Richmond Hill attorney Albert Baldeo faces decades in prison after being found guilty of obstructing justice as investigators probed his corrupt campaign for City Council in 2010. File Photo
Albert J. Baldeo, a former candidate for public office and Democratic district leader, was found guilty of obstruction of justice while also dodging several other fraud charges, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said.
The Richmond Hill attorney was initially indicted back in 2014 and accused of soliciting straw donors to garner illegal campaign contributions when he unsuccessfully ran for the City Council in 2010. Bharara said Baldeo tampered with witnesses by asking them to lie to investigators as they probed his campaign.
Baldeo, 54, was slapped with 10 charges in total and was acquitted on three of them stemming back to mail and wire fraud, the attorney said. A jury did, however, find him guilty of seven charges related to obstruction of justice after a jury found he provided money orders or cash to individuals to contribute to the campaign in their own names, even though Baldeo supplied the funds himself, Bharara said.
All seven charges came with a max jail sentence of 20 years in prison, the U.S. attorney said.
“The fact that Albert Baldeo lost his election does not excuse his corrupt conduct,” Bharara said. “With today’s verdict of guilty, an impartial federal jury has found that Baldeo lied and instructed others to lie to law enforcement agents investigating the source of his campaign contributions, and threatened and intimidated others in order to conceal the truth.”
Bharara said Baldeo gave each donor a campaign contribution card in which he had them write their name, address, employment information and amount of money being contributed. He then had them those cards falsely reaffirming the money was being taken from personal funds and not being reimbursed in order to meet city Campaign Finance Board regulations, the U.S. attorney said.
Baldeo also had his donors sign affidavits falsely saying their contributions were made using personal funds.
The complaint against Baldeo also said he obstructed justice by having those straw donors lie to investigators or fail to cooperate with them as they looked deeper into his campaign practices. Bharara also said that when one donor did not cooperate, Baldeo said he would send them a threatening letter, threaten to disseminate lies about them abusing their grandchildren or report their properties to the Buildings Department.
Baldeo was acquitted of three fraud-related counts relating to approximately $15,000 in claims for city matching funds from the Campaign Finance Board, which were never awarded. He was scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Crotty on December 16, 2014, at 11:00 a.m., the U.S. attorney said.
“These practices have no place in our politics or our justice system, and there should be no doubt that this office will prosecute such conduct while it continues to vigorously investigate and prosecute political corruption in New York City and New York State,” Bharara said.
Besides his run in 2010, Baldeo also lost in the 2005 election for City Council and for the state Senate in 2006.
By Phil Corso
