Noramie Jasmin (William Farrington)
GRIM RIDE: Spring Valley Mayor Noramie Jasmin and Bronx Republican County Chairman Jay Savino arrive yesterday at White Plains federal court, where they faced corruption charges in the alleged plot to get Queens state Sen. Malcolm Smith the New York City GOP mayoral nod. (
)
The case that upended New York City politics and could spell doom for state Sen. Malcolm Smith began in a Rockland County village with one-tenth the population of Smith’s legislative district in Queens.
There, in Spring Valley, on a humid August day in 2011, Mayor Noramie Jasmin allegedly met with a federal informant to chew over plans for the village to seize some land along Route 59 and sell it to a preferred bidder.
First the mayor was allegedly planning to rig the competition for a new development.
“The one that I like I’m going to pick,” Jasmin said in a conversation recorded by the FBI. “So if I like yours, I pick you . . . If I don’t like it, you can stick [it] where the sun doesn’t shine.”
Then Jasmin was allegedly looking for a secret payday from the construction of a community center the village board would have to approve.
Together, the projects are now the backbone of the Smith scandal.
Over 18 months, the shady Rockland land deals would rope in Smith — then travel the Thruway back down to New York City, eventually blowing the lid off what the feds say was an unprecedented plot to rig the 2013 race for mayor.
On Feb. 13, 2012, Jasmin — in office since 2009 — met the informant at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Suffern to lay out her terms, the feds charge. As the FBI recorded the conversation, Jasmin allegedly said she wanted to be a “partner, to build it together.”
She allegedly explained that, with her help, local zoning approvals for the community center would “go smoothly for you. That’s it.”
At the same time, Smith was allegedly running his own shady deals that he thought would land him the job as Mayor Bloomberg’s successor. To Smith, the informant — identified as Morris Stern of Rockland County — and an undercover FBI agent posing as developers looked like sugar daddies who could make his dream come true.
In return for helping them up in Spring Valley, the “developers” were allegedly going to pay off Republican leaders in New York City so they would clear the way for Smith to get on the GOP mayoral ballot.
»Feds nab state Sen. Smith, NYC Councilman Halloran in pay-to-play bribe scheme
»Halloran had mountain of debt before going on alleged bribery spree in Malcolm Smith scandal
»Dem’s shot at Smith as City Councilman Leroy Comrie eyed as possible replacement in State Senate
»Power outage: Malcolm Smith stripped of his leadership posts and urged to resign
»‘Nuke bomb’ on city GOP as Smith ‘bribe’ scandal leaves Republicans reeling
»Mayoral wannabe Malcolm Smith done in by his ambitions
»Tales of the tape: Quotable quotes from Malcolm Smith scandal
»Since 2007, 11 New York state senators have been arrested including Malcolm Smith
Jasmin declined to discuss the allegations against her today.
“We will vigorously defend against these charges to restore my good name. I’m asking the community not to prejudge me, rather to keep me in your prayers for my good name to restore. Thank you and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
Yesterday, the feds refused to explain what first drew Smith to Spring Valley and how the senator connected his alleged ballot-rigging plot to Jasmin’s alleged land-deal scheme.
On Feb. 14, 2012, the feds claim, Jasmin and Stern got back together at the Crowne Plaza, where she insisted she needed the secret partnership stake in the real- estate deal.
A month later, they were still allegedly haggling over their unholy alliance as the feds recorded every word.
Back at the Crowne Plaza on March 20, 2012, the feds claim, the developer suggested Jasmin’s stake would be only 20 percent, and Jasmin was insulted.
“Partnership is 50-50, right?” the Spring Valley mayor allegedly said, adding how the partnership papers would be filed and offering to pay the $600 fee.
At that meeting, the feds claim, Jasmin started going through the script, telling the developer how he and his “partner” would play their roles when they appeared in front of the village board.
“I will tell you ahead of time this is how you have to present it, this is how, what we have to do,” she allegedly said.
Back in New York City, Smith was allegedly working out his own arrangements with Stern and the undercover FBI agent.
The senator said he would allegedly reel in $500,000 in state funding to aid the real-estate project in Spring Valley and the “developers” would pay bribes to city GOP leaders in return.
Smith, a powerful Democrat, wanted to run for mayor as a Republican and he needed at least three city Republican borough chairmen to support him in order to get on their ballot, according to the feds.
Smith allegedly decided to buy the necessary support in a plot that would culminate in the early-morning arrests yesterday of both Smith and city Councilman Dan Halloran — along with Jasmin, her deputy mayor, Joseph Desmaret, and two GOP leaders from the city.
Prosecutors said that on Feb. 10, Smith materialized at a Manhattan hotel room, bodyguard in tow, to meet with a federal informant and an undercover FBI agent — as the feds listened in.
The senator allegedly informed his would-be sugar daddies that it would take just $200,000 to get him on the GOP ballot. The trio talked about structuring the payments so the party leaders “who have financial needs” would “be taken care of.” They said those “needs” included home-mortgage payments and even college tuition for one of the officials’ kids.
Smith directed them on how to divvy up the cash.
”I wouldn’t give them more than like 10, just to, just to start out,” federal documents show. He also explained how there would be “no trace back” from the money.
That business over, the trio’s attention turned back north, to Spring Valley. The informant and the agent, posing as developers, “asked Smith to direct $500,000 in New York state funding to the real estate project.”
It’s “doable,” Smith reported. He said he would enlist the local senator “to help get the funding allocated in the state budget.”
On March 21, the undercover agent, the cooperator and the senator had gathered in Smith’s Albany office, where the senator explained where he’d be finding the state funding to aid their Spring Valley land deal.
“Multi-modal money is outside the budget and it’s always around,” Smith allegedly said.
By last week, FBI agents and prosecutors were finishing their plans for the sweep they pulled off at 6 a.m. yesterday. They put together an operational plan and a criminal complaint with incredible detail designed to prove to the public how strong their case is.
“Everyone’s entitled to the presumption of innocence,” said one lawyer who knows some of the politicians charged yesterday. “But this looks really, really bad.”
Six suspects appeared in White Plains federal court yesterday afternoon, looking tired and expressionless. They were ordered to turn over their passports and told there were now restrictions on where they can travel in the state.
They were ordered to give urine samples and are due back in court on April 23.