A veteran state auditor pleaded guilty on Tuesday to stealing US$1.2 million that was supposed to be used to help the mentally ill. Under the plea deal, he will face up to 10 years in prison and must sell his collection of Corvettes.
The auditor, James Leggiero, 50, admitted in Albany County Court that while working at the state's Office of Mental Health he had created a sham company and approved more than 80 payments to it, ranging from US$700 to US$99,000, over nine years.
"In my official capacity, I authorized these payments," Leggiero, a 27-year veteran, told Judge Thomas Breslin.
Leggiero pleaded guilty to one count of grand larceny in the first degree, a felony. The plea agreement he reached with the state attorney general's office calls for him to face a sentence of three to 10 years in prison, pay the US$1.2 million back to the state and agree not to seek government work in the future.
A sentencing date was set for July.
Leggiero, who owns five Corvettes, including one from 1958, has agreed to sell many of his possessions to begin repaying the state, his lawyer, Stephen Coffey, said after the court appearance. Coffey said Leggiero's wife would be allowed to keep their house, where she lives with the couple's two children.
Asked why Leggiero pleaded guilty,Coffey said: "Well, because the proof was overwhelming. He wanted to put it behind him. He knows he's guilty."
Leggiero's scheme worked for nearly nine years, until November, when through a new procedure in the state comptroller's office it appeared that Leggiero's checks were going to a post office box, which raised a red flag.
Further investigation showed that the company had no telephone number, another red flag.
The comptroller's office referred the matter to the office of Attorney General Andrew Cuomo in February. Cuomo said the case demonstrated his office's commitment to public integrity cases.
"We want to make sure that people across the state know that their tax dollars are well spent," he said.
State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said his office would be looking for other unusual contracts.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not