "acceptance of responsibility" for his crimes as required by the plea deal.

Details of that heated fight between prosecutors and Mr. Kushner's lawyers were unveiled in more than two and a half hours of argument on Friday before Judge Jose L. Linares in Federal District Court.

In the end, the judge rejected the prosecution's argument but said he was nevertheless left with the difficult task of weighing the "horrific" nature of Mr. Kushner's acts against his sister and brother-in-law versus his many philanthropic acts in determining whether leniency was warranted.

"It is difficult for me to reconcile the generous man with the revengeful, hateful man," Judge Linares said. "But I must take into consideration the vengeful nature in which this was done. In light of all the relevant circumstances, I find that you be imprisoned for 24 months."

Mr. Kushner, dressed in a navy blue suit, white shirt and polka-dot tie, told the judge that while he did not believe he was as saintly as his lawyers and the letters sent to the judge on his behalf would suggest, neither was he as evil as the prosecution portrayed him. He nonetheless acknowledged that "the actions which bring me before you today were disgraceful and reprehensible."

Mr. Kushner, who will continue to be free on $5 million bail, was ordered to surrender on May 9 to begin serving his sentence at a federal prison at a military base in Montgomery, Ala. He was also ordered to pay a $40,000 fine.

After the sentencing, Mr. Christie said he was pleased. "It shows that no matter how rich and powerful you are in this state you will be prosecuted and punished for crimes you commit," he said. "This sends a strong message that when you commit the vile and heinous acts that he has committed you will be caught and punished."

Benjamin Brafman, Mr. Kushner's lead lawyer, said that while he was pleased that Judge Linares did not throw out the original plea deal's sentencing recommendations, he was "angry and disappointed" that the judge chose not to sentence his client to 18 months in prison.

"It disappoints me because I thought that after years of being one of the kindest and giving persons, it would matter in this state," Mr. Brafman said. "It does matter in other states, but apparently it doesn't mean anything in this state."

Mr. Kushner's lawyers provided Judge Linares with about 700 letters praising Mr. Kushner's charity and philanthropy, among them letters from people who had benefited from Mr. Kushner's acts, including schoolchildren and the sick.

While Mr. Christie said that his investigation into Mr. Kushner's campaign contributions was continuing, the sentencing on Friday capped a rapid-fire series of events last summer in which Mr. Kushner, a major contributor to Gov. James E. McGreevey, was arrested, followed a week later by Mr. McGreevey's resignation after admitting to an adulterous homosexual affair.

The arrest of a businessman who was so close to Mr. McGreevey had fueled speculation that the governor, already besieged by federal investigations of his campaigns, aides and other associates, was himself on the brink of political destruction at best and federal charges at worst.

Mr. Kushner had put the man with whom Mr. McGreevey's aides said the governor had the affair, Golan Cipel, an Israeli citizen, on his payroll for a time. He also helped Mr. Cipel to get the United States work permits that allowed Mr. McGreevey to appoint him to a top counterterrorism post that he was later forced to quit.

Mr. McGreevey appointed Mr. Kushner to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and nominated him to become its chairman, but Mr. Kushner quit after complaints were raised that his contributions to New Jersey Democrats may have violated campaign-finance and conflict-of-interest laws.

In seeking the longer prison term, an assistant United States attorney, Scott Resnick, told Judge Linares that Mr. Kushner had failed to comply with subpoenas for business documents and had not presented sufficient proof that all the videotapes made of his brother-in-law and the prostitute had been turned over or destroyed.

Rather than seeing these things as Mr. Kushner's "failure to accept responsibility," Judge Linares faulted the prosecution for not securing stronger guarantees for compliance, and he accepted Mr. Kushner's assurance in court and in affidavits that the videotapes had been destroyed.

NYT