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N.Y. Police Official Who Took Las Vegas Trip and Gifts Is Acquitted of Corruption Charges

A former police commander was acquitted of federal corruption charges on Wednesday after a seven-week trial in which prosecutors contend...


A former police commander was acquitted of federal corruption charges on Wednesday after a seven-week trial in which prosecutors contended he had done favors for two businessmen in return for lavish gifts, including a junket to Las Vegas with a prostitute.

The jury in Federal District Court in Manhattan found James Grant, who was a deputy inspector in the New York Police Department, not guilty on all charges. Still, jurors decided to convict one of the businessmen, Jeremy Reichberg, on several bribery and conspiracy charges involving other police officials.

The jury found Mr. Reichberg not guilty on one count — that he had paid bribes to Mr. Grant. After the verdict, Mr. Grant turned to Mr. Reichberg and quietly said: “You’re going to be O.K.”

The case had cast a shadow over the Police Department and had even tarnished the image of the mayor, Bill de Blasio, though he was not accused of wrongdoing.

The verdict appeared to reflect the higher bar the United States Supreme Court has set for public corruption cases with its 2016 ruling that reversed the bribery conviction of the former Virginia governor, Bob McDonnell. In that ruling, the court determined that making introductions or setting up meetings, even in exchange for gifts or financial benefits, did not constitute a crime.

Over several weeks, federal prosecutors presented evidence — witnesses, wiretaps, and text and email messages — that they said documented years of corruption “big and small” in which high-ranking police officials provided favors to Mr. Reichberg and a second businessman, Jona S. Rechnitz. In return, prosecutors said, the officers received lavish gifts, all-expenses-paid trips on private jets, dinners and access to prostitutes.

“The favors happened because of the gifts,” Kimberly J. Ravener, a federal prosecutor, told jurors. “They weren’t part of a special, unique friendship. They were part of a worn playbook.”

But after deliberating over three days for nearly 17 hours, the jurors said prosecutors failed to prove that Mr. Grant had done official favors in return for the gifts. One juror noted that Mr. Reichberg and Mr. Grant were longtime friends.

Throughout the trial, the defense maintained that there was nothing criminal about the transactions between Mr. Grant, 45, and Mr. Reichberg, 44. “We ask for help from our friends, and they ask for help from us,” Susan R. Necheles, Mr. Reichberg’s lawyer, told jurors in her closing remarks. “In life, it’s called friendship.”

Mr. Grant’s lawyer, John Meringolo, said his client and Mr. Reichberg had met in Borough Park — a predominantly Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn — more than a decade ago. Mr. Grant’s rise through the ranks, Mr. Meringolo told jurors, was the result of hard work. “We know bad cops,’’ he said in his closing argument. “That is not a bad cop.”

Jurors said the panel agreed almost immediately that Mr. Reichberg was guilty of most of the bribery charges against him. But a majority of the panel — all but two members — were also convinced at the start of the deliberations that prosecutors had not proven Mr. Grant did favors in return for the gifts he received.

Prosecutors said Jeremy Reichberg, right, used his relationships in the Police Department to help people. The jury found Mr. Reichberg not guilty on one count — that he had paid bribes to Mr. Grant.

Prosecutors said Jeremy Reichberg, right, used his relationships in the Police Department to help people. The jury found Mr. Reichberg not guilty on one count — that he had paid bribes to Mr. Grant.CreditJefferson Siegel for The New York Times
“Grant was a flunky, a pawn to Rechnitz and Reichberg,” said one juror, Ives Bonilla, 67, of the Bronx. “He was overwhelmed by their wealth. He was razzled, dazzled by the millions they were talking about and spending.”

Part of the government’s case relied on testimony from Mr. Rechnitz, the wealthy son of a real estate developer who pleaded guilty to honest services wire fraud as part of the investigation that led to charges against the two defendants.

Mr. Rechnitz was also a witness at the federal corruption trial of Norman Seabrook, the once powerful leader of the correction officers’ union. He testified that he had a close relationship with Mr. de Blasio, who had accepted large donations from Mr. Rechnitz and Mr. Reichberg.

Lawyers for Mr. Grant and Mr. Reichberg argued that Mr. Rechnitz gave false testimony against their clients in a bid to get a lighter sentence. Some jurors said they found parts of Mr. Rechnitz’s testimony believable, but others said they had doubts.

Prosecutors said Mr. Reichberg was a “fix-it guy” who used his relationships in the Police Department to help people with arrests and traffic violations for a fee.
But Mr. Reichberg also used his influence for his own benefit, prosecutors said, describing how he arranged a police escort to a nail salon for a nurse he wanted to date and, on another occasion, how he was taken to a barbecue by a police boat.

“Citizens can’t get official action like this for no reason,” Ms. Ravener said.

During the trial, Mr. Rechnitz described himself as the “money man” who paid for expensive gifts and trips at Mr. Reichberg’s direction. He said he spent nearly $59,000 on a private jet to fly Mr. Grant and others to Las Vegas during Super Bowl weekend in 2013. Mr. Reichberg recruited a prostitute, Gabriella Curtis to sleep with Mr. Grant on the trip.

On Christmas Day of that year, Mr. Reichberg and Mr. Rechnitz dressed as Santa to deliver gifts to high-ranking police officials, including Mr. Grant, who got diamond earrings for his wife and toys for his children. Mr. Rechnitz testified that he also paid for Mr. Grant and his wife to stay at a luxury hotel in Rome, meals at upscale restaurants and upgrades to his home.

In return, prosecutors argued, Mr. Grant escorted Mr. Rechnitz to the airport using lights and sirens, provided special access to events, and used his connections to expedite a gun license for Mr. Reichberg. “All of the financial benefits went one way and the favors went another,” the lead prosecutor, Martin Bell, told jurors.

Mr. Meringolo argued that it was customary for officers to do favors for friends.

Mr. Rechnitz testified that he and Mr. Reichberg also courted Philip Banks III, a former chief of the department, the highest ranked uniformed officer. They showered him with gifts and took him on several trips, including to Israel.

Mr. Banks was not charged with a crime. He resigned in 2014, citing professional reasons for his departure. His lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said Mr. Banks “did zero for anybody that was even remotely corrupt.”

Mr. Rechnitz said another official, Stephen McAllister, a former police inspector who is now the commissioner of the Floral Park Police Department on Long Island, arranged to close a lane in the Lincoln Tunnel to make the drive into Manhattan from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey easier for one of Mr. Rechnitz’s business associates. Mr. McAllister was not accused of wrongdoing.

Prosecutors also presented evidence suggesting that Mr. Reichberg had used his influence with a third police official, Michael Harrington, a former deputy police chief, to orchestrate promotions for several officers. Among other things, Mr. Harrington arranged the police boat ride to the barbecue in return for gifts. In March, Mr. Harrington pleaded guilty to dispatching police resources without permission and was sentenced to two years’ probation.

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