UNITED STATES ATTORNEYS OFFICE

Southern District of New York

U.S. ATTORNEY PREET BHARARA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, April 20, 2015
http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys

CONTACT:

U.S. ATTORNEYS OFFICE

James Margolin, Jennifer Queliz,
Betsy Feuerstein, Dawn Dearden
(212) 637-2600

FORMER MAYOR OF SPRING VALLEY FOUND GUILTY IN FEDERAL

COURT OF BRIBERY, EXTORTION AND FRAUD CHARGES
Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York,
announced that former Spring Valley Mayor NORAMIE JASMIN was found guilty in federal
court today of engaging in a bribery scheme in which she negotiated a 50 percent stake for
herself in a development company and $5,000 cash in exchange for her use of her office to
obtain land and various government approvals to construct a community center in Spring Valley.
She was convicted after a one week bench trial before U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: This office is committed to
ensuring the integrity of New York public officials at all levels and wherever they may be.
Today, I announce the conviction of yet another corrupt elected official who failed to live up to
her oath of office. Former Spring Valley Mayor Noramie Jasmin used her official position to
influence a construction project on a parcel of public land, and she accepted bribes, including a
secret fifty percent share of the project, to do so. Like all citizens, the residents of Spring Valley
deserved an honest mayor, not one who worked behind closed doors and behind their backs to
sell public land and public office for private gain. I want to thank the FBI, the Rockland County
District Attorneys Office, and the Spring Valley Police Department for their outstanding work
on this important investigation.
According to the Complaint and the Indictment filed in federal court and the evidence
presented at trial:
NORAMIE JASMIN was sworn in as Mayor of the Village of Spring Valley, New York,
in December 2009. From September 2011 through April 2013, JASMIN accepted bribes from an
undercover FBI agent (the UC) and a cooperating witness working with the Government (the
CW), on multiple occasions in exchange for official acts. The bribe scheme centered on the
development of a community center in the Village of Spring Valley whose construction costs
were expected to be at least $12 million. In exchange for her vote in favor of a sale of land
owned by Spring Valley to a company she believed was controlled by the UC, JASMIN
demanded a secret ownership stake in the company. JASMIN also asked for an advance on her
profits from the scheme and accepted a $5,000 cash payment from the CW. In support of the
scheme, JASMIN directed the UC to find people to pose as bidders for the project so that the
transaction would appear legitimate to the other members of the Spring Valley Board of Trustees
who voted on the sale. Over the course of two days, JASMIN met the UC and two other
undercover FBI agents posing as straw bidders (the Straw Bidders) in hotel rooms and

instructed the Straw Bidders on how to make a presentation before the Spring Valley Board of
Trustees such that the Straw Bidders would lose their purported bids on the land sale. JASMIN
then presided over the presentations made by the company in which she had a secret financial
stake and the fake presentations that she had helped prepare. The following day, JASMIN
presided over a Village Board of Trustees meeting, during which she asked the Board for
permission to negotiate the sale of Village land to the UCs company and then voted with a
strong yes to grant herself that permission. When questioned as to why the Board needed to
vote to grant her that permission, JASMIN remarked that she cannot sit behind closed doors
with a developer to negotiate on behalf of the Board, precisely what she did in the days
preceding that vote.
*

JASMIN, 51, of Spring Valley, was found guilty of one count of mail fraud and one
count of extortion. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a
maximum fine of $250,000, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense. The maximum
potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for
informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.
JASMIN is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge McMahon on August 7, 2015 at 10 a.m.
Mr. Bharara praised the outstanding investigative work of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, the Rockland County District Attorneys Office, and Chief Paul Modica and the
Spring Valley Police Department.
This case is being handled by the Offices White Plains Division and Public Corruption
Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys Douglas B. Bloom and Jessica K. Feinstein are in charge
of the prosecution.

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