US Attorney Announces New Policy to Recover Pensions of Corrupt Lawmakers (Updated)

Testifying at the first public hearing of the Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara said that “public corruption…appears to be rampant,” and announced that he plans to go after the retirement checks of corrupt elected officials.

He explained that:

“…my office has adopted a new set of policies. First, going forward, we will seek appropriate fines that take into account the money a corrupt official might derive from a publicly-funded pension so that the punishment fits the crime and so that we can take the profit out of that crime.

Second, for those defendants previously convicted and who have failed to satisfy the financial obligations imposed at sentencing, we will consider federal civil forfeiture actions against their pensions to satisfy criminal judgments.

And finally, in pending and future cases, to the extent any public official has a pension interest that accrued while engaging in criminal conduct, we will use federal forfeiture law to claw back an appropriate dollar amount commensurate with that pension where appropriate.”

Mr. Bharara also said that his office has taken steps to include pensions as part of the property defendants would have to forfeit if convicted in two corruption cases that his office is currently pursuing, against Sen. Malcolm Smith and Assemblyman Eric Stevenson.

Read his full written testimony here.

Read news coverage of the event in the New York Times, the Daily News, the Associated Press and the NY Post.

The Commission’s next public hearing will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 24 in Loudonville (which is just outside of Albany).

Update:  Read testimony from U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of NY Loretta Lynch, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance and the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School.