United States v. Igor Brunshtein, Also Known as "Mark,"

344 F.3d 91, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 18564, 2003 WL 22078564
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedSeptember 9, 2003
DocketDocket 02-1345
StatusPublished
Cited by38 cases

This text of 344 F.3d 91 (United States v. Igor Brunshtein, Also Known as "Mark,") is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Igor Brunshtein, Also Known as "Mark,", 344 F.3d 91, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 18564, 2003 WL 22078564 (2d Cir. 2003).

Opinion

B.D. PARKER, JR., Circuit Judge.

Igor Brunshtein appeals from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Griesa, J.), following his conviction for bribing a New York City Department of Finance official, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 666(a)(2), to induce him to eliminate taxes on various parcels of real property in New York City, the recipient of substantial federal funds. To obtain a conviction under this statute, the Government was required to prove, among other things, a nexus between the bribe and federal funds — in particular, that a connection existed between the bribe and a risk to the integrity of a federally funded program. *94 See United States v. Santopietro, 166 F.3d 88, 93 (2d Cir.1999). After the presentation of the evidence at trial, the district court ruled that whether this federal nexus existed was for the court rather than the jury to decide and that the Government had sufficiently proven the nexus. On appeal, Brunshtein challenges these rulings and raises sentencing and evidentiary issues as well. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

BACKGROUND

The Government’s evidence established that in mid-1994 the New York City Department of Investigations (the “DOI”) started an investigation into corruption in the Brooklyn office of the New York City Department of Finance (the “DOF”), which, among other things, processes the payment of real property tax bills. The investigation revealed that several employees at the Brooklyn office had accepted bribes in return for deleting outstanding property tax bills from the office’s computer records. In March 1996, several employees were arrested, including Mariano Ventura.

Ventura agreed to cooperate with the Government and admitted that from 1992 until mid-1995 he had accepted bribes in exchange for manipulating the DOF’s computer system to make it appear that outstanding property taxes had been paid. Ventura acknowledged that he had received approximately $250,000 in bribes and, in return, with two other DOF employees, had illegally eliminated approximately $13 million in property taxes. As part of his cooperation, Ventura continued to work for the DOI undercover at the Brooklyn office.

In September 1996, Brunshtein introduced himself to Ventura over the phone, claiming to be calling on behalf of one Ed Herbst to arrange a meeting with Ventura. Ventura had previously accepted bribes to eliminate property taxes owed by Herbst and agreed to meet him the following day. When Ventura arrived at the agreed-upon meeting place, he found Brunshtein, not Herbst. Brunshtein introduced himself again to Ventura, and later that day Brunshtein contacted Ventura to ask about eliminating property taxes.

Brunshtein and Ventura met on five more occasions. At the second of these meetings, on October 8, Brunshtein provided Ventura with a detailed list of real properties (the “first set of properties”), and the two men agreed that Ventura would erase the property taxes for properties in exchange for a cash payment of 10 percent of the taxes eliminated. Ultimately, however, these taxes were not eliminated. 1

The next day Brunshtein called Ventura, and Ventura told him that $481,000 was owed on the listed properties. On October 10, Brunshtein contacted Ventura and told him that he would have the bribe money for the listed properties the following week. In addition, Brunshtein asked Ven-tura to erase immediately the property taxes for two additional properties (the “second set of properties”). Ventura later informed Brunshtein that approximately $109,000 was owed through July 1997 on the second set of properties.

*95 Ventura met with Brunshtein on October 22 and gave him receipts showing the purported payment of property taxes through December 1996 on the second set of properties. In exchange, Brunshtein gave Ventura a $1,000 down payment on his bribe. On October 25, Brunshtein and Ventura met again. Brunshtein paid Ven-tura an additional $4,000, and Ventura presented Brunshtein with receipts showing the purported payment of the property taxes on the second set of properties through July 1997.

In an October 28 telephone conversation, Brunshtein told Ventura about seven additional properties (the “third set of properties”) on which he wanted property taxes eliminated. The next day Ventura informed Brunshtein that approximately $64,000 in taxes were outstanding on these properties, and Brunshtein, in turn, asked Ventura to eliminate the taxes on the following day. Ventura and Brunshtein met for the last time on October 30 and Brunshtein gave Ventura an additional $2,000 towards eliminating the taxes on the second set of properties.

On November 22, the DOI arrested nearly 30 people on bribery charges resulting from the undercover operation involving Ventura. Brunshtein was subsequently arrested in Florida in April 2000 on unrelated charges and was convicted and sentenced for visa fraud. Afterwards, Brunshtein was transferred to the Southern District of New York to face a one-count indictment charging him with violating 18 U.S.C. § 666(a)(2).

Brunshtein moved to dismiss the indictment on the ground that the Government could not demonstrate at least some connection between the bribe and a risk to the integrity of a federally funded program. See United States v. Santopietro, 166 F.3d 88, 93 (2d Cir.1999). The DOF, Brunshtein contended, did not administer any federally funded programs — instead it served simply as a conduit for federal funds to other City agencies, which in turn administered the programs. The district court ruled the indictment sufficient but indicated that the issue of whether the court or jury would decide the federal-nexus issue would remain open during trial.

In the course of trial, the Government called Ventura to testify about his dealings with Brunshtein. In addition, the Government presented witnesses who testified about the DOF’s receipt of federal funds. Warren Ruppel, New York City’s Assistant Comptroller for Accounting, testified that the Comptroller’s Office and the DOF jointly managed the City’s treasury, whose revenue included both property tax receipts and federal funds. Ruppel explained that, as part of their joint administration of the treasury, both the Comptroller’s Office and the DOF have to “sign off on all expenditures out of the account, which would include federal funds.” Ruppel testified that the federal government had contributed approximately $8.5 billion to the City in 1996 and that property taxes had accounted for $7 billion of the City’s revenue that year. Rup-pel also testified that any bills paid by City agencies are paid out of a joint account held by the Comptroller’s Office and the DOF. According to Ruppel, in 1996 New York City received block grants from the federal government over which the City had some discretion in spending within a “broad subject matter.” For example, the City received a federal block grant of approximately $250 million for community development, but this money was not earmarked for any particular program.

The Government also called Stuart Klein, the first deputy director of the City’s Office of Management and Budget.

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344 F.3d 91, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 18564, 2003 WL 22078564, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-igor-brunshtein-also-known-as-mark-ca2-2003.