Even at Trial, Influence of Ex-Jail Officers’ Union Chief Is Felt
He was arrested, stripped of his gun and shield, and charged with betraying the thousands of correction officers who had entrusted their retirement funds to him. But if the first day of Norman Seabrook’s trial on federal corruption charges was any indication, the fear and loyalty that Mr. Seabrook, the former president of New York City’s correction officers’ union, instilled in his members remain undiminished.
During his more than two decades as one of the most powerful labor leaders in the city, Mr. Seabrook established himself as a blunt advocate for the city jail system’s rank-and-file and an unflinching opponent to reform at Rikers Island. He could be disarmingly charming or unapologetically hostile, depending on his interlocutor, and under his leadership, the city’s correction officers saw large gains in their salaries and pension benefits. For himself, he accrued power and wealth, often outflanking mayors and correction commissioners in his influence.
On Tuesday, prosecutors and defense lawyers devoted much of their opening statements to recounting Mr. Seabrook’s near-total control over the union, which represents more than 10,000 officers.
Neither side challenged the extent of Mr. Seabrook’s power. Where they disagreed was on how he used that power.
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“Seabrook was unlike other COBA presidents,” said Martin Bell, an assistant U.S. attorney, referring to the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association. “He was outspoken, high-profile and brash.”
While those qualities made Mr. Seabrook an effective advocate in negotiations with policymakers, Mr. Bell said, “within the union, that same style made him feared.”
That fear, Mr. Bell said, was what allowed Mr. Seabrook to manipulate, sideline and blindside the union’s other executive board members. It allowed him to steer $20 million of union funds, including $15 million of officers’ retirement funds, into a hedge fund led by the financier Murray Huberfeld, in return for hundreds of thousands of dollars in promised kickbacks, Mr. Bell said.
He did so without the input or even knowledge of other board members, Mr. Bell said. He never showed them a letter from the union’s lawyers that called the investment risky, and the union’s treasurer — who was supposed to sign off on any checks — only found out about one investment when the union’s bank called him to request his signature, Mr. Bell said.
Both Mr. Seabrook and Mr. Huberfeld have pleaded not guilty. Jona Rechnitz, a wealthy real estate developer who introduced Mr. Huberfeld and Mr. Seabrook, pleaded guilty to involvement in the scheme and agreed to serve as a cooperating witness for the government.
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Paul Shechtman, Mr. Seabrook’s lawyer, was even more explicit than Mr. Bell in his characterization of Mr. Seabrook’s leadership style.
“He ran the COBA with a strong hand,” Mr. Shechtman said. “He could scream to get his way. He could charm to get his way. He could cajole to get his way.”
But his way, Mr. Shechtman said, was to benefit his officers.
The true criminal, he continued, was Mr. Rechnitz, whom he called an entitled, pathological liar. Mr. Rechnitz lied about owning real estate in downtown Manhattan and a yacht, and he lied about being a partner in Mr. Huberfeld’s hedge fund, Mr. Shechtman said.
He did so to ingratiate himself with Mr. Seabrook, defense lawyers said, just as he did with other key city figures, including Philip Banks III, who was a top police official and sometimes chauffeured Mr. Rechnitz in his police vehicle, and Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Mr. Rechnitz was also a target of an inquiry into Mr. de Blasio’s fund-raising, although no charges resulted from that investigation.
Mr. Seabrook’s continuing hold on the city’s correction officers was perhaps most apparent during the testimony of the government’s first witness, Elias Husamudeen, who served as Mr. Seabrook’s first vice president and took over as president after Mr. Seabrook’s arrest.
Mr. Husamudeen repeatedly frustrated prosecutors’ attempts to paint Mr. Seabrook as a bully.
When asked to describe Mr. Seabrook’s dealings with his fellow executive board members, Mr. Husamudeen called them “effective.” When asked if there were disagreements between board members, he said, “Yes, like every other board.”
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Mr. Bell continued to press him to describe those disagreements.
“There were times when there might have been yelling and screaming. There were times when there wasn’t,” he said.
Mr. Bell asked if the yelling was by Mr. Seabrook.
“Yes. And at times by other board members,” Mr. Husamudeen said.
Only near the end of his testimony on Tuesday did Mr. Husamudeen refer to any irritation toward his former boss, and only after much prodding. He said he learned about Mr. Seabrook’s second investment into Mr. Huberfeld’s hedge fund, a $5 million transfer from the union’s general fund, after being told at the 2014 Puerto Rican Day Parade by the group’s treasurer, who had found out through a phone call from the bank.
Mr. Husamudeen said he was angry when he realized that Mr. Seabrook had invested without consulting the other trustees. He testified that he asked Mr. Seabrook what his problem was, lacing the question with a profanity. He recalled telling him, “You can’t do that.”
Prosecutors asked what Mr. Seabrook had said in his reply?
Mr. Husamudeen, whose answers were often preceded by long pauses, did not hesitate. “‘It’s making money,’” he recalled him saying.
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