Elizabeth Valandingham (courtesy photo)Morristown Attorney Charged in Scheme to Secure Legal Contracts in Exchange for Bribes
Elizabeth Valandingham is the sixth person charged in connection with the scheme.
June 19, 2020 at 06:11 PM
3 minute read
Morristown attorney Elizabeth Valandingham has become the sixth person charged in connection with a law firm's alleged scheme to make cash payments to elected officials in exchange for lucrative government contracts.
Valandingham, 47, was charged Friday with second-degree false representation for government contracts and second-degree misconduct by a corporate official. Valandingham could not immediately be reached for comment.
The state Attorney General's Office accused Valandingham of falsely indicating on proposals for legal services to the township of Bloomfield and the borough of Mount Arlington that her law firm made no political contributions to a list of individuals and entities. Valandingham is accused of falsely stating her firm made no contributions between 2012 and 2016 when submitting proposals to Bloomfield, from which her firm was awarded contracts valued in the aggregate at $120,000.
"It is alleged in the complaints that Valandingham, along with an unnamed co-conspirator, recruited friends and family members to act as straw donors—people who made political contributions and would subsequently be reimbursed in cash by the firm for those contributions. It is alleged that, in total, during the time that Valandingham indicated that the firm made no contributions, the firm made tens of thousands of dollars in straw contributions," the Attorney General's Office said in a statement.
In addition, Valandingham submitted a report in 2016 to Mount Arlington stating that no reportable contributions were made, and her firm was awarded a legal contract that earned the firm more than $470,000. Valandingham made contributions to Mount Arlington officials, through her straw donors, for $7,500 in 2016, prosecutors said.
The charges carry a sentence of five to 10 years in state prison and a fine of up to $150,000, the Attorney General's Office said. Authorities said they had no information about whether Valandingham was represented by a lawyer.
The attorney general did not identify the firm, but Valandingham was associated with O'Donnell McCord of Morristown.
Valandingham's charges follow the arrests in December 2019 of five public officials and candidates for accepting thousands of dollars from a tax attorney in exchange for promises to use their authority or influence to steer legal contracts to his firm. Charged with second-degree bribery in official and political matters were former Jersey City School Board President Sudhan Thomas, former state assemblyman and Bayonne mayoral candidate Jason O'Donnell, former Morris County freeholder John Cesaro, former Mount Arlington Councilman John Windish, and former Morris County freeholder candidate Mary Dougherty.
The attorney general did not identify the cooperating witness but media outlets identified him as Valandingham's former partner, Matthew O'Donnell of O'Donnell McCord.
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