Spano, Former State Senator, Heading to Prison
A federal judge sentenced former New York state Sen. Nicholas Spano on Monday a year and a day in prison for obstructing tax fraud.
Spano, 59, pleaded guilty in February to one count of obstructing and impeding the due administration of tax laws.
The Yonkers resident had represented New York’s 35th district in the state Senate from 1987 to 2006. His duties included approving the state’s operating budget, which included funding for the Office of General Services.
Prosecutors said a White Plains-based insurance company began paying Spano $1,500 a month to act as an outside consultant in 1993.
After the Office of General Services awarded that company a lucrative contract to become the state’s broker of record in 1996, Spano’s monthly retainer increased to $5,000. The payments jumped again to $6,000 a month in 1999. Between 2002 and 2008 when the company lost its state contract, it paid Spano $8,333.33 a month, or $100,000 a year.