Jeremy Reichberg, figure in the NYPD corruption case, sentenced to 4 years in prison

A tearful Jeremy Reichberg, the Brooklyn businessman who was a key figure in the NYPD gifts-for-favors corruption scandal as well as efforts to buy influence at City Hall, was sentenced to four years in prison Monday in Manhattan federal court.

Reichberg and business partner Jona Rechnitz, a real estate investor who became a government witness, were accused of arranging payoffs including the services of a prostitute, vacations, jewelry and other gifts to high-ranking cops in return for access and perks like police escorts.

“Mr. Reichberg engaged in an extended scheme to corrupt public officials,” U.S. District Judge Gregory Woods said. “It is important in our society to citizens to be able to expect public officials will act without fear or favor. The public does not expect officials … to cater to the whims of well-heeled donors.”

Reichberg, 45, a police buff and self-styled community liaison for members of his Orthodox Borough Park neighborhood who had problems with police, cried as he asked Woods for leniency, saying he was led astray by the “glitz and glamour” of the access his wealthier friend Rechnitz could buy.

“I acted as an adolescent, demanding special attention,” Reichberg told the judge as a courtroom packed with supporters looked on. “I thought I was entitled to that special attention because some of my friends were police officers.”

Prosecutors said Reichberg and Rechnitz greased the palms of NYPD brass including ex-chief Phil Banks and former inspector Stephen McAllister, now Floral Park police chief, who were never charged, as well as former deputy chief Michael Harrington, who pleaded guilty, and ex-deputy inspector James Grant, who was acquitted.

In return, Rechnitz and Reichberg were accused of getting perks that included help with tickets and gun licenses, chaplaincies in Floral Park and Westchester County that came with parking placards, police escorts, a flyover by an NYPD helicopter at a party, access to public events, and intervention in private disputes.

Reichberg's defense lawyer Susan Necheles asked for a short prison term followed by community service, arguing that Reichberg got little out of the scheme in comparison to defendants in other corruption cases such as former New York Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver and former Senate leader Dean Skelos.

“There is a difference between a crime committed primarily because a person wants to look like a big shot,” she said, “and other crimes where people are paying bribes to get contracts.”

But Woods said police corruption was special. "This case was about much more than dollars and cents,” he said. “It’s about the corruption of an important public institution.”

He also told Reichberg he wanted to send a message. “I hope this sentence will be effective in dissuading others,” the judge said. “The corruption of public officials … is a crime that merits meaningful deterrence..”

Reichberg was ordered to surrender to begin serving his time by Aug. 12, and Woods said he would recommend incarceration at the federal prison facility in upstate Otisville to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

In addition to the corruption scheme, Reichberg was convicted of obstruction for trying to get rid of evidence —- including phones with text messages and business cards — as he was being arrested.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman praised the sentence in a statement, saying Reichberg "eroded public confidence in the lifeblood of the city — an impartial New York City Police Department that treats all citizens equally."

The 48-month sentence was substantial relative to some recent corruption cases in New York. It was higher, for example, than the sentences received by Harrington, who got probation after pleading guilty, and Paul Dean, a NYPD official caught up in a scheme to give favored treatment on gun licenses.

Two non-cop license “expediters” also caught up in the gun licensing scandal — Shaya Lichtenstein and John Chambers — also got lower sentences. Ng Lap Seng, the Chinese billionaire convicted of bribing United Nations officials, got the same sentence as Reichberg, 48 months.

It was also higher than the 42-month term imposed on former SUNY official and Cuomo administration economic development czar Alain Kaloyeros, but lower than the 51-month sentence imposed on Skelos, the 72 months for former Cuomo aide Joe Percoco, and the 84 months received by Silver.