Suffolk answers Levy lawsuit; McPartland calls for release of agreement

The Suffolk County attorney’s office on Monday filed a series of documents in answer to a lawsuit brought by former County Executive Steve Levy to block release of his 2011 nonprosecution agreement, while a former Suffolk official who led the Levy probe said he would "welcome the public release" of investigative and other documents in the case.

All the documents in Levy's recent case are filed under seal in a proceeding before Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Paul J. Baisley. The answer filed by Suffolk County Attorney Dennis Cohen, including two exhibits, are inaccessible on the court website, and his office didn’t return a call seeking comment. Newsday is filing papers to intervene in the case.

Levy initially filed the May 17 suit anonymously, but Cohen, in a letter in response to a Freedom of Information Request by Newsday, noted that the plaintiff was Levy and that the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office had sought to release the nonprosecution agreement to Newsday.

That agreement has been under a shroud of secrecy since 2011, when Levy announced he would not seek reelection and forfeited his campaign war chest of $4 million to settle a 16-month investigation into his campaign practices and finances.

A spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Timothy Sini declined to comment.

In the period since, former District Attorney Thomas Spota and his top lieutenant, Christopher McPartland, were found guilty in 2019 of federal obstruction of justice and other charges in a case involving former Suffolk Police Chief James Burke. Both Spota and McPartland are awaiting sentencing.

Levy has sought to portray himself as a victim of Spota and his team, while publicly regretting that he consented to the agreement. He has called the accusations against him "irregularities" and regretted giving back the $4 million because it "implied something nefarious."

No paperwork was ever filed in court on the Levy matter and Levy was never accused of wrongdoing.

Larry Krantz, an attorney for McPartland, in a note responding to Newsday questions on Monday, said his client would have no problem if the documents Levy was seeking to keep confidential were released to Newsday.

"Mr. McPartland vehemently denies that he did anything improper in connection with the Steve Levy investigation, and would welcome the public release of all of the underlying documents and investigative materials, all of which would confirm he acted fully appropriately," Krantz wrote.

Spota’s lawyer, Alan Vinegrad, in a statement said: "Mr. Spota’s actions with respect to the investigation of Steve Levy and the resolution of that investigation were entirely proper; he categorically denies any suggestion to the contrary."

Levy, in an email statement to Newsday Monday afternoon, said McPartland’s "sudden reversal of his opinion after ten years is meaningless having just been convicted of utilizing outrageous and illegal tactics in other cases."

"His own henchman admitted that they targeted me for five years as an enemy who would not be controlled in their sordid efforts to put their hand-picked person in as police chief," Levy wrote of McPartland. "They blackmailed my employees and spied on me and people I care about. Their insidious motives showed a complete disregard of my privacy and that of others who didn’t deserve such harassment."

Levy’s statement did not address Newsday’s information request or his lawsuit to block release of his non-prosecution agreement.

But David Besso, an attorney for Levy, pointed to a letter written by his firm and printed in Newsday’s opinion section Monday, to explain why his client filed the suit and is seeking to keep the agreement private.

Attorney Michelle Aulivola wrote it was "completely understandable" that Levy would seek to keep the agreement confidential, citing Newsday reporting of an alleged "coup seeking to remove Levy from office" because the former officials "considered him an enemy who was ‘uncontrollable’ in their plot to wrest control of the Suffolk County Police Department."

"Who, after being targeted and surveilled for several years in such an insidious manner, would want their privacy exposed publicly? That would wind up rewarding the cabal that put this political vendetta in motion," Aulivola wrote.

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.