WHITE PLAINS - A federal judge Wednesday upheld former Ramapo Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence's fraud and conspiracy convictions and denied his request for a new trial, setting the stage for his sentencing to prison in November.

Judge Cathy Seibel said the jury acted on sufficient evidence and did not find prejudice had influenced its deliberations, including a purported contentious comment by a juror that St. Lawrence "was protecting the Jews" in reference to the town's ultra-Orthodox Jewish bloc vote.

St. Lawrence's sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 27.

His monthlong trial that ended May 19 centered on the financing of the town's $58 million baseball stadium and payments for construction of 132 condominium on Elm Street bordering Spring Valley.

The jury believed the prosecution's evidence St. Lawrence manipulated the town's financial books by fabricating revenues to get better rates on municipal bonds and short-term borrowing notes to finance the stadium and other projects. Sales of the condos were supposedly paying off the stadium construction costs, including a $25 million bond.

St. Lawrence's attorney, Michael Burke of Suffern, argued Wednesday that Seibel should at least hold a hearing with the juror who reported the comment about "protecting the Jews" or with other jurors

"How could this not be considered prejudicial," Burke told the judge.

One juror reported the comment during deliberations by another juror to a television news reporter, but also was interviewed saying that while some jurors prejudged St. Lawrence, the panel properly reviewed evidence presented at the trial. The comment wasn't broadcast.

Seibel said the words amounted to triple hearsay and lacked context. She also noted she's restricted by judicial decisions from interviewing jurors on verdicts unless the circumstances involved an extraordinarily prejudicial issue.

Seibel said that while she agreed with Burke that the comment was concerning, the situation didn't meet the threshold and was a "yawner."

"That's a big leap," she said. "We don't know the context."

Prosecutor James McMahon told the judge that the jury being influence by the comment amounted to "nothing more than rank speculation — crossing a huge canyon" to reach Burke's conclusion. McMahon opposed vacating the verdicts and a new trial.

Burke said the comment will be part of his appeal of St. Lawrence's convictions, along with his belief the judge made numerous errors on allowing testimony and evidence. Appeals are filed after sentencing.

He also said if St. Lawrence is sentenced to prison, he would ask Seibel to allow him to stay free pending the outcome of the appeal. Such a decision is the under the purview of the judge, just like the length of any sentence.

During her nearly two-hour long oral decision, Seibel dealt with many of the issues Burke raised during the trial with objections to certain evidence and questions.

Seibel concluded the jury's verdicts finding St. Lawrence guilty of 20 counts — securities fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy — were based on sufficient evidence. The jury dismissed two of the counts following the trial that ended May 19 at the U.S. District Courthouse in White Plains.

The evidence she cited included fraudulent documents signed by St. Lawrence, audio-taped conversations involving the then-supervisor and other officials, and testimony from town officials, bond investors and people in the securities industry.

The jury heard testimony from St. Lawrence's co-defendant, Aaron Troodler, the former executive director of the Ramapo Local Development Corp. who pleaded guilty to criminal charges involving the conspiracy with St. Lawrence and admitted first lying to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission about the fraud.

Troodler, a former town deputy attorney now living in Pennsylvania, faces sentencing scheduled for Oct. 23 with hopes his cooperation will bring a lesser prison sentence, if any imprisonment at all.

Motions denied

The federal case focused on the financing of the town's $58 million baseball stadium and the Ramapo Commons condo complex on Elm Street, both financed through the Ramapo Local Development Corp., for which Lawrence chaired a three-member board. The development's owners and tenants are from the ultra-Orthodox community.

Burke filed motions arguing Seibel made what he called 18 errors that hurt St. Lawrence, including denial of his motions, granting the prosecution's motions, and allowing testimony about conduct unrelated to the charges.

Burke specifically focused on Seibel originally allowing prosecution questions to some witnesses, such as asking investors and analysts if their opinion on investing in Ramapo would have changed if they knew St. Lawrence had lied about the town's financial state.

Burke argued those questions were prejudicial. Seibel first allowed the questions and then changed her mind, telling the jurors to disregard the questions and answers. She said Wednesday she believed enough time elapsed until the end of the trial for her revised ruling to take hold.

St. Lawrence "was substantially prejudiced and deprived of a fair trial for various reasons including, but not limited to, the Government’s suppression of ... evidence and the Court’s initial allowance of improper hypothetical questions," Burke argued.

McMahon, the lead prosecutor, responded that Burke presented little more than a rehash of arguments he made during the trial that were rejected. And McMahon said those arguments are less compelling on post-trial review, requiring Seibel to ignore mounds of evidence of St. Lawrence's guilt.

"The defendant must demonstrate that no rational jury could have found him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt or that it would be a manifest injustice to let the verdicts stand," McMahon wrote. "The defendant has done neither, so his motions should be denied."

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Prosecutors charged St. Lawrence lied to investors in the town’s and RLDC’s bonds in order to conceal the deteriorating state of the town's finances and the inability of the RLDC to make scheduled payments of principal and interest to holders of its bonds from its own money. St. Lawrence lied to investors primarily by making up false assets in the town's general fund.

The jurors found the evidence proved St. Lawrence manipulated the financial books by fabricating revenues to get better rates on municipal bonds and short-term borrowing notes to finance the town's baseball stadium and other projects.

The RLDC sold off land and used town money to pay legal fees to make bond payments, while officials created phony revenues from land sales and didn't declare debts, such as $900,000 owed to an engineer.

The fraudulent information was included in documents asking investors to purchase bonds financing town projects, cheating investors out of profits.

The prosecution brought by the U.S. Attorney's Office under then-Attorney General Preet Bharara was the first of its kind after a joint investigation by the FBI and Rockland County District Attorney's Office.

St. Lawrence fabricated receivables to bolster the town's financial health and fund balance in an effort to get a better credit rating and lower interest rate on bonds, which financed the stadium and infrastructure projects. In doing so, St. Lawrence cheated bond buyers who didn't get as high a profit on their bond purchases.

Civil case continues

Seibel also is hearing the civil case by the Securities and Exchange Commission against St. Lawrence, Troodler, Town Attorney Michael Klein and Ramapo Receiver of Taxes Nat Oberman. Ramapo Town Board members have since taken over the RLDC and claim they want to abolish the agency.

The May convictions ended St. Lawrence's 16-year reign as supervisor of Rockland County's largest and most diverse town, now facing economic distress.

The 12-member jury returned guilty verdicts on 11 wire fraud counts, eight counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy. The jury acquitted St. Lawrence, 65, of Wesley Hills, of one count each of securities fraud and wire fraud.

Also testifying at trial against St. Lawrence were Councilman Patrick Withers and suspended finance official Melissa Reimer. They both separately audio-taped conversations involving town officials. Withers' voluntary cooperation lost him political support, especially from the religious community, and he's not seeking re-election. Reimer remains suspended and is suing the town.

One Reimer audiotape heard St. Lawrence boasting after a Jan. 25, 2013, conference call between town officials and representatives of Moody's Investors Services, an agency that sets a crucial credit rating for municipalities.

A laughing St. Lawrence is heard saying, "Listen, I'm going to tell you this right now, we need to get the refinancing done. Those numbers, we're going to have to be a magician to get those numbers."

Seibel will determine St. Lawrence's punishment on Nov. 27 partially based on a recommended sentence. The fraud counts carry prison terms of 20 years, while conspiracy carries a five-year term.

St. Lawrence, who did not testify during the trial, was not accused of personally profiting from his alleged schemes.

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