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Pleas Pleas Me

By Michael Frisch

An attorney who recently entered guilty pleas in state and federal court has been struck from the roll of  attorneys by the New York Appellate Division for the Fourth Judicial Department. 

WGRZ reported on his recent pleas

 Long-time political power broker Steve Pigeon plead guilty to conspiring to illegally cause a $25,000 campaign donation from a foreign source to a New York state official running for reelection.

Investigators say Pigeon assisted one of his clients, a Canadian CEO, in making a campaign donation of $25,000 to a “public official” running for re-election to a statewide office in 2014. That donation was rejected by the campaign because the donor was not a US citizen. Pigeon then had another party, a US citizen and an employee for the Canadian CEO, make the donation. That employee was expected to reimbursed by the CEO. That donation allowed Pigeon and the CEO be granted access to a political fundraising party in New York City.

“Steven Pigeon undermined the transparency and integrity of the electoral process by funneling foreign money into a campaign,” said Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski in a release. “The Criminal Division and our law enforcement partners are committed to protecting our electoral process and we will aggressively pursue those who seek to circumvent our campaign finance laws.”

The guilty plea in federal court comes nearly two weeks after Pigeon pled guilty in State Supreme Court.

Pigeon and former State Supreme Court Judge John Michalek were allegedly engaged in favor-swapping. Michalek, who pleaded guilty to state charges, sought Pigeon’s help getting jobs for family members. Emails obtained by investigators also indicated the judge wanted Pigeon to put in a good word with Governor Andrew Cuomo about a nomination to be an Appellate Court judge.

Pigeon will be sentenced in January on federal charges.

The state bribery plea is described by Niagara Gazette

A high-profile Western New York political operative has accepted a plea deal in connection with a bribery case involving a sitting judge.

New York State Attorney General Barbara Underwood announced that former Erie County Democratic Party Chairman G. Steven Pigeon entered a guilty plea on Friday to a count of bribery in the third degree, a class D felony.

Pigeon, 58, a longtime local attorney and political consultant, entered the plea before Erie County Supreme Court Judge Donald F. Cerio, Jr.

 Following an investigation, prosecutors accused Pigeon of bribing former State Supreme Court Justice John A. Michalek in what Underwood described as a “brazen, multi-layer scheme” that demonstrated “flagrant contempt for the rule of law and the interests of New Yorkers.”

“Now, he’s being brought to justice,” Underwood said. “We have zero tolerance for public corruption. New Yorkers deserve to be able to trust the integrity of their officials – and my office will continue to do everything in our power to hold accountable those who violate that trust.”

According to prosecutors, from February 2012 through April 2015, Pigeon and Michalek exchanged emails and text messages, which reflected that Pigeon offered, conferred, or agreed to confer benefits to Michalek upon an agreement or understanding that Michalek’s official actions would be influenced.

Prosecutors contended that the communication between them showed Pigeon offered Michalek assistance in obtaining employment and appointments to positions for two of his family members and in helping Michalek obtain a judicial appointment to the Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Fourth Judicial Department. Pigeon also gave Michalek and his family member two free tickets to box seats for two separate Buffalo Sabres hockey games and gave one of Michalek’s family members a free ticket to a $1,000 political fundraiser.

During the same time, Pigeon engaged in what prosecutors described as “ex parte communications” with Michalek concerning multiple lawsuits pending before Michalek in which Pigeon had an interest.

 At times, those communications involved Pigeon receiving from Michalek non-public information about the matters. Pigeon was able to provide input and advice to Michalek on these cases. Michalek selected an attorney of Pigeon’s choosing to serve as a receiver, when that person was not on a court issued list of qualified receivers. In order to appoint that person, Michalek filed a document with the office of court administration where he falsely claimed that he required that attorney’s expertise in handling that receivership, prosecutors said.

On June 29, 2016, Michalek pleaded guilty in connection with the same scheme, for receiving bribes from Pigeon and filing a false document with the New York State Office of Court Administration. He is awaiting sentencing. Following his conviction, Michalek resigned from the judiciary and was disbarred.

Pigeon’s plea is also in satisfaction of the December 2017 indictment against Pigeon for crimes under the New York State Election Law relating to illegal campaign coordination during the 2013 Democratic primary races of two candidates for the Erie County Legislature. The Attorney General’s prosecution of Kristy Mazurek and David Pfaff remains ongoing.

Judge Cerio set Dec. 21, 2018 for sentencing for Pigeon, who was allowed to remain free on $10,000 bail. His passport was confiscated at his arraignment. Pigeon faces up to one year in jail. Pigeon will also lose his law license.

(Mike Frisch)

Posted in:
Bar Discipline & Process