Shortly after he was released on $1 million bail, disgraced former Queens Assemblyman Jimmy Meng contacted the government witness who had secretly taped him for months, prosecutors revealed Wednesday.
Meng – the first Asian-American elected to the state Legislature – is charged with wire fraud Tuesday for claiming he could bribe prosecutors to fix a criminal case, authorities said.
He was still in Brooklyn Federal Court on Tuesday night when he dialed up the snitch on his cell phone, Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa Seifan said.
Later, an unidentified associate of Meng also “reached out” to the witness, Seifan told Magistrate Cheryl Pollak.
Meng, who had brought along his wife, Shiao, to co-sign the bond posting two properties they own in Queens, got a tongue-lashing from the judge.
“It is a violation of this bond to threaten or attempt to influence the testimony of anybody who might be a witness against you in the case,” Pollak said.
“If you do it again, you’re going to jail,” she said.
Meng’s court-appointed lawyer Michael Padden said he had also advised the defendant not to do it again.
Meng was wearing the same short-sleeved blue dress shirt and khaki slacks as he had on when he was arrested by FBI agents on Tuesday outside his lumber yard.
Meng was pinched when the cooperating witness delivered a fruit basket containing $80,000 in cash — as Meng had instructed — to bribe Manhattan prosecutors in a tax case involving the witness.
Source from: NYDailyNews