Prosecutors say a crooked labor leader — who was convicted of steering his union’s money into bad investments in exchange for bribes — should get over five years in prison at his sentencing on Friday.
Norman Seabrook — who led the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association for 21 years — was convicted of investing $20 million of the union’s funds into a questionable hedge fund called Platinum Partners in exchange for $60,000 cash and the promise of future payments.
Manhattan federal prosecutors argued in court documents filed on Monday that Seabrook should get the top end of the guideline range he faces of 63 months in prison and should have to pay $7 million in restitution.
Last week, the ex-union boss’s lawyers argued that he shouldn’t have to pay back any of COBA’s money that was lost — including $15 million earmarked for the correction officers pensions — arguing the blame lies with the execs of the since-defunct hedge fund.
But prosecutors argued, “Seabrook’s complete lack of acceptance of responsibility counsels in favor of a significant sentence of incarceration.”
While Seabrook’s two co-defendants, Platinum manager Murray Huberfeld and Mayor Bill de Blasio donor Jona Rechnitz, pleaded guilty, Seabrook appeared unapologetic in his sentencing letter from last week.
On Huberfeld’s behalf, Rechnitz gave Seabrook a Ferragamo bag filled with $60,000 cash as a bribe to get him to invest in Platinum.
“What chiefly distinguishes him now is not his past record as a union leader, but his status as the only principal member of the kickback conspiracy not to have taken any responsibility for his actions or to have expressed any remorse for the calamity that resulted,” prosecutors said.
Further, prosecutors brought up the sentences for a slew of politicians who were convicted of corruption to show that their recommendation is appropriate.
They noted former State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos’ over-four-year sentence, State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s seven-year sentence, and ex-Cuomo Aide Joseph Percoco’s six-year sentence.
Seabrook was convicted at a retrial in August of honest-services wire fraud and conspiracy after the first trial ended with a hung jury.