WHITE PLAINS – Ramapo Town Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence, 65, of Wesley Hills, was found guilty of 20 counts of conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud in federal court in connection with municipal bonds issued by the town and the Ramapo Local Development Corporation. He was acquitted of one count of securities fraud and one count of wire fraud. The conviction came after a four-week trial in White Plains federal court.
As of August 2015, the town had more than $128 million in outstanding bonds that had been issued for a number of municipal purposes, while the Ramapo LDC had issued $25 million in bonds to pay for the construction of Provident Bank Park, a minor league baseball stadium in Ramapo.
Federal authorities said while the fraud predated construction of the stadium, the town’s financial problems were caused largely by the $58 million total cost of the stadium. The town paid more than half of that cost, despite the rejection of the town’s guarantee of bonds to pay for construction of the stadium in a town-wide referendum in 2010 and St. Lawrence’s public statements that no public money would be used for the stadium.
The indictment charged that St. Lawrence lied to investors in the town’s and its LDC bonds in order to conceal the deteriorating state of the town’s finances and the inability of the LDC to make scheduled payments of principal and interest to holders of its bonds from its own money. He lied to investors primarily by making up false assets in the town’s general fund.
St. Lawrence was found guilty of 11 counts of wire fraud, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; eight counts of securities fraud, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; and one count of conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
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