Bruce Yazdzik is no angel.
The 31-year-old Bridgeport native and current federal inmate had four felonies to his name by 2010, when he was charged — while on probation — with assaulting his pregnant girlfriend and possession of prescription painkillers packaged individually for sale.
The best his attorney could do was a plea deal calling for three years in prison.
But then he met Seymour lawyer Ralph Crozier, whose trial on money laundering charges began Tuesday with Yazdzik as the government’s star witness in U.S. District Court in New Haven.
Yazdzik testified that his lawyer introduced Crozier to him as a mentor, and somebody who “had sway” at the Waterbury courthouse where he faced drug and assault charges.
And lo and behold, Crozier eventually worked out a deal whereby Yazdzik was spared jail time altogether.
But months later, Assistant U.S. Attorney Rahul Kale said, Crozier’s “do-everything” work on behalf of Yazdzik “went too far” when he offered to launder $30,000 of what he knew to be drug money through a solar power company owned by a lawyer who had offices in the same building as his.
Yazdzik detailed the alleged scheme under questioning from the prosecutor, after which he was grilled by Crozier’s lawyer, Michael Hillis, whose cross-examination will resume Wednesday morning.
Crozier has said he thought the money came from a legitimate used car business Yazdzik co-owned, and that he knew nothing about his client’s drug dealing.
Background
Crozier was arrested on charges of conspiracy and attempted money laundering last April, after Yazdzik’s mother wore a wire to a meeting at his office to discuss what federal prosecutors say was another $11,000 in drug money Crozier offered to launder.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges last July and has been free on $200,000 bond while awaiting trial.
Each of the charges carries a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison.
Money laundering, under federal law, means a person conducts or tries to conduct a financial transaction knowing the money involved is derived from illegal activity, e.g. dealing drugs.
Yazdzik was the third witness called to the stand by federal prosecutors on the first day of the trial before Chief U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall.
The prosecution’s case began Tuesday with testimony from a Stamford police officer and a DEA supervisor.
A Tip-Off, Then A Bust
The cop, James Comstock, told jurors that an April 2011 tip-off from Yazdzik led to the bust of one of his former suppliers with thousands of painkillers.
Yazdzik made the tip-off in the hopes that police would detail his cooperation to a Waterbury prosecutor so he could get off probation on his most recent convictions in state court.
But the feds say he instead soon began selling drugs again and was one of a dozen people indicted five months later in connection to the same drug-dealing conspiracy.
Yazdzik took a plea deal in the case and faced up to 20 years in prison, and got 10 for cooperating in the drug probe.
Now he said he hopes to to get out of prison sooner in exchange for his testimony against Crozier.
‘The Deal Of A Lifetime’
Under questioning by prosecutor, Yazdzik testified that when he first met Crozier in reference to his Waterbury court cases, the lawyer told him that “for $8,000 he could pretty much guarantee me a year in prison. And long continuances.”
Yazdzik said he was impressed, but responded to Crozier with an incentive: I’ll give you another eight grand if you keep me out of prison altogether.
“I like the way you do business,” he said Crozier replied.
Months later, Yazdzik was in Superior Court in Waterbury in the case when Crozier approached him.
“I’ve got the deal of a lifetime for you,” he said Crozier told him. “You got that other $8,000 ready?”
After arranging to pay Crozier the money, he said, “I got the deal. I got probation.”
‘I Needed To Look Legit’
While “euphoric” and impressed, Yazdzik testified that about the same time, he realized he “needed to look legit.”
So he said Crozier helped him set up a used car business, and drew up a contract for him to rent space and buy vehicles at auctions through a Waterbury business owned by a friend.
Weeks later Crozier helped him create a limited liability corporation for a handy-man business.
But the businesses were just fronts, Yazdzik testified, saying he was involved in trafficking tens of thousands of prescription pain kills weekly.
He said he traveled to Florida — then infamous for its “pill mill” clinics which attracted out-of-staters with painkiller prescriptions — a handful of times to get pills he would bring back to Connecticut and sell.
He eventually hooked up with a supplier who would transport busloads of people to the clinics, then sell the prescriptions they received to Yazdzik.
At the height of his drug dealing, Yazdzik said he would buy three to four thousand painkillers two to three times a week to sell.
He soon “had money all over the place” — $5,000 bundles of 50s, 20s, and 10s scattered in cars, storage units, his condo, and other “random places” — despite buying flashy jewelry and expensive cars while supporting a girlfriend and three kids.
He could only wash so much of the cash through his used car and handyman businesses, so he said he told Crozier he had a little over $100,000 he was looking to invest.
Crozier suggested the solar company owned by his fellow lawyer. He said the investment would help him get a return in what would look like “legitimate money,” Yazdzik testified.
He said Crozier then drew up the $30,000 investment agreement, which was shown to the jury. He said he delivered the cash to Crozier later in the form of $5,000 bundles, who he said held up the dough excitedly to his law colleague as if to say “We got it!”
A Damaging Concession?
Hillis mocked Yazdzik’s testimony during his cross-examination and spent hours trying to pick apart inconsistencies in his account of his dealings with Crozier.
Hillis said Crozier acted out of fatherly concern for Yazdzik, and even secured Yazdzik a difficult-to-obtain spot at a detox facility without charging him anything.
While he knew his client had problems with doing drugs, Hillis said, Crozier didn’t know Yazdzik was buying and selling them wholesale.
Late in the day, Hillis got Yazdzik to admit that he kept his drug dealing from Crozier “to an extent,” which prompted Crozier to grin with joy as he jotted notes at the defense table.
Yazdzik said he didn’t tell Crozier about his drug dealing until late in their relationship, but said Crozier had to have known where all his money was coming from.
“I had already spent $20,000 with him,” Yazdzik said. “Not a lot of people do that.”
After Judge Hall adjourned the trial for the day, Crozier said outside the courthouse that he didn’t know about Yazdzik’s drug dealing.
“I didn’t know anything about anything,” he said, claiming that a DEA agent who will to testify in the case misled and lied to grand jurors in order to get him indicted.
Testimony in the case is scheduled to resume Wednesday at 9:30 a.m.
