Yesterday, New York state senate majority whip Tom Libous, the number-two Republican in the chamber, was indicted on federal charges that he lied to the FBI. The indictment caps off a four-year investigation into whether Libous got a law firm to hire his son Matthew in return for steering business to the firm.
As part of the investigation, prosecutors were examining whether a lobbying firm, at the senator’s direction, paid the law firm $50,000 a year to cover the cost of “the inflated salary that Libous requested” for his son, the indictment said.
The indictments do not name the two firms, but a person briefed on the matter said that the law firm was Santangelo, Randazzo & Mangone and that the lobbying firm was Ostroff, Hiffa & Associates, which is now called Ostroff Associates. (Fred Hiffa, a lobbyist who is close to Mr. Libous and was a partner there, now works for another firm.)
Read the indictment
here. Matthew Libous was also indicted yesterday on charges that he obstructed a tax investigation and filed false tax returns. Prosecutors say that he failed to report $50,000 of income from 2006 to 2008 and also failed to report several hundred thousand dollars worth of personal expenses from 2008 to 2011. Read the indictment against Matthew
here.
Since the law firm is located in White Plains, the case is being handled by Manhattan U. S. Attorney Preet Bharara, whose office covers White Plains and Westchester County.
According to the indictment, Libous told the FBI in 2010 that he couldn't remember how his son got a job at the firm and that he never promised to steer work there. The grand jury, however, found evidence to the contrary.
Libous, who was recently diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer that has gone to his lungs, faces a maximum of five years in prison if convicted. Although his district is based in heavily Democratic Binghamton, it's somewhat reddish by New York standards--according to Daily Kos Elections' database, Obama won this district by just under 51 percent of the vote.