Sunday, January 25, 2009

New York Utility Employee Sentenced In Bribery & Kickback Scheme

Edward Paul Goldblatt, 57, of Melville, New York and a former employee of the New York Power Authority, was sentenced to 37 months in prison and ordered to pay a $5,000 fine for his role in a bribery and kickback scheme in which he received $167,000 in kickbacks from an unnamed New Jersey-based vendor of the utility. Goldblatt also pleaded guilty to tax evasion for income not reported during the years 2005 through 2007. Goldblatt, together with his unnamed co-conspirator, presumably an individual at the vendor company, have also been ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $253,836. Goldblatt was employed as a "Purchasing Warehouse Assistant" for the utility. Goldblatt received kickback payments from the vendor based upon total sales of the vendor, plus he authorized payment on overinflated invoices, the difference of which he split with the co-conspirator. The scheme lasted 4 1/2 years, according to the Information.

Read the story here, here and here.

Read the DOJ's Criminal Information filed against Goldblatt here.

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