Signoracci pleads guilty to defrauding Morse’s supporters
Signoracci formerly served as Cohoes Mayor Shawn Morse’s campaign treasurer and also previously served as the city’s director of operations
ALBANY, N. Y .>> Officials with the United States Attorney’ s Office said Ralph V. Signora ccip led guilty Thursday morning to conspiring with Cohoes Mayor Shawn Morse to de fraud Morse’ s supporters by stealing cam-paign contributions for Morse’ s personal benefit. Signora cci,44,C oh oes,p led guilty to one count of conspiring to commit wire fraud, and faces up to 20 years in prison, a term of post-release supervision of up to 3 years, and afi ne of up to $250,000, when he is sentenced by Senior United States District Judge Th om asJ.McAvoy.I np leading guilty, Sign or ac ci admitted that he and Morse so-licited and received contribu-tions to the committees. Si-gn or ac ci, at Morse’ s direction, with drew funds from the com-mittees’ bank accounts so that Morse could use the funds to pay for his personal expenses, including vacations, entertain- ing, dining, and home repairs, according to the U.S. Attorney’ s Office. Signora cc i also admitted to illegally using contributions made to The Chairman’ s PAC to directly benefit Morse’ s 2015 may oral campaign. The announcement was made by United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith and James N. Hen-dricks, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation( FBI ). Signora cci,wh ilea mem-ber of the City of Cohoes Com- mon Council and then an Al-bany County Legislator, served as treasurer of a political com-mittee called“Friends of Shawn Morse ,” from approximately No-vember 2013 through January 2019, according to the U.S. At-torney’ s Office. He also served as treasurer of the political ac-tion committee“The Chair-man’ s PAC .” Sign or ac ci admitted that on behalf of Morse, he concealed the nature of these expenditures by false ly reporting the purpose of the expenditures or by notre-porting or disc losing them on campaign disclosure reports, as was required of local candi-dates for public office. Morse was arraigned on February 28 on an indict-ment charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, five counts of wire fraud, and one count of mak-ing a false statement to the FBI. The charges against Morse are merely accusations, and he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. A defendant’ s sentence is im-posed by a judge based ont hep articular statute the defen-dant is charged with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, and other factors. This case is being investi-gated by the FBI and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. At-torney Megan Kin sell aK is tl er.