A Sheldon Silver pal who’s enmeshed in a massive charity kickback scheme ordered some of the illicit profits to go to politicians, his alleged co-conspirator said.
A filing Thursday by the state Attorney General’s Office says Joseph Ross admitted that former Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty head William Rapfogel told him “to make contributions to campaigns of various politicians and to political organizations” using some of the $7 million in kickback money they’d pocketed over the years.
“Pursuant to this agreement, the defendant regularly delivered checks for political contributions to Rapfogel, who in turn gave the checks to the various politicians and their political organizations,” the court papers say.
The filing does not identify the politicians, and there’s no indication the recipients were aware the funds were tainted.
Rapfogel, whose wife is Assembly Speaker Silver’s chief of staff, has been charged with taking part in a decades-long kickback scheme by inflating payments to Ross’ insurance brokerage company, and then pocketing a share of the profits.
Ross was arraigned Thursday and released on his own recognizance. The criminal complaint against him makes it clear he’s cooperating with the AG’s office — it cites numerous statements he made to investigators.
Ross’ lawyer, Ben Brafman, declined further comment after saying, “We intend to address these issues in a responsible manner.”
Rapfogel’s lawyer, Paul Schechtman, has said neither Rapfogel’s wife, Judy, nor her boss knew about the scheme. He declined comment on Thursday.
A spokeswoman for the AG’s office declined comment on the specific complaint, but said, “Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is committed to rooting out corruption in New York’s not-for-profit sector.”
With Rocco Parascandola
