There’s a “mountain of evidence” that Assemblyman Eric Stevenson pocketed more than $22,000 in bribes and “betrayed the people of New York” when he helped Bronx businessmen open adult day care centers and weed out their competition, a federal prosecutor told jurors Monday.
During closing arguments in Manhattan federal court of Stevenson’s public-corruption trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Krieger said the indicted Bronx politician cannot deny “that he took” an envelope allegedly containing $10,000 from one of the businessmen after walking out of a Bronx steakhouse in Sept. 2012.
“Stevenson’s initial refusal to take the money because of a surveillance camera [inside Jake’s Steakhouse] is devastating proof,” he added.
Images of Stevenson pocketing an envelope were caught on video by the feds, but video of the actual hand-off is sketchy – so the feds are relying heavily on the words of a former political operative with a long rap sheet who agreed to wear a wire to avoid significant jail time.
Stevenson’s lawyer Muhammad Bashir asked jurors to ignore the testimony of the operative, Sigfredo Gonzalez.
“It comes down to someone who can’t be trusted. He is conning the Russian [businessmen]. He is conning the assemblyman. He is lying to the government about having sex with a prostitute. He is lying, he is lying, he is lying!” he said.
Gonzalez on Wednesday told wide-eyed jurors he once stopped recording in an Albany hotel — where Stevenson allegedly pocketed another $5,000 in bribes — to privately enjoy a “b—w job” with a prostitute, which was paid for by four businessmen. The week-long trial was also highlighted by Chief Judge Loretta Preska getting into heated debate on Thursday with Bashir, a black lawyer, on whether the N-word can ever be interpreted as a “term of endearment.” She felt it could and he adamantly disagreed. Gonzalez referred to Stevenson as the N-word behind his back shortly before he arrived at Jake’s, and the judge shot down a request to have the jury hear audio confirming this.
Stevenson faces up to 55 years behind bars.