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: 10-15-2003 -- Barry/Byrne -- Indictment -- News Release

: Hudson County Waterfront Developer Joseph Barry and Janiszewski "Consultant" Indicted, Taken Into Custody

: NEWARK - Hudson County waterfront developer Joseph Barry has been charged in a federal corruption Indictment with paying nearly $140,000 to former county Executive Robert Janiszewski and an associate, in return for Janiszewski's official action in securing federal and state grants and loans for Barry development projects, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

: Also named in the Indictment is Paul J. Byrne, a long-time associate and political advisor to Janiszewski and "consultant," who allegedly took a share of the bribes from Barry and acted as an intermediary for some of the payments from Barry to Janiszewski.

: In all, the Indictment details $8.8 million in federal and state loans and grants that Barry and his enterprise, the Applied Companies, secured through bribery.

: The Indictment was returned by a grand jury yesterday and unsealed when both men surrendered this morning to Special Agents of the FBI in Newark. Barry, 63, of Peapack-Gladstone, and Byrne, 57, of Jersey City, appeared earlier today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Falk in Newark. Both defendants were released on $500,000 bond, to be secured by real estate equity.

: Among other things, the Indictment describes what is alleged to be Barry's "payoff sheet," with detailed entries of bribe amounts, dates and notations specifying to which government loan or grant the payoff was connected. The grants specified in the payoff sheet correspond to the public funding sources in connection with large-scale commercial and/or residential developments Barry's companies were undertaking on the so-called "Gold Coast" Hoboken waterfront, according to the Indictment. The payoffs were allegedly made between about June 1996 and July 2001. The cash bribe amounts ranged from $14,900 to $30,000, with Janiszewski and Byrne taking their "share" of the payoffs from Barry.

: "This is damning evidence of a corrupt bribery scheme spanning years, in which Barry was able to grease the skids to help finance his considerable development of the Hudson County waterfront," Christie said. "It's galling that Mr. Barry, someone of considerable financial means, received public money through bribery, while other non-corrupted entrepreneurs could have gotten it legitimately."

: "This Indictment rounds out the picture of the depth of corruption in Hudson County and the atmosphere that made it business as usual," Christie said.
: The investigation involved large numbers of consensually made video- and audio-taped recordings of Barry, Byrne and others, made my Janiszewski as he cooperated in the government's investigation. Janiszewski's covert cooperation began in November/December 2000. He resigned as county executive in early September 2001, thus his covert cooperation lasted approximately nine months, not the two years stated by counsel for the defendants.

: The investigation into Hudson County corruption is continuing, Christie said.

: The 16-count Indictment charges Barry and Byrne with five counts of mail or wire fraud, each carrying a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine; one count each of conspiracy to offer and give corrupt payments in connection with federally funded programs, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine; four counts against Barry of offering and giving bribes in specific amounts, each count carrying a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine; Byrne with three counts of attempted extortion under color of official right (for seeking payoffs, on behalf of Janiszewski from accountant Gerald Lisa and his firm, in connection with the award of a renewable contract in the maximum amount of $270,000), each count carrying a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine; Byrne with three counts of tax evasion for failing to report or pay taxes on more than $900,000 in income, including the bribe income, on his federal tax returns, each carrying a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $100,000 fine.

: The Applied Companies' development projects, the grants and loans Barry received as part of the bribery scheme are as follows: 

: • The Hoboken Shipyard project, a mixed-use retail and residential development on approximately 45 acres of land and water, bounded by 12th Street, 16th Street and the Hudson River. Approximately $6.69 million in federal loan guarantees were awarded to the Applied Companies by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in July 1998, through an application submitted by Hudson County's Division of Housing and Community Development. 

: • An additional $1 million Economic Development Initiative grand was awarded by HUD to the Hudson County government. HUD originally earmarked the funds for use in a proposed hotel in Jersey City, but through a request by county Executive Janiszewski, the money eventually went to and already approved Section 108 loan guarantee application for the Shipyard project.

: • The Waterfront Walkway project in Hoboken, an Applied 
: Companies real estate project, which involved the construction of a publicly accessible pedestrian walkway along the waterfront, adjacent to the Shipyard project. The federally funded Transportation Enhancement Program authorized approximately $1.036 million, of which the Applied Companies have received approximately $968,897. It was applied for by the Hudson County Improvement Authority and Hudson Transportation Management Association.

: • The 12th-14th Street Extension, which involved the construction of an additional roadway to extend those streets in Hoboken to the Hudson River for public access to the Waterfront Walkway and Shipyard project. In 1995 and 1996, the Local Aid Division of the New Jersey Department of Transportation allocated approximately $1.064 million to the Hudson County Engineering Department for that project.

: • The 15th Street Extension to similarly extend that street to the Hudson River, the Waterfront Walkway and Shipyard project. Through the NJDOT funding the Allied Companies received another $365,000 in 1999 from Hudson County Engineering Department.
: Christie credited Special Agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Louie F. Allen in Newark; and Special Agents of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation section in Newark, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Patricia J. Haynes.
: The case is being prosecuted by Deputy Chief Jeffrey Clark, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Deborah Goldklang, of the U.S. Attorney's Office Special Prosecutions Division.

: -end-

: Defense Counsel:

: Barry - Joseph Hayden, Esq. and James Plaisted, Esq.
: Byrne - John T. Coyle, Esq.


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