Disgraced ex-Fall River mayor Jasiel Correia sentenced to 6 years in prison for corruption

BOSTON — Calling his crimes "reprehensible corruption," Judge Douglas P. Woodlock sentenced former Fall River mayor Jasiel Correia to six years in prison, putting an end to one of the most controversial chapters in the city’s history. 

"City Hall was for sale," Woodlock said, pulling no punches.

Correia was convicted in May of devising a pay-to-play scheme in Fall River, extorting bribes from marijuana businessmen looking to open up shop in the city.

Despite overturning much of the jury's guilty verdict against Correia on Monday, Woodlock laid into him saying, "there has to be additional time for those who know the risk of what it means to be a public servant."

Speaking to the nature of the offenses, Woodlock said, "This is the fundamentally corrosive crime that a community faces. It undercuts, eviscerates the community. ... If we can't trust our government, where are we?"

As for the counts that were tossed, Woodlock said he did consider Correia's improper use of investors' money to be fraud — he was accused of using money invested in his app company, SnoOwl, to buy fancy cars, expensive jewelry and designer suits, and to pay for pricey hotels and restaurant meals — even if he thought it was not properly prosecuted in federal court. The reason for the acquittal on those charges stemmed from a very technical definition of wire fraud, with Woodlock saying the government did not prove the checks from investors were transmitted electronically and across state lines.

He also tossed two tax fraud counts because he said prosecutors didn't prove that Correia willfully filed false returns. Two other counts are still in question.

Correia declined to offer a statement, citing the advice of counsel. After his trial, he insisted that he's innocent and that the “real truth" will eventually come out. He has filed an appeal.

He is subject to 72 months of incarceration with three years of supervised release — three years more than the defense asked for and five years less than what the prosecution wanted. He is not allowed to engage in any credit charges or lines of credit, and must submit to numerous drug tests. He will be allowed to self-report — meaning he was not immediately taken into custody — and the judge noted the process right now is taking about eight weeks.

Woodlock would not stay his sentence while Correia waits for his appeal, but he said he will let him argue for it.

Forfeiture and restitution will be calculated at a later date. "You can be assured the ill-gotten gains will not be unaddressed," the judge said.

Correia's wife, Jenny, and his mother could be seen crying behind him, and his sister, Alexandra, reacted to some of the judge's statements by placing her head in her hands.

Tracing Jasiel Correia's fall:From entrepreneur & mayor, to convicted corruption kingpin

Still, noting that at age 29, Correia is still a young man, the judge said, "I don't want to take away the potential for the defendant to see a light at the end of the tunnel."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Zachary Hafer agreed with the judge's assessment that the crimes were "incomprehensibly crude," recalling testimony about secret envelopes of cash, sheds, cigars, stacks of cash in clipboards. "Fall River under Jasiel Correia was like Atlantic City under Prohibition in terms of the crudeness of the corruption," he said.

Making it worse, Hafer said, was that he committed these crimes even though he knew he was under federal investigation for the SnoOwl wire and tax fraud. "This was sustained behavior," Hafer said. "These were solicited bribes over a period of time."

Hafer underscored the negative effect on the city of Fall River, and on the SnoOwl investors like Dr. David Cabeceiras and Hildegar Camara, whom he said loved Correia. And instead of things getting better after the SnoOwl investigation began, Hafer said, the situation got worse.

"What explains this behavior other than greed? What explains this behavior other than hubris?" Hafer asked. "There is no evidence from which to conclude there is any type of remorse ... there is evidence of defiance" and blame-shifting.

Comparing Correia's crimes to that of former state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson, former House Speaker Sal DiMasi and former Boston Mayor James Michael Curley, Hafer said Correia's behavior was "much" worse and deserved a substantial punishment.

