Steve Lieberman

slieberm@lohud.com

The corruption case against Ramapo Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence and former town lawyer Aaron Troodler is scheduled to resume this afternoon in federal court in White Plains.

St. Lawrence's legal team is expected to ask Judge Cathy Seibel for more time to review more than 150,000 documents and hours of audio recordings, according to Patrick Burke, a former federal prosecutor and one of the two lawyers representing St. Lawrence.

The recordings involve the supervisor and other town officials and employees.

"There's a ton of paper to review," said Burke, whose son and partner, Michael, is the lead attorney for St. Lawrence. "We're are going to need more time."

Burke said he expects the judge may also set dates for filing legal motions and responses. Pretrial hearings and a trial date have not been set.

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Troodler’s lawyers, Joseph Poluka and Lauren O'Donnell, did not return a telephone call and email seeking comment.

St. Lawrence, the town's 16-year supervisor, and Troodler face charges of securities and wire fraud and conspiracy involving the financing of the town's baseball stadium and other projects developed through the town's Ramapo Development Corp. Troodler served as executive director of the Local Development Corporation (LDC), while St. Lawrence chaired the quasi-government agency.

The indictment accuses them of allegedly selling $150 million in municipal bonds based on fabricated town financial documents that overstated the town's revenues to potentially get a better interest rate on the loans.

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St. Lawrence and Troodler also are named, along with with Town Attorney Michael Klein and Nat Oberman, the deputy finance director and receiver of taxes, in a civil action by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC case mirrors the federal charges, but the penalties are financial.

St. Lawrence, a Wesley Hills resident and son of the late Assemblyman Joseph St. Lawrence, and Troodler, 42, now of Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, were arrested in May on eight counts of securities fraud; 13 counts of wire fraud; and one count of conspiracy. The fraud charges carry 20 years each in prison time. They were arrested based on an investigation by a task force comprised of the U.S. Attorney's Office and Rockland District Attorney's Office, along with the FBI and support agencies, like the Rockland Intelligence Center.

The investigation became public in May 2013 when the District Attorney's Office detectives and the FBI raided Ramapo Town Hall, carting off boxes of documents and computer hard drives.

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"The Ramapo and RLDC bonds were built on a foundation of fraud," U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said at the time of their arrest. "They did an end run around the voters and ensured no public funds would be used. They lied. There were other, more pressing needs than a shiny, new sports stadium."

Both St. Lawrence and Troodler have pleaded not guilty to the federal charges. They are each free on $500,000 bail.

St. Lawrence became the second Town Board member arrested in 2016. On March 3, the Rockland District Attorney’s Office charged Samuel Tress with felony counts accusing him of voting for a zoning change on a housing development in which he held a financial stake.

Tress is scheduled to appear in Airmont Justice Court on Thursday evening, as his case is being prepared for grand jury review.

Twitter: @lohudlegal