Former State Senator Pleads Guilty to Misdemeanor

Earlier this afternoon, former State Senator George Maziarz pleaded guilty in Albany County Court to one misdemeanor charge of filing a false instrument and will pay a $1,000 fine.

Maziarz was indicted state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in March 2017 case brought by Schneiderman over alleged election law violations. (Read my earlier blog post on the charges here.) The charges related to his use of campaign monies to secretly pay a staff member in connection with a sexual harassment lawsuit.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said:

“Today’s guilty plea and full admission sends a strong message to every elected official that if you abuse the public trust, you will be rooted out, and there will be a public accounting of your crime. This case stands for a very simple but important principle, which is that you cannot use your campaign account as a slush fund to avoid public scrutiny. No one, not even George Maziarz, can use campaign accounts to deceive the public, flout the law, and pay off friends.”

Read the Attorney General’s press release, and news coverage from the Buffalo News, the State of Politics blog, the Buffalo News, Gannett, and Politico NY.