Linda Mangano expected to report to federal prison on Friday after bail appeal fails

Former Nassau County first lady Linda Mangano is scheduled to start her 15-month prison sentence Friday after a court ruling Wednesday that denied her bid for bail as she appeals her federal conviction.

The decision from a panel of Manhattan federal appellate judges dashed what had been a final defense effort to preserve her freedom after her 2019 conviction for lying to the FBI, conspiring to obstruct justice and obstruction of justice.

A jury also convicted her spouse, former Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano, in a bribery case tied to their longtime family friend, restaurateur Harendra Singh.

“Obviously, we’re very disappointed because she’s going to completely lose her appellate rights,” Linda Mangano’s appeals attorney, Bradley Simon, told Newsday after Wednesday’s ruling.

He had argued in part that because of the length of Linda Mangano’s sentence, even if she wins her appeal, she will have served her entire sentence by the time it is decided.

The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued its three-sentence ruling in Linda Mangano’s case Wednesday without any explanation for the decision except that she had moved for bail and the government had opposed it.

The ruling followed arguments from the defense and prosecution Tuesday before a three-judge panel of the Second Circuit.

Simon had tried to show that substantial questions of law or fact likely to result in a conviction reversal or new trial would be part of Linda Mangano’s appeal — part of the basis for a successful post-verdict bail motion.

But federal prosecutors called the bail motion “meritless” in court paperwork.

On Tuesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine Mirabile asked the judges to deny Linda Mangano’s motion “in its entirety.”

A spokesman for the Eastern District U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment on Wednesday’s ruling.

Mangano, 59, is due to serve her sentence in a minimum-security satellite camp at a federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut, her trial attorney previously told Newsday.

A mother of two and a Bethpage High School graduate, Mangano worked in the advertising, graphics and public relations fields for more than 30 years, and owned and published the Bethpage Tribune newspaper.

She also has played an active role in community organizations that have included her hometown’s chamber of commerce and PTA organizations.

In 2018, she began working for a real estate brokerage whose owner wrote a letter before her sentencing that lobbied for her to receive “an alternative penalty” to prison.

She met Edward Mangano at a printing company, where he worked his way up from a high school job as a janitor to being the business’ owner before his legal and political career took off.

The former Republican leader remains free, without a specific date to surrender for his 12-year prison term, as his similar bail motion remains pending in the Second Circuit court.

The Manganos continue to insist on their innocence and say the perks Singh provided them were gifts from a friend.

Singh, the government's key witness against them, testified that he bribed Edward Mangano with a $454,000 "no-show" job for Linda in his restaurant business, along with items that included meals, vacations and hardwood flooring for the couple's master bedroom.

The jury found Edward Mangano used his influence as county executive to sway Town of Oyster Bay officials into indirectly backing $20 million in loans for Singh, a town concessionaire, after a lawyer for the town said that was illegal.

The jury also found the Manganos conspired to obstruct a grand jury probe by scheming with Singh to fabricate examples of work Linda supposedly did for his now-defunct company.