After some years in the State Assembly, Anthony S. Seminerio, a colorful, often blunt-spoken Democratic politician from Queens, began to notice something, and it bothered him.According to federal prosecutors, Mr. Seminerio realized that he had done favors for people in the health care and hospital industry, and that those people sometimes made thousands of dollars from those favors.
So he decided to start charging for his services, prosecutors say, even though they were part of his job as a legislator.
According to a criminal complaint, he described his strategy about a year ago to an acquaintance without realizing that the man was working undercover for the F.B.I. or that their conversation was being recorded.
The complaint quotes Mr. Seminerio as saying, “From now on, you know, I’m a consultant.”
The complaint, which was unsealed on Wednesday in United States District Court in Manhattan, charges that Mr. Seminerio, 73, engaged in a fraud scheme from 2000 through this year in which he took in more than $500,000 from businesses and others who had dealings with the state in connection with “the performance of his official duties as a member of the Assembly.”
The complaint says Mr. Seminerio set up a shell company called Marc Consultants, and describes the payments he received. One New York City hospital, whose funding was substantially affected by the state budget, paid Mr. Seminerio $310,000 through the firm, the complaint said. It did not identify the hospital. A separate Medicaid-managed health care plan that was affiliated with the hospital and others paid him about $80,000, the document said.
Michael J. Garcia, the United States attorney in Manhattan, said Mr. Seminerio, an assemblyman for three decades, “put his office up for sale for those willing to pay the right price.”
Mr. Garcia said the state’s lax disclosure laws allowed him “to conceal his stream of corrupt payments” from public scrutiny.
At Mr. Seminerio’s appearance in court on Wednesday, a magistrate judge ordered him released on $500,000 bond. Wearing a blue blazer and a red tie, he stood by his lawyer, looking disconsolate.
Mr. Seminerio did not enter a plea, and prosecutors are expected to seek an indictment. He had no comment after the hearing.
His lawyer, Ira Cooper, declined to discuss the case outside court, saying: “He’s tired. He’s exhausted. I’m tired.” Elected in 1978, Mr. Seminerio has been one of the more socially conservative members of the left-leaning Assembly Democratic caucus, opposing most of his colleagues on issues like gay marriage.
In one notable moment in 1992, he interrupted Gov. Mario M. Cuomo’s annual address to the Legislature after Mr. Cuomo said he and lawmakers should be docked pay if the budget was late. “Don’t tell me I won’t get paid for my work — that’s political nonsense,” Mr. Seminerio yelled at the governor during the speech.
Mr. Seminerio was also one of the participants in a failed 2000 coup against Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver; as a result, he was demoted and his salary reduced. Because of his seniority, however, he now serves as a member of five Assembly committees and chairman of another.
Prosecutors declined to say what instigated the investigation, which was carried out by the F.B.I. and involved the use of Mr. Seminerio’s acquaintance, who is not identified in the complaint. He has known the acquaintance for 15 years, the complaint says. The document, signed by an F.B.I. agent, Julie S. Brown, depicts Mr. Seminerio as brash, almost cocky as he boasts about his power and access.
It says that in March, he received a call from an executive of the hospital that depended on state funding, who complained that the Assembly’s budget bill was “not good for us.”
The executive wanted Mr. Seminerio to talk to an Assembly committee chairman.
“I can get anybody you want,” Mr. Seminerio is quoted as saying.
The document also states that he said: “I am at your disposal. You tell me what you want,” adding, “I’ll take care of you.”
About a month later, Mr. Seminerio phoned another executive at the hospital, saying he was calling “for my check.”
He also said he could walk into the office of an unnamed legislative leader in Albany. “That kind of relationship you can’t buy for $1 million,” he said, according to the complaint.
Later that day, the hospital called and said his check would be issued the following week, the complaint says. It says he deposited a $10,000 check from the hospital on May 9.
Mr. Seminerio, who was a corrections officer before being elected to the Assembly, has a base salary of $79,500, records show, and also currently receives an annual bonus of $15,000.
His state ethics forms for 2005, 2006 and 2007 list him as receiving at least $1,000 each year from Marc Consultants.
Because the Legislature keeps tight control over its financial disclosures, more specific information on the amount of income Mr. Seminerio received is redacted from the forms before they are released.
In one recorded conversation with the undercover witness, Mr. Seminerio is quoted as estimating that if he were to leave the Assembly, he would lose “60 percent” of his consulting business.
Mr. Seminerio could face up to 20 years in prison, prosecutors said.
Mark J. Mershon, who leads the F.B.I.’s New York office, said the complaint showed Mr. Seminerio’s arrogance and contempt for the public trust and “his profound self-interest, his personal greed.”
On June 20, one hospital executive is quoted discussing with Mr. Seminerio a potential acquisition for which state financing would be needed.
Mr. Seminerio offers to set up a meeting with an Assembly leader, the complaint says as it recounts the conversation.
Mr. Seminerio adds, “I’m due for a payment.”
“I’ll follow up,” the executive responds.
“Please, would you?” Mr. Seminerio continues. “Make a notation.”
The complaint does not identify the Assembly leader, and the Assembly leadership said on Wednesday that it was not sure whether the reference was to the speaker, Mr. Silver, or some other figure. Some lawmakers were not pleased to recognize themselves in the complaint, even if they were not named or accused of wrongdoing.
“I’m shocked and unhappy, obviously,” said Assemblyman Robert K. Sweeney, a Suffolk County Democrat who played a crucial role in legislation aimed at cleaning up environmentally damaged land known as brownfields.
The complaint refers to Mr. Seminerio’s introducing an unnamed assemblyman to an undercover agent posing as a constituent with an interest in brownfields legislation. Mr. Sweeney said he recognized the assemblyman as himself.
“I’m more than a little bit unhappy that I get dragged into this by Tony’s action,” Mr. Sweeney said. “But there wasn’t anything that happened that was wrong on my end.”
Mr. Sweeney said the meeting was brief and did not get into specifics.
“Colleagues say all the time, ‘Would you come say hello to a constituent of mine?’ There was nothing unusual about it. At that point, everybody and his brother was coming in to see me about brownfields.”
Mr. Seminerio also put in calls to Paterson administration officials on behalf of his clients without appearing to divulge his business connections, the complaint says.
One official, identified as “Health Department Official 2,” appears to fit the description of Dennis Whalen, who is now the interim director of state operations.
A hospital executive complains to Mr. Seminerio about the official, saying, “He has not been such a great friend to us.” Mr. Seminerio promises to “break” a part of the official’s anatomy to make him more compliant.
The Paterson administration and Mr. Whalen declined to comment on the case.
