Former Melrose CEO Kaufman Asks That Bribery Charges Be Dismissed
This is Kaufman's second attempt to have charges against him dismissed.
Contending that the federal government cannot connect his actions as CEO of the defunct Melrose Credit Union to the benefits he received from members, Alan Kaufman is asking a federal judge to dismiss the criminal charges against him.
In motions to dismiss the charges, Kaufman cited a January appellate court decision that dismissed some of the criminal charges against Shelton Silver, the former Speaker of the New York Assembly.
In that ruling, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that the federal government had been unable to link the specific actions that Silver was supposed to take with the bribes he allegedly received.
Kaufman, whose family founded the credit union, is charged with accepting free housing and financing for the purchase of his personal residence from Tony Georgiton, a taxi medallion broker and a member of the credit union.
Georgiton was also indicted and joined Kaufman in his motion to dismiss the charges.
Kaufman was also charged with accepting gifts and trips from an unnamed media company in exchange for increased advertising with the media company.
Melrose, which made millions of dollars in loans to taxi drivers in New York City, was taken over by the NCUA. Many drivers who took out the loans could not repay them as the value of their taxi medallions plunged as a result of competition from ride-sharing companies.
In the motion to dismiss, Kaufman’s attorneys argued that the federal government did not charge that Kaufman had been influenced on “specific and focused” credit union decisions.
“The alleged quid to Mr. Kaufman predated the alleged quos to Mr. Georgiton by seven months, 10 months, and 23 months, respectively,” the attorneys said
And the same holds true for the other alleged bribes he received, the attorneys said.