You have a heavy case load? You work hard? Well, it’s time to wet your beak! According to Newsday, newly released records show that between 2012 and 2016 the Suffolk County, New York, district attorney’s office paid out $3.25 million in bonuses—from their civil asset forfeiture seizures.
Bonus recipients included deputy chief homicide prosecutor Robert Biancavilla, who received a total of $108,886 between 2012 and 2017, and division chief Edward Heilig and top public corruption prosecutor Christopher McPartland, who each received $73,000, according to records obtained from county Comptroller John Kennedy’s office through the Freedom of Information Law.
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The bonuses, which were funded from assets seized in criminal cases by the district attorney’s office, did not receive legislative approval. The original figure of $2.7 million came from documents provided by County Executive Steve Bellone’s office, which only included bonuses for top management employees.
The lawyers say they did not and could not be expected to know where their bonuses were coming from. Some claimed that the bonuses were actual monies paid for being on-call. Both of these things are possibly true, but this is why hearings are being held by the county’s legislative body: to create something resembling an oversight committee for how these forfeitures are being spent.