Rochester’s Corrupt Mayor Indicted for Felony Finance Fraud

Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren indicted in felony campaign finance fraud

Gary Craig and Brian Sharp
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

ROCHESTER, NY — Mayor Lovely Warren has been indicted on two felony campaign finance charges, Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley announced Friday.

The first charge is for first-degree scheme to defraud; the second is an election law offense for illegally coordinating activities and expenditures.

The grand jury indictment is connected to Warren’s 2017 mayoral re-election campaign. Warren has adamantly refused any wrongdoing in the matter.

Warren and two campaign associates also indicted Friday will be arraigned at 4 p.m. Monday, Oct. 5, in front of Cayuga County Judge Thomas Leone in Monroe County.

If convicted of the felony charges, Warren would be removed from office under state law. The maximum sentence would be 16 months to four years in prison, but Warren would be unlikely to be incarcerated. Her pension could be forfeited, however, if the matter is determined to be a crime related to public office, and she also could lose her law license.

Lovely Warren is mayor of Rochester, N.Y.

The unsealing of the indictment Friday equates to an announcement of criminal charges, not a conviction, but adds another major crisis for the already embattled mayor. Her term ends next year and she surely will face intense intra-party competition if she chooses to run again. Her attorney, Joseph Damelio, said Friday that she would.

Also indicted Friday were Warren’s campaign treasurer, Albert Jones Jr., and Rosiland Brooks-Harris, the treasurer of the political action committee Warren for a Strong Rochester. Brooks-Harris is also the city’s finance director.

“If mistakes were made, they were honest mistakes,” Damelio said. “The type of mistakes that we make in our job every day … nothing underhanded, nothing sinister, nothing like that.”

What everyone’s saying:Lovely Warren’s indictment draws varied reactions from officials

Defense lawyers questioned whether jurors might have been swayed by current events — their deliberations coincided with protests and calls for Warren’s resignation over the death of Daniel Prude, who was asphyxiated while being restrained by police.

“It’s not good publicity that’s for sure,” Damelio said.

Warren has faced increasing questions in the last month about her honesty with her claims that she was not informed by her staff until August of all of the facts surrounding Prude’s death. Campaign finance regulations are, however, a very different matter than the alleged homicide of an unarmed citizen, and County Legislator Rachel Barnhart has said she worries that the public will be slow to digest the occasionally arcane and dry topic and criminal allegations.

Barnhart raised the possible violations in her unsuccessful 2017 mayoral race against Warren. She and another Democratic primary challenger, former Police Chief James Sheppard, filed complaints with the state Board of Elections.

Rachel Barnhart

“This is very sad and will plunge our city into further crisis,” Barnhart said. “We have to understand, however, why this is happening.

“Campaign finance laws exist to protect our elections and make sure there is transparency. The magnitude of these violations is nothing short of cheating.”

More:DA’s Office investigating Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren campaign spending

At a recent news conference Warren called the campaign finance allegations a “political witch hunt.” Damelio, has said the length between the time of the Barnhart-Sheppard allegations and the recent investigation that led to the indictments shows the flimsiness of the criminal case.

Rosiland Brooks-Harris, Finance Director for the City of Rochester.

Warren’s PAC exceeded limits, prosecutors allege

In particular, Warren and her campaign aides are accused of illegally using the political action committee, or PAC, to bolster campaign finances.

“I don’t know the intent of creating the PAC, but certainly it wasn’t to circumvent election law,” Damelio said, later suggesting it was to support community programs. “Lovely Warren didn’t need any more money to win her election. She won by huge numbers. She wasn’t in danger of losing.”

If a PAC gives money to a candidate for office, it faces the same state-imposed restrictions as any other donor – a limit of $8,557 in 2017. But Warren’s PAC exceeded the limits and illegally bolstered her campaign, prosecutors allege.

Doorley would not say how much money was involved in the alleged fraud but said the sum is “substantial,” with prosecutors implying it could be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Warren has maintained that any transfers were an unintentional error, a claim that would likely be the foundation of her criminal defense. Doorley responded on Friday: “The indictment alleges otherwise, and that’s what we will be handling in the courtroom.”

Prosecutors will need to show that the PAC was knowingly used illegally, and that Warren, Jones, and Brooks-Harris purposefully committed fraud with their handling of campaign funds.

Sources have told the Democrat and Chronicle that campaign donors and others testified before the grand jury, but it’s unclear how donors would have a sense of the use of campaign funds.

However, former lobbyist Robert Scott Gaddy, who worked with Warren in the office of the late Assemblyman David Gantt, has claimed that he and a lawyer who specializes in campaign finance alerted Warren to the potential illegality and Warren intentionally disregarded the advice.

Robert Scott Gaddy

Gaddy agreed to testify in the grand jury proceedings as part of a plea agreement to resolve federal allegations that he and late Assemblyman Joseph Errigo were involved in a bribery plot to try to derail a Brighton project in a sting manufactured by the FBI. The lawyer, Pittsford town justice Robert Shaddock, was also expected to testify before the grand jury.

Investigation stalled

The length of the investigation could be explained in part because it has, at times, been a collaborative effort with the District Attorney’s Office and the state Board of Elections.

The state Board of Elections and Monroe County District Attorney’s Office first met in March 2018 about complaints the state received from Barnhart and Sheppard. In March 2020 the Board of Elections reported its findings to Doorley, who proceeded with the criminal case.

Doorley acknowledged earlier this year that her office had issued subpoenas in the campaign finance investigation, but she declined to comment further.

This was at least the second round of subpoenas. The Democrat and Chronicle reported in December 2018 that vendors who were contracted by the Warren campaign or political action committee had been subpoenaed for campaign-related records.

The joint investigation was delayed not only by the coronavirus pandemic but also by a decision in 2018 about the Board of Elections’ investigative powers.

Late that year, the state Board of Elections voted to curtail the power of the board’s lead investigative counsel, Risa Sugarman. The board ruled that her office could not issue subpoenas without board review.

Sugarman sued to revoke the rules, but her lawsuit was dismissed.

Damelio said the Warren campaign had been working with the state Board of Elections for three years, but “things definitely changed in the last six months.”

“We can’t comment on that,” he said, “because we have no idea why.”

Timeline

Oct. 2, 2020

Two-count indictment handed up against Warren and two associates.

Sept. 16, 2020

Robert Scott Gaddy’s plea in bribery case delivers more bad news for Mayor Lovely Warren.

March 6, 2020

Board of Elections present report of alleged campaign finance violations to District Attorney’s Office.

Feb. 25, 2019

District Attorney’s Office shares investigative materials with Board of Elections “for analysis and recommendation.”

Dec. 27, 2018

Next steps in investigation of Mayor Warren’s campaign funds could be months away

Dec. 23, 2018

What you need to know: Mayor Warren, the DA and the PAC

Dec. 7, 2018

DA’s Office investigating Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren campaign spending.

March 2018

Board of Elections, Monroe County district attorney meet.

July 19, 2017

Warren shows commanding cash lead over other mayoral candidates.

July 14, 2017

Andreatta: Elections board could settle Warren campaign questions now

April 20, 2017

State Board of Elections receives first complaint about Warren’s campaign finance activities.

2015

Lovely Warren founded Warren for a Strong Rochester.

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