Ex-City Council big Andrew Stein pleads guilty in fraud scheme
Former City Council President Andrew Stein pleaded guilty today in Manhattan federal court to a misdemeanor charge tied to the Kenneth Starr fraud scheme.
Stein, 65, allegedly failed to pay more than $1 million in income tax on cash he got from a Starr-controlled shell company, blowing the dough on travel, restaurant meals and rent of a luxury home in the Hamptons.
Stein could serve a year behind bars when he is sentenced. He faced upwards of 36 months had he been convicted by a jury.
"It was wring and I take full responsibility," he told the judge. "I filed [my tax returns] correctly, but I did not pay and it was wrong."
Stein added, "I was wrong. ... It was stupid."
Starr allegedly swindled nearly $14 million from jeweler to the stars Jacob "Jacob the Jeweler" Arabov and his wife and $16 million from others to fund a lavish lifestyle for him and his stripper wife that included a newly purchased $7.5 million Upper East Side triplex boasting a swimming pool in its basement.
Some of Arabov's money -- $100,000 -- ended up loaned without his knowledge, while he was in prison for money laundering, to a company controlled by NBA legend Julius "Dr. J" Erving, a close friend of Starr's who is not accused of wrongdoing.
Stein, who once eyed a run for mayor, was busted for lying to the feds when asked about a shell company called Wind River that Starr set up for Stein and through which he funneled $1.6 million of the money he swindled from clients.
Stein used that cash to fund his own "extravagant" lifestyle, which included a $150,000 summer rental house in Bridgehampton, prosecutors said.
Another $5.75 million of the money Starr allegedly swindled went to pay for his luxe new East 74th Street condo.
The cash was allegedly looted from accounts belonging to 99-year-old heiress Rachel "Bunny" Mellon, widow of Mellon family scion Paul Mellon.
Thank heavens he wasn't arrested for DWI because then it would have been a felony.
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