Trudeau Implicates Judge In Corruption Case

NEW HAVEN (AP) –– A state Superior Court judge borrowed $15,000 from a former client of his law practice, concealed the loan from federal authorities, and lied to the FBI, according to a federal indictment unsealed on September 18.

Bridgeport Superior Court Judge Daniel E. Brennan, Jr, faces one count of obstruction of justice and four counts of making false statements to federal agents. Those charges carry a total of up to 30 years in prison and a $250,000 fine per count.

The nearly three-year investigation centered around the judge’s alleged request in January 2001 for $62,500 from William A. Trudeau, Jr, 40, whom Judge Brennan had represented in a forgery and larceny case before becoming a judge in March 1999.

Mr Trudeau, a former Newtown businessman, was at the center of the Newtown Oil Company controversy last winter, in which the now-defunct home heating fuel firm failed to honor prepaid oil delivery contracts to hundreds of its customers. State officials believe that Mr Trudeau, of Westport, surreptitiously operated Newtown Oil.

Mr Trudeau is currently serving a federal prison sentence on charges separate from the Newtown Oil controversy.

Judge Brennan has not heard a court case in a year and has applied for a medical leave.

Mr Trudeau understood that he would not get the money back if Judge Brennan used his influence to help Mr Trudeau beat a federal tax and wire fraud case, the indictment says.

Edward Gavin, Judge Brennan’s lawyer, said Judge Brennan will plead not guilty when he is arraigned in federal court in Hartford. None of the allegations had “anything to do with Judge Brennan’s official duties,” the lawyer said.

Judge Brennan, 60, of Trumbull, allegedly was heavily in debt, and he told Mr Trudeau that he had “bad guy money due” in 2001. The indictment did not identify the source of Judge Brennan’s debt.

According to the indictment, Judge Brennan said he was being pressured to repay and needed $20,000 immediately. He offered to pay 15 percent interest, prosecutors say.

Mr Trudeau allegedly loaned the judge $10,000 in February 2001.

The obstruction of justice charge stems from a June 2001 loan. Mr Trudeau wrote the judge a check for $5,000, and Judge Brennan gave him a fake $21,710 invoice for overdue legal fees, the indictment says.

That invoice was to be used to help Mr Trudeau hide money as he awaited sentencing on the fraud charges, prosecutors say.

When the FBI began interviewing him eight months later, Judge Brennan allegedly denied receiving loans from Mr Trudeau, denied preparing the invoice, and said he had never been offered a bribe, the indictment says. That led to the charges of making false statements.

The FBI also set up a meeting between the two men, at which Mr Trudeau allegedly offered Judge Brennan $52,500 in bundles of cash, but Judge Brennan declined the money. The judge does not face any bribery charges.

Judge Joseph H. Pellegrino, the state’s chief court administrator, said Judge Brennan is entitled to the presumption of innocence and had no other comments.

Last July 15, Mr Trudeau was sentenced in US District Court in Hartford to a 22-month federal prison term, plus restitution and fines, following guilty pleas to federal tax and financial fraud offenses.

Besides the prison sentence, a judge ordered Mr Trudeau to pay $458,312 in restitution to the victims of his financial frauds, plus a $25,000 criminal fine. Following his prison term, Mr Trudeau will remain under three years of supervised release. Mr Trudeau’s sentencing last July is separate from the Newtown Oil controversy.

On February 22, 2001, Mr Trudeau entered guilty pleas to one count of unlawfully failing to account for and to pay employee Social Security and Medicare taxes, and also to one count of wire fraud. Mr Trudeau’s sentencing on those charges had repeatedly been postponed.

In making those two guilty pleas, Mr Trudeau admitted that he had failed to account for and to pay $232,030 to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in taxes for employees working at businesses that he had operated from 1993 to 1997.

Mr Trudeau also admitted that he had engaged in ten fraudulent loan and lease transactions during 1999, in connection with the purchase of real estate, motor vehicles, and computer equipment.

Newtown Oil has been the focus of a state investigation into the firm’s failure last winter to honor prepaid home heating fuel delivery contracts with approximately 1,400 customers, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars of customer losses. Newtown Oil failed to deliver approximately one million gallons of home heating fuel that it was committed to deliver under the terms of the prepaid delivery contracts.

State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has sued Newtown Oil in seeking to recover that lost money for customers. The firm, which went out of business last December, was located at 47-49 South Main Street in Newtown.

Mr Blumenthal filed the lawsuit under the terms of the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act, charging Newtown Oil with “unfair or deceptive acts and practices.” The attorney general terms Newtown Oil’s contractual practices as false, deceptive, and likely to mislead.

Mr Blumenthal has said he may also pursue criminal charges against Newtown Oil.