Pol’s scammer pal
Give him break, Council hopeful asked judge
A City Council candidate urged a federal judge to go easy on a friend who pleaded guilty to using his government job to scam Haitian immigrants, court records show.
Farah Louis, running for Public Advocate Jumaane Williams’ old seat in Brooklyn, wrote to U.S. Magistrate Judge Kevin Fox in a 2014 letter asking him to consider Samuel Pierre’s “passion for helping people.” Pierre is her campaign manager.
Pierre, who worked as an aide to former Rep. Ed Towns (D-Brooklyn), was sentenced in May 2014 to three months’ home confinement, three years’ probation and more than $16,000 in fines and restitution for illegally accepting cash and fleecing Haitian immigrants desperate to gain official U.S. residency.
The ruse involved Pierre and radio personality Kenol Janvier offering immigrants help in getting green cards.
After collecting $11,300 in down payments for services promised, the two failed to follow through with the help they said they’d provide, court records show.
Louis made no mention of those details in her letter to Judge Fox.
“I am reaching out to you because Sam has not only been a longtime friend, but he is also a pillar in the Haitian community,” she wrote.
“I have always depended on him to be a mentor and he has encouraged me to pursue my dreams [to] pursue a career in media and communications.”
Louis went on to compliment Pierre for being “adept at fostering healthy discourse,” “encouraging an environment of inclusion for youth in the Haitian community,” and being “selfless.”
“I pled guilty to a single misdemeanor charge of taking a gratuity from a constituent, who also happened to be a longtime friend, of the elected official in whose office I served,” Pierre said in a statement to the Daily News.
“Taking the gratuity, however small, was wrong and I was vocal about that when I pled.”
He added that Louis wasn’t the only one supporting him during his legal troubles.
“My pastor and church did, my cousins did, and so, too, did pillars of Brooklyn like [Public Advocate] Jumaane [Williams],” he said.
“Jumaane sponsored and presented me with a proclamation for service to Brooklyn’s communities just last year.”
Since his probation ended, Pierre has paid off only $4,275 of his courtmandated debt, which includes a $5,000 fine and $11,300 in restitution that he and Janvier are jointly responsible for, according to court payment records.
Meanwhile, since his May 2014 guilty plea, he’s given $500 to political causes and candidates such as Mayor de Blasio and Williams, state campaign finance records show — and also kicked $48,225 to his own “Friends of Sam Pierre” political committee.
Louis, who the Daily News recently revealed disparaged gays and Jews on social media, declined to comment.