FBI, IRS get Suffolk attorney Reich's records

BY ROBERT E. KESSLER | robert.kessler@newsday.com

February 20, 2008

Agents from the FBI and IRS move school district files outside federal court in Central Islip Tuesday afternoon. (Photo by James Carbone / February 19, 2008)

Federal agents yesterday obtained the business records of a Suffolk County attorney who is at the center of a criminal investigation involving his employment by five Long Island school districts.

Agents of the FBI and the Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service took possession of the records of the attorney, Lawrence Reich, in the parking lot of the federal courthouse in Central Islip from Joseph Conway, the lawyer now representing Reich's former firm, Ingerman Smith, of Hauppauge.

The agents could be seen carting away at least five boxes of records into the courthouse, where Newsday has reported a grand jury has been impaneled to investigate whether Reich improperly got a state pension after the districts reported he was working full time for them while also a partner at Ingerman Smith.

The lids were off several of the boxes, and labels on some of the files related to Reich's dealings could be seen by a reporter. They included the Baldwin, Bellmore-Merrick High School, Copiague, East Meadow and Harborfields districts.

Ingerman Smith was paid at least $2.5 million by the five districts while Reich was a partner there, even as each of the districts was reporting to the state that he was their full-time employee.

The presence of agents of the IRS criminal division suggests that the federal probe may involve possible income-tax evasion and money laundering. Newsday has previously reported that federal prosecutors and the FBI were investigating possible mail and wire fraud charges.

"We voluntarily brought the [Reich] documents over and we're cooperating with the government probe," said Conway. Conway was present as the boxes of Reich's files were turned over to the agents.

Conway, a partner in the Garden City law firm of LaRusso and Conway, was formerly the head of the Long Island office of the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District. Reich could not be reached for comment. In an interview last week, he said he had done nothing wrong.

In a related development, New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said in a telephone interview that his office plans to "aggressively" investigate Reich and his relationship with the school districts, both criminally and civilly.

Conway, in an interview with a reporter yesterday, said that Ingerman Smith had reported Reich's relationship to the school districts to state pension authorities before the firm and Reich "parted ways" last year.

In January, Reich went to work for the Garden City law firm of Jaspan, Schlesinger and Hoffman. Newsday reported yesterday that Reich had been suspended from that law firm, which also asked for his resignation.

A spokesman for the state comptroller's office, which oversees state pension plans, said last night that the office could not immediately obtain copies of any correspondence between Ingerman Smith and the state.

When asked why Ingerman Smith had not made Reich's relationship with the districts known to other officials or law firms that might want to hire him, Conway said the firm had done what it felt was best.