Federal prosecutors hit Assemblyman William Boyland Jr. with more corruption counts yesterday, leveling charges that the already indicted Brooklyn pol sought reimbursement for official trips he never took.
The new mail-fraud charges significantly raise the potential jail-time stakes for Boyland, who is already awaiting trial in a corruption case charging he solicited more than $250,000 in bribes from people he thought were businessmen seeking his influence with development projects.
The three new charges each carry up to 20 years in prison, and the embattled Brooklyn Democrat was already looking at about 20 years if convicted in his existing bribery case.
It’s not the first time authorities have accused Boyland of lying about his expenses. Late last year, the state Comptroller’s Office uncovered a massive per-diem expenditure fraud they say the pol engineered to bilk taxpayers out of money for travel reimbursements.
The new charges allege Boyland was paid tens of thousands of dollars for mileage and per-diem expenses after he falsely claimed to be traveling on official legislative business.
In one particularly egregious example, Boyland claimed to be working in Albany — when he was in New York City meeting with people he believed were out-of-state businessmen and real-estate developers, the feds say.
Those “businessmen” were actually undercover FBI agents running a corruption sting.
“My office’s examination of Mr. Boyland’s expenses found a blatant pattern of abuse,” state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said yesterday. “The actions of [US Attorney] Loretta Lynch, and the [Justice Department] sends a clear message that elected officials who try to enrich themselves and break the public trust will be held accountable.”
The new charges are just the latest bad turn for the pol. Last week, his former chief of staff, Ry-Ann Hermon, pleaded guilty to corruption charges tied to Boyland.
In her plea, Hermon publicly accused Boyland of directing her to help peddle his influence for cash.
She’s now poised to testify against Boyland at his upcoming bribery trial in Brooklyn federal court, where the legislator is accused of soliciting bribes from carnival promoters and from real-estate developers in exchange for promises to use his official influence to grease the rails for their respective business ventures.