Appellate Division Affirms Convictions of Ex-Officials in New Cassel Corruption Case

The Appellate Division Second Judicial Department unanimously affirmed the convictions of three former government officials who were sentenced in a 2014 corruption case surrounding a New Cassel real estate development project in North Hempstead, Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas announced Thursday.

The officials – former county legislators Roger Corbin and Patrick Williams and Town of North Hempstead Community Development Agency Executive Director Neville Mullings – were sentenced in October 2014 for their roles in a bid-rigging scheme involving sites related to the New Cassel Revitalization Project.

“Instead of revitalizing the New Cassel community, these corrupt officials used their positions of power to line their own pockets,” Singas said in a press release. “Public corruption is a scourge on our county and my office will continue to use every tool at our disposal to hold accountable anyone who violates the public’s trust.”

The men were indicted in 2010 following a three-year long investigation into the multimillion-dollar New Cassel Redevelopment Project, which was created to revitalize the downtown corridor of New Cassel. The investigation revealed the men were involved in multiple schemes, including collaborating to award a development project in New Cassel to a builder in exchange for bribery payments, the DA said. The men were found guilty in 2012.

Corbin, of Westbury, was convicted in September 2014 of second-degree bribe receiving and official misconduct and sentenced to two to six years in prison; Williams, of Uniondale, was convicted of two counts of fourth-degree conspiracy and sentenced to one year in prison; Mullings, of Westbury, was convicted of two counts of fourth-degree conspiracy and two counts of official misconduct and was sentenced to nine months in jail.

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