Marc Schiff, a former architect who played an integral role in the stealing of $4.3 million in taxpayer money during construction of the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Courthouse, was sentenced today to a year and a day in federal prison.
From the Albuquerque Journal:
“Senior U.S. District Judge John Edwards Conway told Schiff, ‘I assure you, I take no pleasure in this’ but said Schiff’s submission of false invoices made it impossible for him to sentence him to probation, as his attorney Joseph Riggs had argued Schiff should be. Riggs said the government had led Schiff to believe that his extensive cooperation, which included wearing a wire, would earn him a probated sentence like that received by former Albuquerque Mayor Ken Schultz.”
The judge also ordered Schiff to pay $136,000 in restitution.
Schiff, once the president of one of the top architect firms in the state, had pleaded guilty to one felony count of conspiracy and one felony count of mail fraud. After admitting to submitting false invoices and then passing on the stolen money to other defendants, he voluntarily gave up his architect license in 2007.
Schiff stated in his plea agreement that the scheme began when Schultz, his company’s lobbyist, wanted a cash bonus for securing the architect contract. As additional contracts were awarded, Schultz wanted additional cash bonuses. At some point, Schiff stated, he learned that Schultz was giving some of the cash to former Senate President Manny Aragon and former Metro Court Administrator Toby Martinez.
“I continued to make cash payments to Schultz because I feared that DCSW would be removed from the contract or sued if payments stopped,” Schiff stated in the agreement.
Schiff said Martinez instructed him to submit false invoices, and “the proceeds were then used to pay kickbacks to Aragon and Martinez.” He said he personally gave some of the money to Aragon — two payments of $10,000 each — and was also present when Schultz passed Aragon an envelope containing $30,000 at an Albuquerque restaurant.
Eight have been convicted in the case, including Aragon, who was sentenced earlier this year to 5.5 years in federal prison, fined $750,000 and ordered to pay $649,000 in restitution. Also earlier this year, Martinez was sentenced to 67 months in prison for his role as the ringleader of the group. Martinez was also ordered to pay more than $2.5 million in restitution.