Former Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia Found Guilty Of Tax Fraud And Extortion

Former Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia on Friday was found guilty of 21 counts of extortion and tax fraud by a jury in U.S. District Court in Boston.

The decision came after more than four days of deliberations in the case after jurors heard from 36 witnesses in a nine-day trial at the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse located on the Boston waterfront.

Correia faced two dozen charges ranging from tax fraud to extortion and bribery. He pleaded not guilty to defrauding investors in a tech start up and denied shaking down marijuana vendors to fund a lavish lifestyle that allegedly included a Mercedes Benz, designer clothes and other luxury items.

The jury found Correia not guilty on only three charges he faced for bribery, extortion and extortion conspiracy.

Prosecutors called him “a mayor of old-school corruption.” In closing arguments, U.S. Attorney Zachary Hafer said the evidence of lying, cheating, and stealing was overwhelming and Correa would say anything to get what he wanted.

But defense attorneys pointed to what they called a “Conga Line” of witness plea agreements and tried to cast doubt on their testimony.

Correia, who insisted he was innocent and attacked the charges as politically motivated, never took the stand. Outside the courthouse, he told reporters he planned to appeal.

"We’ll win that appeal, and I will be vindicated,” he said. “This is not a great day, but I've had other not-great days and everybody here knows that, that's watched this unfold. But we're going to have a great day of vindication and eventually, the real truth will come out.”

Correia was released but must wear a GPS tracking bracelet. His sentencing date is set for Sept. 20.

Prosecutors successfully portrayed Correia as a con man, saying he scammed investors in his phone app out of tens of thousands of dollars.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Zach Hafer told jurors that Correia was “a politician who betrayed the investors in his startup company by stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars and a politician who betrayed his constituents by selling his power to enrich himself.”

Acting U.S. Attorney Nathaniel Mendell called the verdict “a fitting end to this saga.”

“Correia made a lot of promises, a lot of bold statements in business, in politics and in government,” Mendell said. “The jury found today, in its verdict, the truth.”

Correia’s lawyer, Kevin Reddington, had argued his client wasn’t a criminal, but merely an inexperienced businessman who believed that he was free to use investors’ money as he deemed fit while he was producing the smartphone app.

Throughout the trial, prosecutors portrayed Correia as a serial liar, who they said misled voters in order to get elected just like they said he duped investors. In a clip shown to jurors from a 2015 debate during the race for mayor, Correia promised taxpayers that he would “take your money and spend it wisely” — because he said that’s what he had done in his business. His lie about how he previously sold another app for big money allowed him avoid questions about how he could afford such a lavish lifestyle on his $17,000 annual salary as a Fall River city councilor, prosecutors said.

After the Democrat took office as mayor in 2016, prosecutors say Correia quickly turned to “old school pay-to-play political corruption,” by soliciting bribes from marijuana vendors seeking to operate in Fall River. Marijuana business owners, who were given immunity to testify against Correia, told jurors about how Correia or middlemen negotiated bribes in exchange for letters of approval from the city they need in order to get a license.

Correia’s lawyer attacked the credibility and sought to shift the blame onto the government’s witnesses who had cooperation agreements with prosecutors, suggesting they were lying in an effort to help themselves.

One man, who pleaded guilty in the extortion scheme, told jurors about how he collected an envelope filled with $25,000 in cash that a middleman had put in a shed behind his home. The witness, Hildegar Camara, said he opened the envelope in front of Correia and got spooked, telling the mayor, “If you take this or I take this, we’re going to go to jail.”

Another man, who was hoping to operate a marijuana business in Fall River, described how Correia showed up at his family’s store and asked for $250,000, saying he needed it for legal defense fees. After Correia and Charles Saliby eventually agreed on a lower bribe, Correia’s chief of staff told Saliby: “You’re family now,” according to Saliby’s testimony.

Jurors acquitted Correia of two extortion counts related to a scheme involving a Rolex watch and one count of bribery stemming from accusations that he convinced his chief of staff to kickback part of her salary to him.

Correia’s lawyers argued it wasn’t a bribe but a loan from a mother-like figure to Correia. And though his chief of staff pleaded guilty to charges including extortion and bribery, she never took the stand to testify against Correia.