Undercover “Real Estate Developer” Helped Nab Boyland Jr.
By Al Barbarino November 19, 2013 12:45 pm
reprintsNo real estate developer should get away with paying a bribe, but an undercover cop posing as one did.
An undercover FBI agent, posing as a developer seeking help on a real estate project, allegedly dished out a $3,000 bribe to Brooklyn Assemblyman William Boyland, Jr., and there’s a recording to back it up.
Prosecuters claim, according to the New York Daily News, that Mr. Boyland told the undercover agent in January of 2011 that he would deliver government funds to finance the real estate project in exchange for bribes – not to mention he used his father, former assemblyman William Boyland, Sr., to do the dirty work for him.
“How far can you go?” the senior Boyland allegedly asked the undercover agent during a recorded conversation of the money exchange.
“Well he said the total they need is $3,000. Is that what they need? I can do that,” the agent said.
“Alright, write it in,” the elder Boyland replied
The agent wrote a check for $3,000, leaving the payee line blank, according to the report.
The younger Boyland also used his former chief of staff, Ry-Ann Hermon, who pleaded guilty and will testify against her former boss in an upcoming corruption trial in Brooklyn Federal Court, to pick up checks for a consulting job at Brookdale University Medical Center that never happened.
Prosecutors also claim they have recorded evidence of the younger Boyland explaining the scheme.
“At trial the jury will hear a recording on which the defendant boasts that he uses a ‘bag man’ or a ‘middle guy’ so that he can stay clean,” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christina Dugger, Robert Capers and Lan Nguyen stated in court papers, according to the News.
“This evidence is powerful proof that Boyland Sr. was a co-conspirator who knew he was collecting a criminal bribe and not a legitimate campaign contribution,” they added.
