Ex-jails union boss Norman Seabrook’s accused co-conspirator in a $20 million bribery scheme pleaded guilty Friday to a plea deal that was so sweet, it even made the judge annoyed.
Disgraced hedge-fund manager Murray Huberfeld pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to a single count of wire fraud for defrauding his hedge fund, Platinum Partners, out of $60,000.
That is the same amount that prosecutors say Huberfeld paid Seabrook in bribes — stuffed in black Ferragamo bag — in exchange for a $20 million investment given to him by the Corrections’ Officers Benevolent Association, which Seabrook headed.
Huberfeld could have faced a maximum of 60 years behind bars on the charges he previously faced, including bribery. But under his plea deal, the feds will recommend between six and 12 months behind bars.
Manhattan federal judge Alvin Hellerstein ultimately accepted Huberfeld’s guilty plea but not before making a stink of the new charge, which makes only scant reference to a bribery scheme and claims that Huberfeld’s hedge fund was the victim — not the 9,000 correction officers who lost $20 million of their hard-earned money after Platinum went bust.
“Part of my job is to assure myself that the plea is to a crime, and I’m having some difficulty,” the judge said.
“It’s hard to think that Platinum Partners was the victim. Isn’t Platinum Partners entire management under indictment?,” he added, referring to a Brooklyn federal case that accuses many of the hedge fund’s executives of a massive $1 billion fraud.
Huberfeld and Seabrook were tried in the case last year, but a hung jury came back in both instances.
Seabrook will now face retrial alone July 23rd.
“We look forward to proving at trial what is implicit in today’s events: That there was no bribe,” Seabrook’s lawyer, Paul Shechtman, said.
Meanwhile, Huberfeld’s lawyer, Henry Mazurek, said, “Murray Huberfeld is ready to put this chapter behind him and return to his family. The government offered him a plea agreement that enables him to do this.”
The government’s key witness at Seabrook’s retrial will still be disgraced de Blasio donor and real-estate investor Jona Rechnitz, who testified to arranging Seabrook to invest COBA’s money in Platinum in exchange for cold, hard cash.
The retrial could be tougher for Seabrook in at least one respect: The government is seeking to introduce evidence that the city’s correction officers lost their $20 million investment thanks to Seabrook.
The judge has yet to rule on the issue.