Jersey City - The home of corrupt bureaucrats and blind enforcement authorities

Former Jersey City official Jimmy King spared prison time in corruption sentencing

January 17, 2012, 5:02 PM
By Charles Hack/The Jersey Journal

Former Jersey City Jersey City Parking Authority Executive Director James "Jimmy" King -- who ran unsuccessfully for the City Council in 2009 -- was spared time in prison when he was sentenced this afternoon on a corruption conviction.

King, 69, was sentenced to one year probation and he was ordered to forfeit the $5,000 he admitted to accepting from a government informant who was posing as a shady developer.

King, who was one more than 40 public officials and political operatives arrested in a massive federal corruption sting in 2009, pleaded guilty in July to one count of mail fraud after the most serious charges of extortion were thrown out.

"The judge has been very gracious with his sentencing," King's attorney, Arthur J. Abrams, said after District Court Judge Jose L. Linares delivered the sentence, which also included a $500 fine.

Before sentencing King, who faced up to six months in prison, apologized to the court for his "big mistake".

"Your honor, I made a big mistake," King said. "I am 69 years old and never been in any trouble. I don't know why I did it. It was very foolish, and I embarrassed my family and friends."

Abrams told the judge that nine days after he had pleaded guilty he had turned in the $5,000 to the U.S. Marshals. He also said King had moved out of the city to avoid his former political allies.

In agreeing to the probation, Assistant U.S. Attorney Maureen Nakly said that King had cooperated with the FBI after his arrest and provided "unsolicited information" that was checked out as correct, although the information did not lead to any arrests.

Nakly also said King appeared to "exhibit genuine remorse" and was one of first to plead guilty.

Linares also said that while King had been involved in a "serious crime," he took into account that he had lived an "exemplary life" before the event.

"In my view you have taken some steps to protect the public already," Linares said. "I think you are remorseful for what you did, and gave back the money."

King admitted in federal court in July 2009 that he accepted $5,000 cash to his campaign for a Jersey City Council seat; with the understanding he was to help expedite zoning approvals for a planned luxury condo development. ?

He was one of the first charged in Operation Bid Rig III to plead guilty, just two months after his arrest.

But federal prosecutors asked to have the first plea withdrawn because an appeals court judge had tossed a similiar charge against another unsuccessful candidate, former Assemblyman Louis Manzo, under the Hobbs Act.

King is a former executive director of the Jersey City Parking Authority and the former chairman of the Jersey City Incinerator Authority and a former Hudson County undersheriff.

Solomon Dwek, posing as a developer, approached King and other public officials and offered them cash to expedite any permits or paperwork inlvolving a Garfield Avenue project that in reality never existed.

Last week another Bid Rig defendant, Joseph Cardwell, a Jersey City political consultant, was sentenced to six months in prison and six months home confinement for taking $10,000 in bribes from Dwek.

Jimmy King fed at the public trough for years and then got greedier and took the bribe. He's getting off easy.

He used to live around me.. I think they sold the house and moved out. I still (haven't in 2 or 3 weeks, as I go on Sats) see him at church. Never talked to him, but he seems decent to me.

I remember this guy he was a big loud mouth always roaring when he didn't get his way. Now he is humbled like Mr. Bumble.

James P. King, Former Jersey City Council Candidate, Admits Campaign Fraud

By David Lohr
The Huffington Post
7/21/11 08:02 PM ET

James P. King of New Jersey, a former Jersey City council candidate, admitted today to accepting illegal donations from a former real estate investor in exchange for his future official assistance.

King, 69 pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud before U.S. District Judge Jose L. Linares in Newark federal court, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

According to court documents, King ran an unsuccessful campaign for the Ward C city council seat from March to May 2009. The ticket included a slate of other candidates for public office who joined together to raise funds for their campaigns. King also established a separate campaign committee called "Friends of Jimmy King for Council 2009."

While working on his campaign, King accepted approximately $7,500 in contributions from Solomon Dwek, a Monmouth County real estate developer. The money, prosecutors said, was accepted in exchange for King's future assistance in obtaining development approvals for Dwek for a purported property on Garfield Avenue in Jersey City.

King intentionally concealed his receipt of the contributions from the campaign committees and their treasurers, and $5,000 of the funds were never deposited in the campaign bank accounts or accounted for in the committees' records. King diverted that $5,000, using some of the money to pay his campaign expenses and keeping the rest for his personal use. King then signed a false report with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission.

King's guilty plea stems from a two-track undercover FBI investigation into political corruption and international money laundering which resulted in the charging of 44 individuals via criminal complaints on July 23, 2009.

