Federal prosecutors in Manhattan announced on Wednesday that Anthony Seminerio, a Democratic assemblyman from Queens, had been charged in a fraud scheme in which they said he took more than $500,000 in payments from entities doing business with the state. Prosecutors charged that the Mr. Seminerio, who has served in the Assembly for about 30 years, began the scheme in 2000 by establishing his own consulting company, called Marc Consultants. But he did little or no consulting work, they said.
A lawyer for Mr. Seminerio could not be reached immediately for comment.
A criminal complaint unsealed in United States District Court in Manhattan said Mr. Seminerio received the money largely in connection with “the performance of his official duties as a member of the Assembly,” and which resulted in favorable treatment for the businesses that were paying him. (The complaint may be read in the document viewer below.)
In a press conference on Wednesday, Michael J. Garcia, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, said Mr. Seminerio was a veteran lawmaker in Albany with the power and influence to promote or oppose legislation on behalf of his constituents.
“But rather than use that power to further the interests of the people who elected him,” Mr. Garcia said, “Anthony Seminerio put his office up for sale for those willing to pay the right price.”
In the investigation, the F.B.I. used an informant who has known Mr. Seminerio for 15 years, who met with him in conversations that the government recorded.
In one conversation, Mr. Seminerio was quoted as saying he got the idea for his “consulting business” from “two senators” who had consulting companies, and that all he knew was that he could not “deal with state agencies.” He said he decided to set up his own company after realizing that people in the health care and hospital industries for whom he had done favors had made “thousands” of dollars.
“He decided that instead of doing ‘favors’ for these individuals, he would now start charging them for his services,” an F.B.I. agent, Julie S. Brown, said in a sworn affidavit filed in the case.
In one recording, Mr. Seminerio was quoted as saying: “I was doing favors for these sons-of-bitches there, you know, they were—they were making thousands. ‘Screw you, from now on, you know, I’m a consultant.’”
In the same meeting, Mr. Seminerio estimated that if he were to leave the Assembly, he would lose “60 percent” of his consulting business, the complaint said.
The complaint said that Mr. Seminerio is paid about $79,500 annually as a member of the Assembly, and before his election to the Assembly, he worked as a New York City corrections officer.
(Photo: Stewart Cairns for The New York Times)
