2003-07-01 -- Russo, Dominick -- Conviction -- News Release

Deputy U.S. Marshal, Co-Conspirator Convicted in Scheme to Sell Seized Property to Friends and Family at Considerable Discounts

NEWARK - A deputy U.S. Marshal formerly in charge of the U.S. Marshal's Service Asset Forfeiture Unit was convicted by a federal jury today on charges that he arranged cut-rate sales of cars and real estate for family and friends, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie, U.S. Marshal James Plousis and Department of Justice Inspector General Glenn A. Fine announced.

After approximately 12 hours of deliberation over two days, the jury convicted Dominick Russo, 42, of Union, of one count of conspiracy, one count of mail fraud, nine counts of embezzlement of public funds and seven counts of making false statements. He was acquitted of one count of obstruction of justice and two counts of embezzlement.

Dominick Russo's former girlfriend Patricia Eichelsdoerfer, a Parsippany real estate agent who was charged in five counts of the Indictment, was acquitted on each of those counts.

The 21-count Indictment was returned in June 2002. See the original news release at the Public Affairs Office website, www.njusao.org .

U.S. Marshal Plousis said that Russo began in the Marshals Service in 1988. On March 29, 2002, Russo was suspended with pay and four months later had his pay suspended. Russo, who had retained his position, will officially be terminated from employment with the Marshal's Service tomorrow.

U.S. District Judge Katharine S. Hayden, who presided over the 12-week trial, ordered Dominick Russo to be confined under 24-hour house arrest at his parents' Brick Township home, with electronic monitoring, pending sentencing. Sentencing was not scheduled.

Anthony Russo remains in the state custody, serving a theft-related sentence separate from the federal charges.

The case was tried by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael F. Buchanan and Luis A. Valentin of the Special Prosecutions Division.

Under U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, Dominick Russo faces a likely prison term in the range of 51 months to 63 months. Anthony Russo faces an approximate range of between and 30 and 37 months in prison.

Both men were convicted on Count One of the Indictment, charging conspiracy in the scheme. Russo was convicted of selling seized assets worth hundreds of thousands of dollars directly to friends and family members, including his half-brother Anthony.

Testimony revealed that Dominick Russo arranged for the payment of a fraudulent real estate commission to his former brother-in-law - a cabinet-maker and handyman, who was not a real estate broker - and received a $3,500 kickback from the commission.

Trial testimony revealed a conspiracy that ran from about February 1998 through October 1999, during which the Russos - with Dominick Russo acting throughout as chief of the U.S. Marshal's Asset Forfeiture Unit - schemed to enrich themselves through the sale of properties and automobiles seized by agents of the FBI and DEA and other federal law enforcement agencies. In each case, the defendants subverted the role of the Asset Forfeiture Unit to dispose of seized property in a fair, open and competitive manner, consistent with government regulations, including the sale of property to the public.

Money from the asset forfeiture program is earmarked for distribution to local enforcement agencies for community policing.

In 2001, the Marshals Service in New Jersey dealt with in excess of $9 million in seized real property, automobiles and currency.

Upon assuming office in 2001, Plousis undertook a review of the Asset Forfeiture Unit, its policies and procedures. In consultation with the Marshals Service in Washington, new controls and procedures are in place.

As part of the conspiracy count upon which the Russos were convicted, Dominick Russo represented in a memo to a supervisor at the Marshal's Service in 1998 that a property in Waretown "was placed on the market with a broker" for a six-percent commission. Testimony revealed that Anthony Russo was the purchaser of the house and that the "broker" was his Dominick Russo's brother-in-law, the cabinet-maker. Testimony further revealed that Anthony Russo used his ex-girlfriend as a straw purchaser to conceal his identity in the transaction.

Furthermore, Dominick Russo sold the house to his brother for $108,000 - just above the price at which Dominick Russo would have needed special permission from the Marshal's Service headquarters in Washington, D.C. to sell.

Christie credited the U.S. Marshals Service, under the direction of U.S. Marshal Plousis; and Special Agents of the Office of Inspector General New York Field Office, under the direction of Inspector General Glenn A. Fine.

-end-

Defense Counsel:

Dominick Russo: Stephen Turano, Esq. Newark

Anthony Russo: Richard Regan, Esq. Teaneck

Eichelsdoerfer: Michael Pedicini, Esq. Morristown