NEW YORK
A federal judge sentenced New York State Senator Thomas W. Libous to six months of house arrest for making false statements to the FBI, according to officials.
He lied about landing a job for his son at a law firm in exchange for referring business to the law firm, officials said.
Libous was convicted on July 22 following a seven-day trial in White Plains federal court, officials said.
In imposing sentence this week, Judge Vincent L. Briccetti said Libous’ conduct in lying to the FBI was “disgraceful” and took note of Libous’ “total lack of remorse.”
In addition to the sentence of home confinement, Libous, 62, of Binghamton, New York, was also sentenced to two years of supervised release and ordered to pay a fine of $50,000.
Judge Briccetti said he would have imposed a sentence of six months in prison but he declined to send Libous to prison given his terminal medical condition.
The New York Times reported that Thomas Libous has prostate cancer that he has said is terminal. In January, his son Matthew Libous was convicted of federal tax charges; he was later sentenced to six months in prison, though he was allowed to delay his surrender because of his father’s trial.
The senator’s trial, which began last week, offered a glimpse of the close dealings between legislators and the lobbyists seeking to influence them, according to the New York Times report.
The evidence at trial proved that a federal grand jury in White Plains was investigating allegations that Thomas Libous had obtained a job for a his son Matthew Libous at a Westchester law firm in exchange for a promise to refer business to the firm, officials said.
Thomas Libous arranged for an Albany lobbying firm that regularly lobbied him to secretly pay the law firm $50,000 per year to defray the cost of Matthew Libous’s salary and lease of a Range Rover, according to authorities.
The lobbying firm specialized in transportation issues and Libous served as the Chairman of the Senate’s Transportation Committee at the time.
The evidence also showed that the older Libous told a partner of the Law Firm that the firm would have to “build a new wing” to accommodate the business he would refer to it if it hired the member of his family.
Special Agents of the FBI interviewed Thomas Libous on June 24, 2010, as part of the grand jury’s investigation. The evidence at trial showed that Thomas Libous made the following false statements to the agents during the interview:
- He could not recall how Matthew Libous began to work at the Law Firm
- No deals were made to get Matthew Libous the job at the Law Firm
- He was not aware that the lobbying firm had paid any part of Matthew Libous’s salary at the Law Firm
- He never promised to refer work to the Law Firm
- He was not involved in Matthew Libous’s decision to work at the Law Firm
- He had no business or personal relationship with the Law Firm
- He did know of any relationship between the lobbying firm and the Law Firm
The judge called the monthly payments totaling $50,000 from the lobbying firm to the law firm the “elephant in the room” that Libous had not explained, officials said.