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Bush retracts pardon of Suffolk real estate scammer

White House issues extraordinary statement saying Bush was reversing his decision to pardon Issac Robert Toussie.

BY MICHAEL AMON AND PATRICK WHITTLE | michael.amon@newsday.com and patrick.whittle@newsday.com

7:21 PM EST, December 24, 2008

WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush on Wednesday took the extraordinary step of reversing a pardon issued the day before to Isaac Robert Toussie, the Brooklyn developer convicted of a large-scale Suffolk real estate scam, the White House said.

Victims of the scam and Suffolk elected officials rejoiced at the revocation of the pardon, which the White House said was made Tuesday without the usual Justice Department review.

Bush reversed the pardon after learning more about the nature of Toussie's crimes and political contributions to the Republican Party this year by Toussie's father, Robert Toussie, said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.

Beverly Sanchez, 42, one of hundreds of minority homebuyers who said they were fleeced by Toussie, expressed delight Wednesday.

"There is a Santa Claus after all," said Beverly Sanchez, 42, who bought a Toussie property in Gordon Heights that is low-lying and has suffered flooding and mold because of subpar construction. "I couldn't have wished for a better present."

Brookhaven Supervisor Brian X. Foley faulted the White House for failing to be "in full command of the facts before executing" the pardon.

"None of this should have been a surprise to them before issuing the pardon," Foley said.

Perino told the Associated Press that the new information came from news reports on Wednesday. Newsday reported the contributions in Wednesday's edition. She said she is not aware of a pardon reversal occurring in the past, either in the Bush Administration or others.

The Justice Department's Pardon Attorney, Ronald L. Rodgers, who typically reviews clemency petitions and makes pardon recommendations, was not involved in the decision about Toussie, Perino told The Associated Press. That's because Toussie's application was made less than five years after he served his sentence, she said.

Perino said Toussie's pardon application will go to Rodgers, who can advise Bush to accept or reject it. Bush is not bound by Rodgers' recommendations.

White House Counsel Fred Fielding had reviewed Toussie's pardon application "and believed, based on the information known to him at the time, that it was a meritorious application. He so advised the president, who accepted the recommendation," said a White House statement issued late afternoon on Christmas Eve.

Robert Toussie gave $37,700 to GOP causes this election year, including $28,500 to the Republican National Committee in the spring. He also gave the maximum $2,300 contribution to Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain and three GOP candidates in tight races last month: Sen. Gordon Smith of Oregon, Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia and Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota.

The contributions "might create an appearance of impropriety," Perino told The Associated Press. "Given that, this was the prudent thing to do."

Isaac Toussie, 37, pleaded guilty to charges in two separate federal cases and was sentenced to five months in prison and five months of home detention in 2001.

Toussie was accused of duping minorities into buying homes in Suffolk with inflated values. He eventually pleaded guilty to a count of falsifying loan documents that illegally qualified 100 home buyers for Department of Housing and Urban Development-backed mortgages. He also faces lawsuits in that case.

Toussie also admitted his involvement in a scheme to inflate the value of the Chandler estate in Mount Sinai, which Suffolk County's land acquisition program bought for $5 million in 2000 -- several million more than some appraisals valued it. He pleaded guilty, admitting he had a friend send the county a letter that falsely inflated the property's value. Toussie's father was also investigated but not charged.

In a statement Wednesday, Toussie's attorney Bradford Berenson said: "Isaac Toussie is deeply grateful that both the Counsel to the president and the president himself found Mr. Toussie's pardon application to have sufficient merit to be granted. Mr. Toussie looks forward to the Pardon Attorney's expeditious review of the application."

Assemb. Ginny Fields (D-Oakdale) said Toussie's actions led to an overhaul of the county's land acquisition program, bringing it to a virtual halt. "It was unbelievable to have a local guy who basically paralyzed Suffolk County in our preservation efforts to be pardoned," Fields said. The revocation of the pardon "renews my faith that [Bush] is not out of his mind."

Suffolk Legis. Ricardo Montano (D-Central Islip), who as a New York attorney general's office investigator started a probe into Toussie, said he believed outrage at the pardoning might have helped spur the reversal.

Montano also said the "extent of the scheme might not have been fully explained" by Toussie's 2003 sentence of five months in prison, five months of home detention and a $10,000 fine.