Curley was invoked by Woodlock before the break. He went to prison twice, both for impersonating a friend in a civil service examination, and for graft in connection with federal contracts while he was a Congressman. What made him similar to Correia, the judge explained, is that he committed crimes while under indictment for other crimes. And like Correia, he ran for office while facing prosecution. (Correia was recalled from office and then returned to office on the same ballot, and then he went on to run again for another term, though he eventually dropped out of the race.)

Judge cites lack of remorse

For their part, the defense acknowledged "there's no sugar coating this case" and that there is a "natural impulse" to punish Correia and make him feel pain.

Defense attorney William Fick tried to argue that there's no evidence to suggest that a stiffer sentence deters any corruption, but rather what stops corruption is the threat of accountability. In fact, any federal prison term could serve as a powerful retardant to hubris, he said.

"Mr. Correia genuinely did a lot of good for Fall River" going back to when he was a teenager, Fick said, and while not excusing his convictions suggested that Correia has a future.

Still, the judge expressed concern that "what I have before me is an absolute lack of remorse."

Fick said he's "at a loss" to understand what a defendant can do to express remorse without jeopardizing an appeal. Plus, he said, it's hard to know what's in someone's heart. 

Woodlock compared Correia to Icarus, a character from Greek mythology who was given a pair of wings with which to escape the isle of Crete. He was warned not to fly too close to the sun, but he did so anyway and his wings melted, causing him to fall and die. "What's he going to be like in the future?" Woodlock asked. "He seems to be a worker. He's putting in the hours, in any event. But this larger question, what can we expect from him in the future."

Fick noted that good works that Correia did in his youth "are all reasons to be hopeful there's opportunity ahead" to make things right.

In high school, Correia took leadership roles in the BOLD Coalition, an anti-drug organization, won a mayoral citation for his work at age 14, and was named Fall River’s Youth of the Year at 17. 

"All the good things he did are worth noting, but what brings him here is this incomprehensible undertaking to sell himself out," Woodlock said.

The judge also called out his indifference to the harm he caused to others. "There is nothing here in the record that suggests the defendant was anything but reckless, leaving a mess for others to clean up after him," Woodlock said. 

Interest in the sentencing was high — on Monday, more than 600 people signed up to watch the proceedings via Zoom, and technical glitches kept many of them in the dark until the afternoon session. About 500 people logged on Tuesday to learn Correia's punishment.

Upon entering the courthouse, Correia could be seen comforting some female family members. 

Addressing the tax charges

The judge revisited the remaining tax counts first thing on Tuesday, specifically counts L and M, which involved the filing of amended tax returns for SnoOwl. Woodlock said he received a revised pre-sentencing report and no further evidence regarding counts L and M. He already indicated he will acquit on the original filings, so he said he will likely acquit on these counts, too.

With regard to the mail fraud, the prosecution did not enter any more information to prove the bank transactions were electronic and involved interstate communication. Hafer reiterated that, from the government's perspective, the stipulation — that is, an agreement between both sides that the banking involved wire transactions — satisfied the burden of proof.

Regarding counts L and M, the prosecution, in their memo, stated that Corriea failed to disclose income from Snokimo, his website building business; falsely claimed personal expenses were business expenses; and failed to report partnership income and losses on his personal tax returns for 2013 and 2014.

Woodlock noted that Correia was older, more sophisticated and already mayor during the filing of those amended returns — and therefore in a position of public trust.

Marx argued Terry Charest, the accountant who worked with Correia, testified that Correia never mentioned SnoOwl but that  he also did not recall ever telling Correia that if he spends company money and it's due back to the company and he doesn't pay it back to the company, then that must be considered income.

Still, prosecutors pointed out that Charest asked Correia if he had partners and Correia said no —  for tax purposes, a partnership is treated differently than a sole proprietorship.

Woodlock brought up a debate from 2015 during which then-mayor Sam Sutter accused Correia of being a bad businessman. Correia stated publicly at that debate that he had partners.

Still, Marx maintained that there's no sufficient evidence to show that Correia was misrepresenting a partnership in order to evade tax responsibility. Again, at issue is whether Correia willfully misled Charest, or whether he was simply negligent.