In October 2009, Dwek, who ran a real estate empire based on a pyramid scheme, pled guilty to federal bank fraud charges in U.S. District Court and to misconduct by a corporate official in New Jersey Superior Court. He is currently free on bail and acting as a government witness while he awaits sentencing.

In exchange for King's guilty plea today, a charge of conspiracy to commit extortion was dismissed.

King is the former executive director of the Jersey City Parking Authority, former chairman of the Jersey City Incinerator Authority and a former Hudson County undersheriff, will be sentenced on November 17.

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Another BOZO, goes to the can!!

King pleads guilty to extortion

By MATT FRIEDMAN, PolitickerNJ.com Reporter

Former Jersey City council candidate Jimmy King, a veteran of the Hudson County political scene with a deep resume in government, pleaded guilty today to accepting bribes from a federal informant posing as a developer.

King, 67, took two $5,000 cash payments from FBI informant Solomon Dwek during his unsuccessful campaign for a Ward C council seat earlier this year and agreed to accept more money after the election. He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit extortion and is set to be sentenced on January 5.

?Although we are pleased with the outcome in the case against Mr. King, we cannot declare victory in our fight against public corruption,? said FBI Special Agent in Charge Weysan Dun. ?We continue to ask the public to contact us with information about corruption, no matter how insignificant one may think it is. We will treat every lead with confidentiality and urgency.?

Until his arrest in July, King ran the Jimmy King Civic Association. He is a former Hudson County undersheriff, Hudson County Director for Public Resources, Executive Director of the Jersey City Parking Authority and Chairman of the Jersey City Incinerator Authority.

According to the criminal complaint against King, Dwek mentioned an application for a fictitious Garfield Avenue development project he planned.

?I don?t care what it is. It?s done,? King told him. ?[n]ame it. Done.?

King has agreed to pay $7,500 in restitution. He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

King made headlines between the May municipal election and the July corruption bust for challenging the residency of the election?s winning candidate, Nidia Lopez. Although his name still appears on the latest court documents, King has passed that case on to good government activist Norrice Raymaker, who finished behind him in the race.

Matt Friedman is a PolitickerNJ.com Reporter and can be reached via email at matt@politicsnj.com.

NJ should be next in line to collect back taxes from Ms. Lopez since she was a resident of the State yet neither filed nor paid personal income taxes for all those years.

Five months ago, James "Jimmy" King was looking forward to the Jersey City elections as a candidate for a City Council seat. Now 10 to 16 months in prison is in the future for King, who pleaded guilty yesterday to corruption charges.



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Ex-Jersey City candidate admits role in extortion

Sep. 25, 2009
Philadelphia Inquirer
By David Porter
Associated Press

NEWARK, N.J. - A former Jersey City official who held several public offices pleaded guilty to corruption yesterday, bringing the number of guilty pleas in the state's largest federal sting to five.

Appearing before U.S. District Judge Jose L. Linares, James P. "Jimmy" King pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit extortion. He was charged with accepting $10,000 from a federal cooperating witness who posed as a developer seeking help with building permits.

Flanked by attorney Arthur Abrams, the 67-year-old King declined to comment after the hearing. Abrams said his client "is very sorry for what's occurred."

Extortion conspiracy carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years, but King is expected to received a term of 10 to 16 months when he is sentenced on Jan. 5.

King served at various times as the executive director of the Jersey City Parking Authority, chairman of the Jersey City Incinerator Authority, and as Hudson County undersheriff. He also headed the Jimmy King Civic Association, which was known for serving turkey dinners to needy families on Thanksgiving.

Prosecutors allege it was King's candidacy for a seat on Jersey City's municipal council that precipitated his meeting with Solomon Dwek, a developer arrested for bank fraud in 2006 who agreed to become a government plant in a federal probe of money laundering and public corruption.

According to a federal complaint, King was introduced to Dwek through longtime Hudson County political consultant Jack Shaw in March and agreed to accept two $5,000 payments in exchange for his help getting a zoning change passed for Dwek's purported condominium development in Jersey City.

Shaw took both payments and passed them to King, the complaint alleges, the first one in the parking lot of a Bayonne diner on March 30 and the second outside a Jersey City restaurant on April 23.

King lost the council election in May and was arrested on July 23 along with 43 others, the majority of them New Jersey elected or appointed officials. The rest were connected to an alleged money laundering scheme centered in the Orthodox Jewish communities of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Deal, N.J.

