Jimmy Meng after his Tuesday sentencing.
Former Assemblyman Jimmy Meng was sentenced at a hearing in Federal District Court in Brooklyn on Tuesday. Meng was facing at least a year in prison when he spoke to the judge in an effort to convince the court he wasn’t such a bad guy after all.
Meng told the judge that he had lost sleep over the incident and that the only way he could describe what had happened was that it was a “stupid” aberration.
The case against the former state official began when in November, he admitted to one count of wire fraud when he offered to bribe prosecutors in the hopes of getting a sentence reduction for a businessman that was charged with tax fraud.
But the businessman, Eric Hu told authorities that Meng had offered the illicit deal—guaranteeing him of a sentence of no more than one year— in exchange for an $80,00 payment.
And while many were sympathetic to the cause of the affable Meng. Lawyers on the other side certainly held a different view of the situation.
At the sentencing, Todd D. Kaminsky, an assistant United States attorney in Brooklyn, urged the judge to send Mr. Meng to prison for the 12 to 18 months called for under federal sentencing guidelines.
Mr. Kaminsky pointed out that Mr. Meng’s claims of being able to pay off prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorneys office provoked an investigation into whether those claims were true.
He told the judge that Meng had cast an aspersion on an “honorable” office.
But Meng’s lawyer, Todd Greenberg, painted another picture of Jimmy Meng. One of a struggling Chinese immigrant that had worked to live out the American Dream.
In the courthouse with Meng were his wife and children, among whom was his daughter, Rep. Grace Meng.
“I am a good person Judge. Believe me,” Meng said.
And in the end it seems the judge did believe him. She said that he had led a good life outside of this experience and that he was a man who had the support of many people, those who had written letters I support of his plea.
Meng was sentenced to one month in jail as well as the assignment of a fine. He will also be subjected to four months of house arrest wearing an electronic bracelet and a total of 750 hours of community service.
