The former mayor of a Rockland County village Monday was convicted of accepting cash and other bribes from an FBI operative posing as a crooked developer.
U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon announced the verdict against Noramie Jasmin following a nonjury trial. Prosecutors said Jasmin accepted $5,000 and a 50 percent stake in a $12 million development project while she was mayor of Spring Valley. In exchange, she voted to sell public land to the fake developer and agreed to help line up straw bidders to make the deal look legitimate, they said. The trial featured secretly recorded audio and video tapes of Jasmin negotiating the deal with undercover FBI agents during meetings at hotels and restaurants in New York and New Jersey. "Like all citizens, the residents of Spring Valley deserved an honest mayor, not one who worked behind closed doors and behind their backs to sell public land and public office for private gain," U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement announcing the conviction. An attorney for Jasmin, Benjamin Ostrer, said he was disappointed by the verdict and would appeal it. The 51-year-old Jasmin lost a re-election bid in 2013 while under indictment. Her sentencing was set for August 7. Former Spring Valley Deputy Mayor Joseph Desmaret last year pleaded guilty to corruption charges.
The same investigation resulted in the conviction last month of former Democratic state Senator Malcolm Smith on charges he tried to bribe his way onto the ballot in the 2013 New York City mayoral race.
Copyright 2015 WAMC and The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