The previous four defendants who pleaded guilty all had ties to Jersey City; one of them was former city board of education official Edward Cheatam, who allegedly attended both meetings where money was passed from Dwek to King through Shaw.

Shaw faced extortion charges but was found dead in his Jersey City apartment on July 28.

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KING PLEADS GUILTY
Admits bribes from witness in big sweep

Friday, September 25, 2009
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

NEWARK - Former Jersey City council candidate James "Jimmy" King pleaded guilty yesterday to federal corruption charges and admitted taking up to $10,000 in bribes from a government informant seeking favors for a supposed project on Garfield Avenue.

King, 67, faces 10 to 16 months in prison when he is sentenced on Jan. 5 and must also pay $7,500 in restitution.

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The longtime leader of the Jimmy King Civic Association and former director of the city's parking authority pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right.

King ran unsuccessfully in May for the Ward C council seat.

As a result of his guilty plea, he is now barred from holding public office and cannot vote or serve on a jury.

King was among 44 people arrested by federal agents in a wide-ranging two-track investigation involving public figures and rabbis in New York and New Jersey on July 23.

Also a former Hudson County undersheriff and former chairman of the city's Incinerator Authority, King disbanded his civic association after his arrest.

King appearing relaxed yesterday and was respectful during the plea hearing. When U.S. District Judge Jose Linares asked how he wanted to plead, he replied, "Guilty, your honor."

King made no comment as he left the courtroom but in the courthouse hallway, his attorney, Arthur Abrams of Jersey City, said of his client, "He is very sorry for what occurred."

King is the fifth person to plead guilty in the July sweep. He joins former Jersey City Housing Authority Commissioner Edward Cheatam, former Hudson County Board of Elections investigator Denis Jaslow and former Jersey City municipal employees Maher Khalil and Guy Catrillo.

King admitted that between March and May this year, while running for the Journal Square council seat, he accepted two payments from a cooperating witness who has since been identified as Solomon Dwek of Deal.

In exchange for the money, King agreed that if elected, he would use his city council position to help Dwek get development approvals for a property on Garfield Avenue. The development project was fictitious.

King further admitted that he had agreed to accept an additional corrupt cash payment from Dwek after the election.

"Mr. King's admission of guilt is another positive step on the public corruption side of this investigation," said Acting U.S. Attorney Ralph Marra Jr. "While the investigation is progressing as expected, we still have plenty of work to do and we will press on accordingly."

Linares continued King's $25,000 bail pending sentencing, which is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Jan. 5 at the U.S. Courthouse in Newark.

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King fifth to plead guilty to corruption

Friday, September 25, 2009
STAR-LEDGER STAFF

A former Hudson County undersheriff admitted yesterday that he took bribes from an undercover government informant, becoming the fifth defendant to plead guilty in connection to July's massive corruption sting.

James P. King, 67, told a federal judge in Newark he accepted between $5,000 and $10,000 from a government informant while running for the Jersey City Council. In exchange, King promised that, if elected, he would help secure zoning changes for the informant, who was posing as a developer building a luxury condominium project.

"Mr. King's admission of guilt is another positive step on the public corruption side of this investigation," said Ralph J. Marra, the acting United States attorney for New Jersey.

"While the investigation is progressing as expected, we still have plenty of work to do and we will press on accordingly."

The massive bribery and money-laundering case shook the state's political landscape and revolved around a single informant: failed Monmouth County developer Solomon Dwek.

Dwek was charged with bank fraud in 2006, then spent more than two years recording conversations for federal prosecutors during scores of meetings in diners, parked cars and boiler rooms.

His work led to the arrests of three mayors, two state legislators, several political operatives and five rabbis from communities in Deal and Brooklyn.

King, who failed in his bid for city council, is a former executive director of the Jersey City Parking Authority and ex-chairman of the Jersey City Incinerator Authority.

He faces up to 16 months in prison under the terms of his plea deal, said Maureen Nakly, an assistant U.S. attorney.

Federal judges, however, are not bound by such agreements and have wide latitude when sentencing defendants. U.S. District Judge Jose L. Linares scheduled King's sentencing for Jan. 5.

King also agreed to pay $7,500 in restitution. His lawyer, Arthur J. Abrams, said the former lawman regrets his misdeeds.

"He is very sorry for his actions," Abrams said.

Weysan Dun, head of the FBI's Newark office, urged residents to contact investigators if they suspect public officials are using their positions to illegally enrich themselves.

"Although we are pleased with the outcome in the case against Mr. King, we cannot declare victory in our fight against public corruption," Dun said.

Joe Ryan may be reached at jryan@starledger.com or (973) 622-3405.