Judge Denies Former MCU Board Chair's Request to Remain Free on Bail

A New York federal judge ruled that former Municipal Credit Union Board Chair and ex-state judge Sylvia Ash will not be allowed to remain free on bond while a U.S. Appeals Court decides her criminal conviction.

Ash, 64, was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison in April after a jury found her guilty  of obstruction of justice, conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements to federal officers. She was acquitted on a second felony count of obstruction of justice. She also was ordered to pay an $80,000 fine.

Ash filed a notice of appeal in May at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan. Last month, she asked U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan to allow her to remain free on bail pending the disposition of the appeal and to stay the fine.

However, on June 30 Judge Kaplan denied her request, meaning Ash must surrender to authorities at the U.S. Bureau of Prison on July 20 and pay her fine in full, court documents showed. Ash’s lawyer did not respond to CU Times‘ request for comment.

In a letter written by her lawyer to Judge Kaplan, Ash said it would be appropriate to remain free on bail because she was not a flight risk or a danger to the community and that legal issues “present close and novel questions” that could annul her conviction or reduce her sentence.

In his decision, however, Judge Kaplan noted that Ash was convicted six months ago, and she has not proceeded expeditiously with her appeal in that she asked for and received approval of a schedule calling for the filing of her appeals legal brief by Aug. 31, nine months after the jury’s verdict.

“Her actions are consistent with a desire to parlay that relaxed appellate schedule and the present motion for bail pending appeal into an unwarranted delay in the execution of her sentence,” Judge Kaplan wrote. “I have considered (the) defendant’s other arguments, including those relating to the fine, and find them to be insubstantial.”

Ash’s conviction stemmed from a widespread fraud and corruption case at the New York City-based, $4.3 billion MCU, which led to more than $18 million in financial losses, $109 million in write-down losses and its 34-month conservatorship.

Court testimony and evidence proved that Ash deleted and hid evidence from a federal grand jury and repeatedly lied to federal agents to protect herself and the former MCU CEO Kam Wong, who was at the center of a multimillion-dollar fraud and corruption investigation in 2018.

He pleaded guilty to embezzling nearly $10 million and was sentenced to five and a half years in prison in 2019.

Prosecutors also convicted former supervisory committee chair and head of MCU’s Fraud and Security Department Joseph Guagliardo, a retired New York City cop. He was sentenced to 27 months in prison in July 2020 for conspiring to embezzle hundreds of thousands of dollars from New York’s oldest credit union. What’s more, an investigation revealed that at least five top executives, another supervisory committee member and 13 former board members allegedly violated a number of internal MCU policies that contributed to financial losses.

Last October, Judge Kaplan allowed former Melrose Credit Union CEO Alan Kaufman to remain free on bail after appealing his conviction on bribery and his prison sentence.

Kaufman was sentenced to three years and eight months in prison on Sept. 29, after a jury found him guilty on two felony counts of bribery. His appeal also is pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan.

Kaufman was scheduled to report to prison on Nov. 30.

In Kaufman’s case, Judge Kaplan said most of the legal questions the convicted CEO is appealing are not frivolous and decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.