Friday, November 19, 2010

Last updated: Friday November 19, 2010, 5:27 PM

http://www.northjersey.com/news/crime_courts/111910_Figure_in_corruption_trial_likely_to_plead_guilty_to_money_laundering.html

Less than a month after he was convicted for passing a bribe to Ridgefield’s mayor on behalf of a corrupt developer, Vincent Tabbachino has signaled he is willing to cut a deal with federal prosecutors on three money-laundering counts.

An order signed by U.S. District Judge Jose L. Linares this week grants a 30-day continuance “to allow the parties to engage in plea discussions” relating to the money-laundering charges against Tabbachino that were severed from the corruption trial.

Linares separated those counts before Tabbachino, 69, of Fairview and Mayor Anthony Suarez, 43, of Ridgefield went on trial in October. The idea was to avoid unfair prejudice against Suarez, who had no involvement in those alleged crimes.

Suarez and Tabbachino each were charged with conspiracy, attempted extortion and bribery offenses in a plot to take $10,000 from an FBI informant posing as a developer seeking favorable action on his projects.

Suarez, a two-term Democratic mayor, was acquitted on all counts on Oct. 27 after a three-week trial, but the jury found Tabbachino, a former Guttenberg police officer and councilman, guilty of attempted extortion and bribery.

The severed counts allege that between February and May 2009, Tabbachino laundered three checks totaling $100,000 from the informant’s purported counterfeit handbag business, returning cash, minus his cut of nearly $10,000.

Tabbachino’s attorney, Anthony A. Kress, confirmed Friday that his client hopes to resolve the outstanding charges, but said he had yet to work out the details with prosecutors.

“There’s really nothing definite I can say, except that we’re going to try to get our heads together and see if we can come to some resolution on this,” Kress said.

Kress added that Tabbachino “was willing to explore plea negotiations on the money-laundering allegations over a year ago, but the prosecutor wasn’t willing to do anything at that time unless we could have resolved all of the charges. And we couldn’t do that, given the facts.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment.

Tabbachino faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on the extortion count and 10 years on the bribery count. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Feb. 7.