Posted on 12/09/2016 7:47:04 PM PST by csvset
NORFOLK
Anthony Burfoot sold his City Council votes to benefit developers for six years and then lied about it when questioned in federal court, a jury found Friday.
The city’s treasurer, who previously served as vice mayor, was convicted on six of eight public corruption and perjury charges. He can remain free until he is sentenced April 17 in U.S. District Court, but he must submit to the supervision of a federal probation officer.
Burfoot – who plans to appeal and continue working at the treasurer’s office while that’s pending – faces the possibility of 90 years in prison but will probably receive far less. Probation officials will review the case and Burfoot’s record before calculating advisory sentencing guidelines.
The guidelines should recommend a sentence in excess of 12 year and 7 months, according to former Councilman Andy Protogyrou, a defense attorney who practices regularly in federal court.
U.S. District Judge Henry Morgan Jr. will decide the final sentence. What happens next for Burfoot?
Even though Norfolk Treasurer Anthony Burfoot has been convicted on felony public-corruption charges, his attorney said he has no plans to resign.
And he doesn’t have to: Under state law, a felony conviction forces a public official from office only once “all rights of appeal under Virginia law have expired.”
Burfoot’s conviction was in federal court, but the clause could still apply to him. And his appeal is likely to take more than a year – if not years.
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There was no audible reaction in the courtroom as the first four verdicts – all guilty – were read. Burfoot lowered his head slightly, but said nothing.
Under the advice of his attorney, Burfoot also declined to speak to the media outside the courthouse. Defense attorney Andrew Sacks said that the case is still pending until sentencing and that even then there would be an appeal. Plus, he said, there is still an attempt to recall Burfoot pending in Norfolk Circuit Court.
“It is not over yet,” he said. “It is far from over.”
The verdicts followed 17 days of testimony over nearly five weeks and 5½ hours of deliberation.
Sacks said he was disappointed the jury didn’t take more time to review the evidence, noting that it took the judge about 90 minutes to read the jurors their instructions. He suggested it should have taken the jury “several days” to reach a verdict.
“It doesn’t appear it was considered as thoroughly as perhaps it should have been,” Sacks said.
Burfoot was convicted on four counts relating to public corruption and two perjury counts relating to his testimony in the 2013 Bank of the Commonwealth fraud trial.
All of those crimes related to his time on the City Council, where he served from 2002 to 2013, and not to his work as treasurer. Prosecutors said businessmen Dwight Etheridge, Tommy Arney and Ronnie Boone Sr. paid Burfoot more than $400,000 in bribes and kickbacks. In exchange, prosecutors said, Burfoot promised favorable votes and other assistance.
Etheridge said he wanted help with Tivest Development and Construction. Arney said he wanted help with a downtown strip club that never came to fruition. And Boone said he wanted help with a construction project and two restaurants he owns with his family in Ocean View.
During the trial, developers testified they paid Burfoot and his family cash bribes, gave him a luxury automobile and let him stay at an Outer Banks beach house for free. Councilman Paul Riddick also said Etheridge told him in 2010 that Burfoot was asking for money to support a development project. And bank records show Burfoot deposited more than $56,000 in cash between 2007 and 2011, despite the fact he was paid via direct deposit.
Jurors found that Burfoot knowingly lied twice on the stand on May 6, 2013, when he denied ever soliciting or accepting anything of value in exchange for an official act.
Burfoot was found not guilty on two other counts of perjury relating to the same testimony, in which he said he never asked Arney to give the mother of two of his children $25,000 for credit card bills and never pledged to vote for Arney’s Granby Cabaret strip club in exchange.
Sacks called dozens of witnesses, including several current and former council members and city officials who said Burfoot never lobbied them to help the men at the center of the government’s case. Burfoot also took the stand in his own defense to deny any wrongdoing. During more than 16 hours of testimony, he said he never took bribes from anyone and always voted for what he thought was in the best interest of the city.
While Burfoot is free pending appeal, Morgan ordered him to have no contact with the prosecution witnesses and one of the defense witnesses, a former junior partner in Tivest.
Burfoot can still communicate in writing with employees in his office who were called as government witnesses.
Even though Burfoot has no plans to resign, a recall effort could still force him out of office. Norfolk residents circulated a petition this year seeking his removal. They collected enough signatures to force a civil recall trial, but the special prosecutor assigned to the case asked to delay it until after the criminal trial was complete.
A hearing is set for Jan. 6 in Norfolk Circuit Court, but no trial date has been set. Bob Brown, one of the recall backers, said Friday night that he will ask the prosecutor to request that a judge immediately suspend Burfoot from office pending the recall trial.
The Burfoot case has been an embarrassment for Norfolk. Officials have acknowledged that the evidence of corrupt and cozy dealings with developers eroded public
confidence in city government.
Mayor Kenny Alexander, who was elected this year, said he is working to restore public trust in the City Council by being transparent and avoiding “backroom meetings.”
Alexander said he doesn’t meet privately with developers, insisting on having city staff present. He encourages other council members to do the same.
He also said he’ll leave meetings if more than one other council member arrives. Under state law, a gathering of three members of a public body constitutes a public meeting, even if a quorum is not present.
Alexander said the council will discuss ethics reform at its next retreat in February.
Half the council’s eight members have been elected since Burfoot left: Alexander, Mamie Johnson, Andria McClellan and Martin Thomas Jr. But Alexander said that fact matters little in the eyes of the public given what Burfoot did.
“It happened, and now we have to make things better,” he said.
The region’s top federal prosecutor said the kind of corruption the jury found “strikes at the heart of democracy.”
“Anthony Burfoot violated the sacred trust we place in our elected officials and in doing so his greed eclipsed his vision for building up his own community,” U.S. Attorney Dana Boente said in a statement. “The citizens of Norfolk have a right to nothing less than fair and honest government, and this conviction should serve as a warning to anyone who thinks about selling their office.”
There’s no mention of his party affiliation. I guess that means he’s a Clintonite.
Ya think!?
Childs play compared to what the Clintons have done.
Yup...when that's not mentioned just add Demorcrat or Black or both.
Aahh. Whacha espet.
/s Fixed it. :-)
At least there is a photo. Who’s protecting who down there?
Federal court. Obama pardon.
If it doesn’t have Republican in the headline it’s a Democrat.
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