02.20.08 - FBI, IRS
get Suffolk Attorney Reich's Records
Federal agents yesterday obtained the business records
of a Suffolk County attorney who is at the center of a criminal
investigation involving his employment by five Long Island
school districts.
Agents of the FBI and the Criminal Investigation Division
of the Internal Revenue Service took possession of the records
of the attorney, Lawrence Reich, in the parking lot of the
federal courthouse in Central Islip from Joseph Conway,
the lawyer now representing Reich's former firm, Ingerman
Smith, of Hauppauge.
The agents could be seen carting away at least five boxes
of records into the courthouse, where Newsday has reported
a grand jury has been impaneled to investigate whether Reich
improperly got a state pension after the districts reported
he was working full time for them while also a partner at
Ingerman Smith.
The lids were off several of the boxes, and labels on some
of the files related to Reich's dealings could be seen by
a reporter. They included the Baldwin, Bellmore-Merrick
High School, Copiague, East Meadow and Harborfields districts.
Ingerman Smith was paid at least $2.5 million by the five
districts while Reich was a partner there, even as each
of the districts was reporting to the state that he was
their full-time employee.
The presence of agents of the IRS criminal division suggests
that the federal probe may involve possible income-tax evasion
and money laundering. Newsday has previously reported that
federal prosecutors and the FBI were investigating possible
mail and wire fraud charges.
"We voluntarily brought the [Reich] documents over
and we're cooperating with the government probe," said
Conway. Conway was present as the boxes of Reich's files
were turned over to the agents.
Conway, a partner in the Garden City law firm of LaRusso
and Conway, was formerly the head of the Long Island office
of the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District. Reich could
not be reached for comment. In an interview last week, he
said he had done nothing wrong.
In a related development, New York State Attorney General
Andrew Cuomo said in a telephone interview that his office
plans to "aggressively" investigate Reich and
his relationship with the school districts, both criminally
and civilly.
Conway, in an interview with a reporter yesterday, said
that Ingerman Smith had reported Reich's relationship to
the school districts to state pension authorities before
the firm and Reich "parted ways" last year.
In January, Reich went to work for the Garden City law
firm of Jaspan, Schlesinger and Hoffman. Newsday reported
yesterday that Reich had been suspended from that law firm,
which also asked for his resignation.
A spokesman for the state comptroller's office, which oversees
state pension plans, said last night that the office could
not immediately obtain copies of any correspondence between
Ingerman Smith and the state.
When asked why Ingerman Smith had not made Reich's relationship
with the districts known to other officials or law firms
that might want to hire him, Conway said the firm had done
what it felt was best.
- Robert E. Kessler:
Newsday Staff Writer
Return to Recent News
