A former federal court docket clerk and a New York lawyer who collectively operated a long-running cash-for-clients bribery scheme had been sentenced to jail on Monday, prosecutors mentioned.
The previous clerk, Dionisio Figueroa, 66, of Manhattan, was sentenced to 2 years in jail after being convicted at trial in December of conspiracy, bribery and different costs, in line with prosecutors and court docket filings. He was additionally ordered to forfeit $40,000, prosecutors mentioned.
The lawyer, Telesforo Del Valle Jr., pleaded responsible to conspiracy, bribery and different costs in November, court docket filings present. Mr. Del Valle, 65, of Leonia, N.J., was sentenced to a yr and a day in jail and fined $10,000, prosecutors mentioned.
Prosecutors had sought sentences of about 4 years for Mr. Figueroa and about three years for Mr. Del Valle, court docket data present.
The lads’s scheme ran from 2011 to 2022 and concerned at the least 45 felony defendants within the Southern District of New York, the place Mr. Figueroa labored within the Justice of the Peace clerk’s workplace, in line with court docket data.
His duties included making ready bonds for defendants that allowed for his or her launch from custody pending trial; advising defendants and their members of the family in regards to the circumstances that utilized to such bonds; and making certain the bonds had been signed by all events earlier than a defendant was launched, prosecutors mentioned.
As a lawyer, prosecutors mentioned, Mr. Del Valle represented many Southern District defendants over greater than 20 years.
Mr. Figueroa used his place to encourage defendants to rent Mr. Del Valle, who he insisted was “particularly geared up” to assist them, prosecutors mentioned. Among the referrals had been documented in ledger entries maintained by Mr. Del Valle’s agency, in line with an indictment.
Most of these whom Mr. Figueroa steered to Mr. Del Valle already had free, court-appointed legal professionals, however he inspired them to modify anyway, the indictment says. Generally, the indictment says, Mr. Figueroa disparaged the court-appointed legal professionals.
Mr. Figueroa informed the household of 1 defendant ready to submit bail in 2018 that he “knew of an excellent lawyer” who might get the individual “out of hassle,” the indictment says. He then wrote Mr. Del Valle’s identify and telephone quantity on a chunk of paper, the indictment says.
In trade, in line with the indictment, Mr. Del Valle paid Mr. Figueroa tens of hundreds of {dollars} in bribes. Some had been paid instantly, prosecutors mentioned; others got here to Mr. Figueroa through cash-stuffed envelopes that his romantic companion picked up at Mr. Del Valle’s workplace.
Each males denied the scheme when confronted by federal brokers in November 2022.
“The general public depends on attorneys and court docket workers to take care of and validate its religion in our felony justice system,” Damian Williams, the U.S. lawyer in Manhattan, mentioned in a press release. Mr. Del Valle and Mr. Figueroa, Mr. Williams mentioned, had “undermined the truthful administration of justice and the work of the numerous good folks within the courthouse.”
Paul Evangelista, a federal public defender who represented Mr. Figueroa, declined to remark. A lawyer for Mr. Del Valle didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Mr. Del Valle was disbarred final month because of his responsible plea, in line with a state court docket determination. Regardless of that, the web site of his regulation agency, Del Valle & Associates, was lively on Monday.
His biography on the positioning describes him as “a frequent lecturer and panelist for the American Bar Affiliation on the subject of authorized ethics” and a longtime member of the grievance committee for the state Appellate Division’s First Judicial Division — the panel that initiated the disbarment proceedings towards him.
An electronic mail inquiry despatched to the agency didn’t yield a response.
