Indicted Assemblyman Eric Stevenson forked over $2,900 in down payments for a sweet ride — only days after allegedly pocketing a $10,000 bribe, prosecutors revealed on Thursday.
Assistant US Attorney Paul Krieger told Manhattan federal court Chief Judge Loretta Preska that a key piece of evidence against Stevenson (D-Bronx), which the government plans to show jurors when the case heads to trial Jan. 6, is that the embattled pol made two down payments totaling $2,900 on a 2003 Jaguar within four days after he allegedly pocketed the $10,000 cash bribe on Sept. 7, 2012.
“It shows that his intent wasn’t to benefit his constituents – but to use [the money] to enrich himself,” Krieger said.
Both Kreiger and Stevenson afterwards declined to reveal specifics about the make of the Jaguar, but Stevenson later blurted out that the car was worth “less than $5,000.”
“It was cheap,” he told reporters. “The car was not even valued at $5,000. It was a very old, high-mileage used car.”
“It will come out the reason I bought it for … and how it came to be purchased,” he added.
He also said “the case is not about the car” and that he might potentially testify on his own behalf at trial.
It’s unclear how long Stevenson had the car, but in June he rode off from Manhattan federal court in a shiny black Mercedes-Benz sedan — after telling a judge he didn’t have enough money to defend himself against bribery charges.
Stevenson, meanwhile, was fuming after Preska denied a request by his new attorney to move the trial back a few weeks so they could review more than 100 hours of recordings and other evidence.
Preska said he’s had more than enough time to review the tapes, but Stevenson wasn’t buying it — even claiming to reporters that he’s being targeted by the feds because of race.
“Another black man targeted, another black man arrested, another black man being tried by an all-white courtroom,” he said. “This is the never-ending story of America. We have a black president. The reform needs to happen in our Justice Department.”
Prosecutors claim the embattled pol illegally pocketed more than $22,000 in cash and campaign contributions – including the $10,000 payment from Igor Belyansky and Rostislav Belyansky, who allegedly bribed Stevenson to obtain favors and legislation helpful to their Bronx adult day care centers. Both Belyanskys pleaded guilty in September.
Stevenson in May pleaded not guilty to five counts of conspiracy and bribery in the alleged scheme to help four co-defendants open adult day-care centers and pass legislation to protect them from competition.
He got caught in a sting operation in which his co-defendants paid bribes to former Assemblyman Nelson Castro [D-Bronx], who is cooperating with authorities to avoid prosecution for perjury.