A jury Tuesday found Shelton developer James Botti guilty on two of the four criminal charges brought against him by the federal government.
Botti was found guilty of conspiracy to structure money — and of structuring money.
The jury found him not guilty of two counts of making a false statement to an IRS agent.
The decision cleared the way for attorneys to begin preparing for the second of Botti’s two criminal trials — this one for charges he allegedly tried to bribe a Shelton public official to get development projects there pushed forward.
No sentencing date or start date for the second trial was set Tuesday.
Based on a September ruling by Senior District Judge Charles Haight, the charges were separated into two trials despite being handed down in a single indictment in November 2008.
Tuesday’s Decisions
The verdict came after four days of testimony and almost two full days of jury deliberations.
Jurors also decided Botti, 46, should pay the government $120,500 of the $147,166 U.S. attorneys alleged was involved in the structuring crime.
U.S. attorneys argued that Botti’s $200,000 bail should be revoked or increased before either date arrived, citing witness claims that Botti had contacted and threatened them prior to the first trial.
“There is another trial, your honor,” U.S. attorney Richard Schechter said. “There are other witnesses.”
Judge Haight decided to keep the bail the same, saying he didn’t believe Botti would flee. But Haight issued another warning to Botti to stay away from witnesses who will appear in the bribery trial.
“This has been a difficult time for you, a difficult day for you,” Haight said to Botti. “You may be sad. You may be angry. But you must not dig whatever hole you’re in any deeper.”
Reaction
U.S. Attorneys, through spokesman Thomas Carson, declined to comment on the case until after the second trial concludes.
But Botti’s attorney celebrated the two not-guilty verdicts and the $120,500 forfeiture.
“This is half a loaf,” William Dow III said of the dollar figure.
As to the verdicts and the trial, Dow said Botti was grateful for a fair process.
“We were fortunate to have a judge who has a refreshing perspective and overview of the entire process and the people in it,” Dow said outside the courthouse Tuesday. “We appreciate the not guilty verdicts. We would have appreciated it even more had there been more of them.”
The Trial
The testimony, in some way or another, always dealt with Botti’s cash.
Where it was hidden. How it was deposited. Its smell.
It was the deposits that got him.
Cash transactions of more than $10,000 trigger a report be sent to the IRS. Structuring is when cash transactions are purposefully made in amounts below that threshold to avoid detection from the IRS.
U.S. attorneys said Botti and his 81-year-old father, Peter, structured more than $100,000 in cash through a series of deposits into various bank accounts the two held. Peter Botti has already pleaded guilty to one count of structuring and awaits sentencing.
Some days, more than one $9,500 deposits would be made into accounts at different banks on the same day, the government showed through bank statement and deposit ticket evidence presented through the trial.
Other times, more than one large cash deposit — not exceeding $10,000 — would be put into Peter Botti’s account, and then soon after Peter Botti would write a check to James Botti for the sum of those deposits, the U.S. attorneys argued during the trial.
U.S. attorneys also used testimony from Botti’s ex-wife, Kelly, his former friends, contractors and accountants, and officials at banks where he and his father held accounts.
In it, Kelly Botti talked about how she walked into a room at James Botti’s Bridgeport Avenue office and saw him, Peter Botti and a contractor counting bundles of cash. Kelly Botti estimated there was $60,000 on the desk, and James Botti asked her to help count some of it.
That same week, Kelly Botti testified, she saw almost $1 million in cash sitting on the bed in her and James Botti’s master bedroom at their Maple Avenue home in Shelton.
Other witnesses, like Andre Czaplinski, a former close friend of Botti’s, testified that they too had helped count money in the office. Czaplinski said he estimated $870,000 to be in a box in the office safe.
“This is top secret,” Botti allegedly told Czaplinski before opening the safe and pulling out the box. “Don’t tell anyone what I’m about to tell you.”
The Statements
The jury ruled that Botti did not make false statements to an IRS agent during a July 14, 2006 interview in Botti’s Bridgeport Avenue office.
According to the indictment, U.S. attorneys claimed that Botti lied to Agent Charles Cooney during that interview.
The two counts come from the two statements government officials claimed were falsely made: 1. That Botti had no cash and less than $5,000 on hand at any given time during the year, and 2. That he received all his rent payments in checks.
During cross examination of Agent Cooney, Dow wondered how precise the questioning had been that day.
Dow questioned whether it is possible to know if Botti lied, since the interview was not tape recorded. In addition, the report written about the conversation was drafted 10 days after the conversation took place.
“You don’t have an instant replay for the interview that went on for four hours,” Dow said to Cooney in his questioning.
“No I do not,” Cooney replied.
Dow said Conney’s questions to Botti about cash on hand and how he received rent payments were vague.
“You don’t know what he understood the question to mean. You didn’t say ‘this year,’ ‘last year,’ ‘forever,’” Dow said.
“That is correct,” Cooney replied.
Unsealed Motions
U.S. attorneys had argued unsuccessfully to be able to bring up the corruption investigation in their questioning of Agent Cooney, a newly unsealed motion reveals.
Many of the pre-trial motions were sealed before the trial, and several of those motions became public Tuesday.
“Specifically, the Government will offer evidence that an IRS agent went to the defendant’s office on July 14, 2006 to interview the defendant because that agent was participating in a joint FBI/IRS corruption probe into potential crimes of corruption in Shelton,” the government stated in a recently unsealed motion filed on Sept. 30. “During the interview, the defendant volunteered information regarding work he had done for a public official.”
That questioning was not allowed during the trial.
U.S. attorneys argued in the motion that testimony about that interview — the one where the government claimed two false statements were made — would be incomplete if the corruption portion was not included.
“If the jury is prevented from understanding Special Agent (Charles) Cooney’s dual reason for questioning the defendant and only allowed to view the statement in the context of an investigation into defendant’s 1999 through 2004 tax returns, the defendant could unfairly argue that the defendant’s claimed lack of cash at the time of the inquiry would not appear material to his 1999 to 2004 tax returns,” the U.S. attorneys wrote in that memo.
Next Steps
While the time line is not clear, the next step is to start over the trial process for Botti’s second criminal trial. That means more hearings, more motions, another jury selection, another trial.
The pending trial has implications beyond Botti, in that he is accused of bribing a public official in Shelton to push forward his development proposals.
The charges are conspiracy to defraud the citizens of Shelton, bribery of a public official and mail fraud.
Dow and several media reports have identified that public official as Mayor Mark Lauretti, who was recently re-elected to a 10th term in office.
Lauretti has never been named by the government, has not been charged with any wrongdoing and has repeated denied any involvement.
According to the indictment, Botti allegedly used money and other services to get “Public Official #1” to help him get approval from Shelton commissions for his land-use applications.
The indictment claims that Botti paid for renovations to that public official’s home in October 2002 and permitted the public official to take cash from his safe in 2006.
The indictment also claims that Botti gave gift certificates to and made payments for members of the Planning and Zoning commission in exchange for approval of his plans.
Judge Haight said he will meet for with attorneys in the next few weeks to start discussing the bribery case.
The original Botti indictment appears below. Please note the charges in the indictment were later divided into two cases, the first of which concluded today.
