07-06-04 -- D'Amiano, David -- Indictment -- News Release

State Political Party Fundraiser Indicted in Extortion of Piscataway Farm Owner

NEWARK - A New Jersey political fundraiser was indicted today on extortion charges for allegedly demanding and accepting $40,000 in political contributions and cash from a Piscataway farm owner to influence state and county officials to more than double an offer to preserve the farmland, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

The 11-count Indictment unsealed today describes how the original offer of approximately $3 million to buy the development rights of the Piscataway farmland rose to potentially $7.4 million, following the intervention of fundraiser David D'Amiano, and the involvement of two top state officials and several Middlesex County officials.

D'Amiano, 45, is a member of a state political party finance committee and the owner of a Carteret recycling and mulch business. D'Amiano will voluntarily surrender today to Special Agents of the FBI and is expected to make an initial appearance this afternoon before a U.S. Magistrate Judge. A news conference with Christie is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Newark.

After D'Amiano had received most of the installments of the $40,000 in extortionate payments in June 2003, D'Amiano began negotiating for more payoffs in connection with another property owned by the farm owner and others in Piscataway, according to the Indictment. Those demanded payments, which were never made, varied from $25,000 in political contributions and $25,000 in cash to as much as $35,000 in contributions and $35,000 in cash. Those payments were allegedly intended by D'Amiano to buy his influence with state, county and local officials to get the township to allow the development of a bank - a use that had been disallowed by the township - on property on Stelton Road in Piscataway.

D'Amiano is also charged with diverting campaign contributions from the state political committee's treasury, with some going into a personal account. (See addendum for specific charges and potential criminal penalties for all counts of the Indictment.)

"The allegations in this Indictment paint a vivid picture of the corrupt and broken political system in New Jersey," Christie said. "The alleged conduct puts on display the belief that some persons in New Jersey still hold - that every action by government is for sale."

D'Amiano had frequent in-person and telephone contacts with at least five state and Middlesex County elected and appointed officials throughout the course of his scheme to extort the cash and political contributions, according to the Indictment. Throughout the period, the farm owner was cooperating with the FBI and recording conversations.

Among those officials described in the Indictment is a high-ranking official identified in the Indictment only as "State Official 1." Others include a subordinate, State Official 2, and an elected county official, identified as County Official 1, who had two subordinate appointed officials beneath him, identified in the Indictment as County Officials 2 and 3.

The Indictment alleges cash payments and political donations solicited and demanded by D'Amiano as follows:

• $10,000 in cash from the farm owner at a Dec. 12, 2002, meeting at D'Amiano's business in Carteret.

• a $10,000 check payable to the state political party's Victory Fund, post-dated Dec. 23, written on the same day, at the same meeting at D'Amiano's business.

• a $5,000 check to the Victory Fund, written by the farm owner and handed to D'Amiano at D'Amiano's business office on Jan. 28, 2003.

• $5,000 in cash to D'Amiano during a Feb. 19, 2003, meeting with the farm owner and an unidentified co-schemer. Later, D'Amiano is recorded saying that everything was moving forward and that the farm owner would be happy.

• $5,000 check, payable to the Victory Fund, to D'Amiano on May 23, 2003, during a meeting at D'Amiano's office.

• $2,500 in cash accepted by D'Amiano in Piscataway on June 27, 2003

• $2,500 in cash accepted by D'Amiano at D'Amiano's business office, on July 30, 2003

To authenticate political connections D'Amiano said that he had - and to assure the farm owner that D'Amiano and others in state and county government could deliver on the farmland preservation deal - D'Amiano and the cooperating witness agreed upon a code word that the key individuals involved could communicate to him. That word, "Machiavelli," was said by State Official 1 and County Official 3 to the farm owner during face-to-face meetings, according to the Indictment.

For example, at a Feb. 18, 2003, meeting of the finance committee for the state political party, held at an East Brunswick hotel, D'Amiano introduced the farm owner to State Official 1, according to the Indictment. At that meeting, State Official 1 said he understood the problem the farm owner was facing in Piscataway and said the code word. State Official 1 then introduced the farm owner to State Official 2 and asked her to follow up.

D'Amiano repeatedly warned the farm owner to come through with all cash and checks as agreed, or to be prepared to face the financial consequences of not doing so, according to the Indictment.

D'Amiano frequently used veiled references and code to refer to the public officials with whom he was dealing on the farm owner's behalf. Often, D'Amiano would "pat down" the farm owner to be sure he wasn't concealing a recording device, according to the Indictment.

In one recorded conversation on Nov. 26, 2002, D'Amiano reminded the farm owner that his payment was an "intricate part of everything," and that if the farm owner did not pay, he was "going to get f___d in the end."

On May 21, 2003, after all but $10,000 of the $40,000 in cash payments and political donations had been made, D'Amiano, the farm owner and County Official 2 and County Official 3 met at the Middlesex County Administration Building in New Brunswick to negotiate for farmland preservation, according to the Indictment. At this meeting, County Official 2 observed that the county would be willing to make an offer of $7.4 million for the development rights and would have to come back with a higher appraisal to justify the new offer. (The previous offer to buy the developments rights of the farm was $3 million, made in 2002).

County Official 3 observed, according to the Indictment, that $100,000 an acre for the 74 acres of land was well outside the "edge" of his "envelope" and that it would not be offered if there were not "extraneous circumstances involved."

An Indictment is merely an accusation. All defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.

Christie credited Special Agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Joseph Billy, Jr., in Newark, with developing the case against D'Amiano.

The case is being prosecuted by James Nobile, Chief of the U.S. Attorney's Office Special Prosecutions Division, and Senior Litigation Counsel John Fietkiewicz, of the Special Prosecutions Division.

-end-

Defense Counsel: Edward J. Plaza, Esq. and Robert A. Weir Jr., Esq. - Red Bank, N.J.

Charges and Maximum Potential Penalties

• Mail or Wire Fraud -- Counts 1 to 4 and Counts 8 to 11 - a maximum 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count

• Travel Act Bribery - Count 5 - a maximum five years in prison and a $250,000 fine

• Hobbs Act Extortion - Counts 6 and 7 - 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine