From: Nigel.Allen@bbs.oit.unc.edu (Nigel Allen)
Subject: Essex County Executive, Attorney Indicted on Fraud, Money Laundering Charges
Organization: NDA
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 05:52:31 GMT


Here is a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
 Essex County Executive, Attorney Indicted on Fraud, Money Laundering
Charges
 To: National Desk
 Contact: Kimberly A. McFadden of the U.S. Department of Justice,
          201-645-2700

   NEWARK, N.J., Oct. 8 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Thomas J. D'Alessio, the
Essex County executive who is also a former Essex County Sheriff, and
Joseph Thor, an attorney who has served as the treasurer for several
of D'Alessio's campaigns, have been indicted on federal mail fraud
and money laundering charges, U.S. Attorney Michael Chertoff
announced.
   Charged in a six count federal indictment returned yesterday by a
Newark federal Grand Jury and unsealed this morning were:
   THOMAS J. D'ALESSIO, 58, (DOB 1934-08-24) of 800 Bloomfield Ave.,
Nutley, D'Alessio is Essex County Executive and a former Essex County
Sheriff.  If convicted on all six counts of the indictment, D'Alessio
faces a maximum of 60 years in federal prison and $2 million in
fines; and
   JOSEPH THOR, 49 (1942-10-15) of 197 Nutley Ave., Nutley, an
attorney admitted to the practice of law in New Jersey in 1967.  Thor
has been D'Alessio's campaign treasurer since D'Alessio first ran for
Sheriff in 1982.  If convicted on all six counts of the indictment
Thor faces a maximum of 60 years in federal prison and $2 million in
fines.
   D'Alessio and Thor, who were not arrested, are expected to be
arraigned on the charges within the next two weeks before the U.S.
District Judge in Newark, Trenton or Camden to whom their case is
assigned.
   The indictment charges D'Alessio and Thor with mail fraud and
money laundering arising out of D'Alessio's 1989 activities as county
sheriff, and with mail fraud arising out of D'Alessio's and Thor's
false reporting of campaign expenses after D'Alessio's successful
1990 campaign for Essex County Executive.
   The forfeiture of assets that were purchased with the proceeds of
the allegedly unlawful activity and placed in D'Alessio's father's
name is also sought under the indictment, Chertoff said, noting that
the government has obtained an order restraining the disposition of
assets both bank accounts and real estate -- by either defendant
pending the case's outcome.
   D'Alessio was first elected Essex County Sheriff in 1982, and was
reelected twice until he resigned in 1990 to become Essex County
Executive.
   D'Alessio and Thor engaged in a scheme to defraud the citizens,
residents and taxpayers of Essex County and those who contributed
money to a March 1989 D'Alessio fund-raiser -- of the honest services
of the County Sheriff, according to the indictment's first, second
and third counts.
   D'Alessio and Thor deliberately misled contributors to the fund
raiser into believing that their money would be used for political
purposes when, in fact, D'Alessio used the money for his own benefit
and the benefit of others, according to the indictment.  The
indictment also charges that D'Alessio violated his duty -- as the
Sheriff and as an officer of the court -- not to solicit or accept
gifts when he used the money for his own personal gain.  After
D'Alessio and Thor learned of the grand jury investigation that lead
to the indictment, they tried to conceal their scheme by returning
the money they had taken, according to the indictment's mail fraud
counts -- Counts 1, 2 and 3.
   In Counts 4 and 5 of the indictment, D'Alessio and Thor are
charged with laundering the proceeds of their scheme through a bank
account in order to conceal its source, ownership and control, and
with then using the money to purchase property worth nearly $5.8
million between December 1988 and July 1989.
  Count 4 charges that $50,000 of the fraudulently obtained money was
used to pay off loans obtained to purchase a 25 percent interest in a
venture called "Rossmore Place Associates," which owns property
valued at nearly $2.25 million.  D'Alessio's interest was allegedly
held in the name of his father, James D'Alessio, who was named as an
unindicted co-schemer in the indictment.
   Count 5 charges that $25,000 of the fraudulently obtained money
was used to purchase over five percent of a real estate partnership
with assets of more than $3.5 million.  That interest was not
purchased directly by D'Alessio but by a partnership purportedly
controlled by D'Alessio's father, the indictment charges.
   Count 6 charges D'Alessio and Thor with a separate scheme to
defraud contributors to his 1990 election campaign and the citizens
of the state of New Jersey of their right to a true and accurate
account of campaign expenditure by falsely reporting the use of
campaign funds.
   After his November 1990 election to County Executive, D'Alessio
travelled with another person to Aruba for seven days, then falsely
charged the trip off as a campaign expense.  Thor authorized the
expense and characterized the trip as "car rental" expense in his
sworn report to the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission,
according to the indictment.
   "Politicians should not obtain their personal spending money under
the guise of a legitimate political solicitation," Chertoff said.
"Likewise, every official who holds a position of trust owes a duty
of undivided loyalty to the citizens that he serves.  That duty is
breached by a secret conflict of interest that is created by
converting and deceptively soliciting gifts from those to whom he is
supposed to be impartial," Chertoff said.
   An indictment is a formal charge made by a grand jury, a body of
16 to 23 citizens, Chertoff noted.  Grand jury proceedings are
secret, and neither persons under investigation nor their attorneys
have the right to be present.  A grand jury may vote an indictment if
12 or more jurors find probable cause to believe that the defendant
has committed the crime or crimes charged.
   Despite indictment, every defendant is presumed innocent unless
and until found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt following a trial at
which the defendant has all of the trial rights guaranteed by the
U.S. Constitution and federal law.
   Chertoff credited Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, under the direction of Jeremiah W. Doyle, acting
special agent in charge of the FBI's Newark Office, and investigators
of the United States Attorneys Office for developing the case
against D'Alessio and Thor.
   The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney McFadden,
of the U.S. Attorney's Special Prosecution Division in Newark.
 -30-

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