Embattled DeBlasio Donor Jona Rechnitz Calling for New Judge in Bribery Case

By: Don Driggers

Jona Rechnitz, the disgraced Bill de Blasio donor who testified he bought access to the mayor, who was sentenced to five months in prison and five months of house arrest, is calling for a new judge to decide how much restitution he must pay.

The Brooklyn businessman was a star witness in three federal corruption trials, where he testified that he raised big money for de Blasio’s campaigns in exchange for a promise of access and influence at City Hall, Politico reported.

His testimony led to the conviction of former correction officers union head Norman Seabrook, after Rechnitz said he set up kickbacks to Seabrook in exchange for steering pension fund money to a hedge fund.

Rechnitz was ordered to pay up to $10 million, with $500,000 due each year, to repay the correction officers’ union for losses suffered in the hedge fund scheme, Politico reported.

According to the NY Post, Rechntiz, who had yet to start serving his sentence, says there’s no way Manhattan Federal Court Judge Alvin Hellerstein should be allowed to rule on the restitution portion of his case — because the jurist is intimately familiar with an employee of Platinum Partners.

Platinum Partners was the hedge fund, where the union funds were funneled to .

The Post reported; the judge, citing his ties to Kaplan, has already recused himself from a different case involving Platinum Partners, but has declined to step away from Rechnitz.

Politico pointed out: much of his testimony focused on his relationship with de Blasio and the mayor’s top fundraiser, who were never charged. Federal prosecutors concluded an extensive probe into de Blasio’s fundraising with no indictments but publicly cautioned the mayor, saying he had made inquiries on behalf of donors.

Rechnitz testified that he gathered illegal straw donations for the mayor and got a direct line to City Hall whenever he asked for favors. De Blasio dismissed him as a liar and a felon, but federal prosecutors said his statements were credible and corroborated by other evidence, Politico reported.

Norman Seabrook, former head of the NYC Corrections Officers union, was sentenced on February 8, 2019 by U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein to 58 months in prison.

In another corruption scandal, Rechnitz lavished high-ranking NYPD officials with gifts in exchange for help getting gun licenses, fixing parking tickets and other favors.