New York Daily News

NEW NORM

Ex-jail union boss in latest corruption case fail

- BY VICTORIA BEKIEMPIS and REUVEN BLAU BY LARRY McSHANE With Aaron Showalter and Ellen Moynihan

EX-UNION boss Norman Seabrook walked out of court a free man Thursday after a deadlocked jury forced a mistrial.

His judicial reprieve may be short-lived, though — the Manhattan U.S. attorney has vowed to bring him back for a retrial.

Seabrook, 57, faced up to 40 years in prison if he had been found guilty of conspiracy and bribery in the corruption case against him.

Jurors in the high-profile trial — which hinged on the testimony of deep-pocketed and disreputab­le mayoral donor Jona Rechnitz — couldn’t agree on either charge.

“We find ourselves no closer to reaching a unanimous verdict and see no prospect of making further progress,” the jury wrote in a note to the court. It was almost the same message the panel sent Tuesday.

At that point, Manhattan Federal Judge Andrew Carter ordered members to continue their deliberati­ons. On Thursday, Carter declared a mistrial.

Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Joon Kim said he will retry Seabrook (photo) and co-defendant Murray Huberfeld, who ran the now-defunct Platinum Partners hedge fund.

“We look forward to a retrial where we will present again the powerful proof of how Seabrook allegedly sold his duty to safeguard correction officers’ retirement money to Murray Huberfeld in exchange for cash bribes,” Kim said in a statement. “Although justice has been delayed, we expect it will ultimately prevail.”

Seabrook maintained his innocence and told reporters outside the courthouse he would continue to fight the allegation­s against him.

“I’m going to weather this storm,” he said. “The man upstairs A CHOKED-UP Sen. Robert Menendez savaged the FBI for wrongfully targeting him in a federal corruption probe that led only to a Thursday mistrial.

Newark Federal Judge Williams Walls announced the hung jury shortly after 1 p.m. following the second jury note in four days declaring the panel was at an impasse.

“I’ve made my share of mistakes,” a relieved yet angry Menendez said outside the courthouse. “But my mistakes were never a crime.”

The two-term senator, 63, unleashed a lengthy harangue against both the FBI and federal prosecutor­s. “The way this case started was wrong,” Menendez declared. “The way it was investigat­ed was wrong. The way it was prosecuted was wrong. And the way it was tried was wrong as well.

“Certain elements of the FBI and our state cannot understand or accept that the Latino kid from Union City and Hudson County can grow up to be a U.S. senator — and be honest.” The jury, after seven tense days of deliberati­on, was split 10-2 for acquittal in the trial of Menendez and his friend of 25 years, codefendan­t Salomon Melgen.

Prosecutor­s charged the Democrat took gifts from eye doctor Melgen in return for helping his pal’s girlfriend­s obtain U.S. visas.

Juror Edward Norris said the prosecutio­n case failed to impress the panel. “In my gut, I was like, ‘That’s it? That’s all they had?’ ” he recalled. Prosecutor­s did not say if they would retry Menendez, who is up for reelection in November 2018. is going to step in and is going to put a stop to it . . . God is good to me, and I’ll be back.”

The former head of the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Associatio­n is accused of accepting a $60,000 kickback in exchange for

diverting $20 million in union pension money to Huberfeld’s hedge fund.

Federal prosecutor­s argued Seabrook and Huberfeld were drawn together by “a simple quid pro quo, a simple this-for-that.”

But lawyers for the two defendants focused during the fourweek trial on prosecutio­n star witness, Jona Rechnitz. He testified he raised campaign money for Mayor de Blasio with the goal of winning access to City Hall and influencin­g decision-makers. Rechnitz, who previously copped to a corruption count, raised $193,000 on behalf of Hizzoner.

Rechnitz said he gave Seabrook a Ferragamo bag packed with cash in late 2014, which the union boss was to bring to Platinum.

One juror told the Daily News that Rechnitz didn’t make a believable witness — and the panel didn’t even come close to convicting Seabrook and Huberfeld on the bribery charge.

The conspiracy charge, however, was close, with jurors split 10-2 in favor of conviction, according to panelist Joseph Roldan, 38, a personal chef from the Bronx.

“Pretty much everything he said sounded like a straight-up lie . . . in it for himself,” Roldan said of Rechnitz. Listening to Rechnitz testify also affected his opinion of the mayor, Roldan said.

“I mean, he’s hanging out with people like Jona Rechnitz . . . ?” he said.

 ??  ?? An emotional Sen. Bob Menendez outside Newark Federal Court after mistrial in corruption case. Below, Menendez hugs daughter Alicia as his lawyer Abbe Lowell speaks
to media.
An emotional Sen. Bob Menendez outside Newark Federal Court after mistrial in corruption case. Below, Menendez hugs daughter Alicia as his lawyer Abbe Lowell speaks to media.
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