Four people connected to the F.B.I. bribery sting in Hudson County paid $10,000 to Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy's re-election campaign, according to the campaign's June 1 report to the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission.
The payments seem to match a scheme alleged in the F.B.I. criminal complaint against Healy's campaign treasurer, Leona Beldini.
Beldini is accused in the complaint of funneling $20,000 in cash payments from a confidential F.B.I. witness, who posed a real estate developer with investments in Jersey City, through two middlemen and into Healy's campaign and an unnamed political committee.
The committee is apparently the Jersey City Democratic Committee, which is controlled by Healy. [Update 8/7]
Beldini, also a deputy mayor, is one of the dozens of Hudson County officials and political fixers who were arrested on July 23.
The two middlemen, political consultant Jack Shaw, who died last week, and Jersey City Housing Authority commissioner Edward Cheatam, were arrested with Beldini on the same complaint.
Hudson County official Michael Schaffer was also arrested in the sting on a separate complaint for arranging bribes to former Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano.
According to the ELEC report, Shaw and Cheatam--under the name E. Cheatam Associates, Inc.--each paid $2,500 to Healy's campaign on May 7. Schaffer also paid $2,500 to the campaign on the same day.
In addition to the three arrested bagmen, Catherine Chin, reported by multiple sources to be Shaw's long-time companion, paid $2,500 to Healy's campaign on May 7. Shaw and Chin are listed under the same address in the ELEC report.
The May 7 payments also seem to match the timeline described in the F.B.I. complaint.
In the complaint, it is alleged that around May 5, Shaw arranged with Beldini to pay $10,000 to Healy's campaign fund. It is alleged that both knew the contributions came from Solomon Dwek, reported by multiple sources to be the confidential witness, and that both worked to conceal Dwek's role. This would be a violation of state campaign finance laws.
In the complaint, Healy is described as agreeing to the arrangement and meeting with Dwek twice.
Dwek arranged to give up to $30,000 to Cheatam and Shaw, who were then to contribute about $20,000 of the money to Healy's campaign and candidate committees. Cheatam and Shaw are alleged to have split $10,000 as a sort of brokers' fee.
One $10,000 payment was to be made to the Democratic committee. The second $10,000 payment, to Healy's mayoral campaign, is apparently accounted for by the May 7 payments by Shaw, Cheatam, Schaffer and Chin.
In return for the payments, according to the F.B.I. complaint, Beldini explicitly agrees to help Dwek get "approvals" for a condominium project on Garfield Avenue in Jersey City.
Healy's campaign reports are available on the ELEC's website at http://www.elec.state.nj.us/.
8/7: Updated to include identity of political committee.
D.C.
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