2 charges against ex-mayor dropped
Hallandale Beach’s Joy Cooper still faces six charges at her Nov. 18 trial
Joy Cooper, the onetime Hallandale Beach mayor arrested on felony charges after getting caught in an FBI sting, now has fewer felonies to fight when her case goes to trial Nov. 18.
Prosecutors dropped two money laundering charges during a hearing Thursday. That leaves six charges — four felonies and two misdemeanors — in a case turned over to the Broward State Attorney’s Office two years ago by federal prosecutors.
The money laundering charges, each third-degree felonies with a maximum five-year prison sentence, were the most serious claims against Cooper, said her attorney, Larry Davis.
In Cooper’s arrest warrant, prosecutors alleged she had accepted money she knew had been laundered.
Prosecutor Catherine Maus declined to comment Thursday, citing the pending case.
Cooper was arrested on
Jan. 25, 2018, after being snared in an undercover FBI sting named “Operation Red Chip” that targeted public corruption.
The FBI’s undercover investigation into Cooper began in 2012 and was turned over to state prosecutors in May 2017.
Cooper has been charged with soliciting and accepting $5,000 in campaign contributions
funneled to her through Alan Koslow, then one of the most prominent lobbyists and development attorneys in the state.
At the time, Koslow had no clue the developer clients wooing Cooper were undercover FBI agents secretly recording their every word.
On Sept. 13, 2012, Koslow told one of the agents posing as a developer that he had “personally handed” 20 checks to Cooper at a Hallandale Chamber of Commerce fashion show, court records show. That phone call was recorded by the FBI, unbeknownst to Koslow. During the call, Koslow indicated the checks comprised the $5,000 payment the developer/agents had promised Cooper.
After the FBI flipped him in August 2013, Koslow spent three years as an informant. During that time, he wore a wire when meeting with elected officials he claimed might be open to taking bribes.
The FBI has refused to turn over the bulk of those surveillance recordings to Cooper’s defense attorney, but they might now see the light of day.
During Thursday’s hearing, Judge Martin Fein ordered the FBI to turn over the recordings within 30 days.
The evidence includes three years of video and audio recordings secretly taken by Koslow, the prosecution’s
star witness.
Maus argued the recordings are not related to the case against Cooper, calling it “nothing more than a fishing expedition.”
But the judge agreed with the defense, saying the records are relevant in terms of Koslow’s credibility as a witness.
Fein also ordered the FBI to reveal just how much the agency paid
Koslow.
FBI officials declined to comment Thursday.
Cooper’s remaining charges include official misconduct and exceeding the limit on campaign finance contributions. Each third-degree felony carries a maximum five-year prison sentence. She has also been charged with soliciting contributions in a government building, a firstdegree
misdemeanor with a maximum one-year sentence.
Davis said Cooper was relieved to learn prosecutors had decided to drop the money laundering charges.
“We’re looking forward to total vindication in court,” he said.