NEWS

Annabi, Jereis appeals rejected

Jonathan Bandler
jbandler@lohud.com

The U.S. Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld the corruption convictions of former Yonkers Councilwoman Sandy Annabi and her cousin and political mentor Zehy Jereis.

Former Yonkers Councilwoman Sandy Annabi leaves the United States Courthouse in lower Manhattan after her sentencing on corruption charges Nov. 19, 2012. Annabi was sentenced to six years in prison. Her political mentor Zehy Jereis was sentenced to four years. ( Seth Harrison / The Journal News )

A three-judge panel of the Second Circuit rejected the appeals of both defendants on several grounds, particularly that there was insufficient evidence for the jury to find them guilty of bribery, extortion and conspiracy charges. It also upheld a forfeiture order requiring the defendants to each pay more than $209,000.

Annabi and Jereis were convicted in 2012 after prosecutors tied more than $200,000 Jereis spent on Annabi — including for jewelry, student loans and car payments — to a pair of 2006 vote changes by the councilwoman. One was for the massive Ridge Hill development — for which Jereis got a no-show consulting job — and the other for the so-called Longfellow School development that never materialized.

Annabi was also found guilty of mortgage and tax fraud for lying on loan applications for three homes she bought in Yonkers and for making false statements on her 2005 and 2006 tax returns.

Annabi is serving a six-year prison term and Jereis was sentenced to four years in prison. Another 10 months were added to Jereis' prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to unrelated tax fraud charges related to a Brooklyn car wash he owned.

Lawyers for Annabi and Jereis did not return phone calls seeking comment.

At trial, the defense maintained that Jereis had spent the money on Annabi because he was infatuated with her and that she changed her votes on the two projects because the developers had made concessions.

The appellate panel agreed with the trial judge, U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon, that "the evidence was sufficient for a rational juror to conclude, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the payments Jereis made to Annabi were part of a corrupt agreement, not a romantic relationship."

The panel also rejected the defendants' appeals claiming jury misconduct and the prosecution's failure to turn over exculpatory evidence. The judges found that jurors' discussion of the case during lunch hours did not amount to premature deliberation. They ruled that the prosecution did nothing wrong related to evidence that indicated a key cooperating witness, Anthony Mangone, could not have been telling the truth when he claimed to have gotten bribe money from the Longfellow developers on a particular day because the developers were out of the country.