Lawyer for E. Hampton GOP petition challenge indicted in Westchester

East Hampton Republicans, battling to block a minor party candidate from a town board race, ran into an unusual problem.

In the midst of a court case that ended Friday , GOP officials found out that Guy Parisi, their Westchester election lawyer, had been indicted on federal mail fraud charges alleging he tried to siphon hundreds of thousands of dollars from the estate of a deceased Mount Vernon man.

Parisi was indicted Tuesday on charges of mail fraud, conspiracy and lying to investigators.

Parisi allegedly set up an abandoned property location service, which permitted collection of a 15 percent fee on $8 million in stocks held by the state comptroller’s office.

The indictment charges Parisi with creating the bogus firm with his wife, Marie Claudel, after he was named executor of the estate in  2017 — a role that only would have allowed him to recoup a maximum of five percent in fees under state law.

“Parisi allegedly shirked his responsibilities to the estate . . . to serve his own greed,” said Geoffrey Berman, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District. Parisi pleaded not guilty and his attorney, Andrew Quinn, declined to comment.

Parisi, 71, a Rye resident, has a waterfront vacation home in Remsenburg. He used the house to secure his $250,000 bail.

Despite the legal troubles, East Hampton GOP Chairman Amos Goodman stuck with Parisi because Parisi assured him he could still handle the case. “Guy has been ably representing us,” said Goodman. Bringing in a new lawyer, he said, “would be disruptive and expensive,” for the hearing, which continued through Friday.

In the court hearing, the town GOP won a challenge to the Independence Party petitions for Democratic primary challenger David Gruber, knocking him off the ballot. If Gruber had gotten the minor party line, there could have been a three-way race even if he had lost the Democratic primary.

Republicans had feared a three-way contest could siphon votes from their candidate, Manny Vilar. Democrats are running appointed town board member David Lys, a former Republican who has changed his registration to Democrat. The change will not take effect until after Election Day. 

“We were surprised and saddened to learn . . . of the unrelated legal problems that our attorney appears to be facing in Westchester,  Goodman said. “Although the news is distressing, Mr. Parisi has not been convicted of any crime and is entitled to the presumption of innocence like any other American.”

Cate Rogers, East Hampton Democratic chairwoman, said she was unaware of any details of Parisi’s legal issues. But she said, “people are losing trust and this doesn’t help.”

Parisi has long been an influential political insider in the lower Hudson Valley. He was a Donald Trump delegate at the 2016 Republican convention, and worked in the past as an attorney for the Westchester Republican Party and the county Board of Legislators.

He ran unsuccessfully for Westchester County clerk in 1985, Congress in 1994 and State Supreme Court in 2015.