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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Later, an unidentified associate of Meng also “reached out” to the witness, Seifan told Magistrate Cheryl Pollak.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
“If you do it again, you’re going to jail,” she said.<\/p>\n
Meng’s court-appointed lawyer Michael Padden said he had also advised the defendant not to do it again.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Meng was pinched when the cooperating witness delivered a fruit basket containing $80,000 in cash \u2014 as Meng had instructed \u2014 to bribe Manhattan prosecutors in a tax case involving the witness.<\/p>\n