More than two years after he awoke to an FBI search warrant in connection with a sweeping corruption investigation, Joseph Doria has quietly been cleared of any wrongdoing
20090723MD More than two years after FBI Agents raided the home of Joseph V. Doria Jr., former commissioner of the state's Department of Community Affairs and ex-mayor of Bayonne shown in this 2009 file photo, Doria has been cleared of any wrongdoing. TRENTON — More than two years after he awoke to an FBI search warrant in connection with a sweeping corruption investigation, Joseph Doria — who was forced to step down as head of the state Department of Community Affairs — has quietly been cleared of any wrongdoing.
In a rare letter from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, federal prosecutors said they have closed their investigation of the matter.
"Based on the evidence of which we are currently aware, no charges will be brought by this office regarding the circumstances that led to the search," Assistant U.S. Attorney James Nobile said in the Sept. 7 letter to Doria’s attorney, John Azzarello of Chatham.
A spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman would not discuss the matter or the letter, which was obtained by The Star-Ledger.
"We do not comment on private communications to counsel," said Rebekah Carmichael.
Doria declined comment.
A former Democratic Assembly speaker and long-time mayor of Bayonne, Doria was a member of then-Gov. Jon Corzine’s cabinet when his home was raided in the early morning hours on July 23, 2009, by a squad of FBI agents as part of the massive corruption and money laundering scandal that led to the arrests of 46 people.
Three mayors, two legislators and five Orthodox rabbis were among those arrested in the biggest federal sting operation in New Jersey history involving a three-year investigation into political payoffs and the laundering of money through various religious institutions.
Doria was never charged or even questioned, but became a victim of the political fallout from the case, as he came under mounting pressure to resign as head of the Department of Community Affairs after the search quickly became public knowledge amidst Corzine’s faltering re-election campaign.
It is rare for prosecutors to clear potential targets left under a cloud of suspicion caused by their investigations. One of the few times it has happened involved Vivian Sanks King — once chief lawyer for the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey — who was forced out of her high-profile post at the state’s medical school in a widening investigation of the university.
Her lawyer was Fishman, now the U.S. Attorney.
Authorities never said publicly why they considered Doria a suspect. However, it was later disclosed that Solomon Dwek, the federal undercover informant at the center of the investigation, met several times with Doria.
Dwek, a Monmouth County real estate investor who began cooperating with the government after he was nabbed in an unrelated $50 million bank fraud, set up dozens of elected officials and political candidates by soliciting their support for several development projects in return for FedEx envelopes stuffed with cash.
Dwek told others he was looking to get state help from Doria on a fictional condo development in Carlstadt, Bergen County, and claimed to have given thousands in cash to a middleman, who was to pass it along to Doria. During the trial of Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini — who was convicted for her role in the corruption sting — Dwek testified he paid two bribes totaling nearly $40,000 to the middleman, Jack Shaw, with the understanding the money would be delivered to Doria.
Shaw died days after he was arrested and agreed to cooperate with authorities. But before he died, he denied he had given any of Dwek’s money to Doria.
What Shaw did with the money remains a mystery.
By Ted Sherman/The Star-Ledger and Matt Friedman/Statehouse Bureau