As well, Woodlock brought up the application for a car loan on which Correia stated that he was self-employed and made $1,000 per month. Marx said no one knows what that was about, because it never came up at trial.

A check of the Massachusetts corporation database shows that Correia has, at various points, started six different corporations. Still, the defense argument centers on the fact that he lacked even the most basic business knowledge.

Assistant U.S. Attorney David Tobin argued that an accountant does not have to tell a client that if any of the expenses that they listed as business expenses were in fact personal expenses, then the client has committed tax fraud.

The judge said he will determine whether there is acquittal on these counts as well on Wednesday.

Judge addresses Correia's claims of a plea deal

Woodlock noted that the sentencing memo filed by the defense expressed that his statements just following the trial, on his way out of court, were "ill-advised."

But he said Correia repeated on several occasions that he rejected a plea agreement. Hafer said there was not. Kevin Reddington, Correia's attorney at trial, said there was never a plea offer. Now, Woodlock explained, this is entered into the record and it will be relevant to the sentencing.

Regarding Correia's post-conviction statements, the judge said, "I am highly skeptical of the idea that someone gets a discount for acceptance of responsibility."

But the judge brought it up because Correia repeated this claim after Monday's proceedings. The defense attorneys asked for time to confer with their client.

Neither side has any objections to the revised USSG guidelines in terms of prison sentencing, but the defense has open questions about forfeiture and restitution now that convictions have dropped.

After the break, defense attorney William Fick said Correia told them he didn't speak to any press on Monday, but the judge, citing privilege, said he was informed that there is video proof that he did in fact reiterate the plea deal claim — though he acknowledged he could be misinformed and that the footage could have been from immediately after the trial.

How much in forfeiture?

The judge discussed whether the acquittals will affect the order of forfeiture. Forfeiture is meant to deal with the ill-gotten gains by the defendant that the defendant still controls.

The prosecution asked for nearly $566,740 in forfeiture, and argued that the acquittals change nothing, citing case law the referred to uncharged conduct, not acquitted conduct. Basically, it's the government's position that regardless of acquittal, the victims were harmed by the same schemes and should be afforded restitution (the forfeiture refers to the wire fraud counts, for the SnoOwl investors who handed over thousands of dollars and never never saw a return on their investment).

The defense disagreed.

Woodlock asked the government to provide a count-by-count breakdown of what they believe Correia is responsible for in terms of forfeiture.

So without the six check-cashing wire fraud counts, that leaves three wire fraud convictions only regarding the use of email to send business plans to SnoOwl investors Mark Eisenberg and Victor Martinez. The government will have to determine how much restitution is fair for them by noon Wednesday.

Why the judge tossed out the fraud charges

Woodlock hammered the prosecution for not submitting sufficient evidence to prove that the SnoOwl investors' checks were processed electronically and across state lines, thereby qualifying as "wire" fraud.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Zachary Hafer produced documents related to the deposits being made in Fall River to a Rhode Island bank, but defense attorney Daniel Marx called it "too little, too late" and noted that the evidence was never mentioned in testimony.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Quinlivan, who specializes in appeals, argued that the jury was shown the "stipulation" — an agreement by both sides — that wires were used in "the offense charged" but Woodlock remained unswayed.

Of the tax fraud counts, the defense argued that prosecutors did not prove Correia "willfully" failed to report income and filed false returns — specifically that Correia signed those tax returns knowing that information in there was incorrect. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney David Tobin argued that Correia signed the Liberty Tax data sheet but never reported that he was self-employed. Tobin also noted that with a Providence College education, Correia should have known that what he was doing was wrong, but the judge didn't buy it, instead arguing that the omission could simply have been negligence.

When explaining his sentence, Woodlock said he did consider the improper use of SnoOwl investors' money to be fraud, even if it was not prosecuted properly in federal court.