Home Cleveland Press Releases 2010 General Counsel of Northeast Sewer District Sentenced for Bribery
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General Counsel of Northeast Sewer District Sentenced for Bribery

U.S. Attorney’s Office October 19, 2010
  • Northern District of Ohio (216) 622-3600

William B. Schatz was sentenced to nearly six years in prison today following his convictions for corruptly soliciting and accepting approximately $682,130 while general counsel of the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, announced Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.

“Today’s sentence reflects the seriousness of a government official’s abuse of his position and violation of the public trust,” Dettelbach said.

Schatz was sentenced to 70 months in prison by the Honorable Dan A. Polster in Case No. 1:10CR184. He was also sentenced to two years’ supervised release and ordered to pay restitution of $849,070.

Schatz, 64, of Moreland Hills, Ohio, previously plead guilty to one count of bribery in federally funded programs, one count of theft and embezzlement in federally funded programs, and five counts of filing false tax returns.

He was the general counsel of the NEORSD from 1979 until his retirement in August 2007. During his tenure, the NEORSD had major sewage tunnel contracts including the Mill Creek Tunnel Contract, Phases 2 and 3. Schatz admitted that from in or about 2000, through on or about April 26, 2007, he corruptly solicited and accepted approximately $682,130.00, from a contractor, Robert J. Kassouf, whose company (The Kassouf Compay) was part of a Joint Venture working on the Mill Creek Tunnel Contracts. Schatz received the payments through an intermediary company, Harvard Refuse, Inc. and its president, Stanley Lojek.

Schatz also admitted that from in or about 2002, through on or about December 15, 2005, he embezzled, stole, and obtained by fraud, NEORSD property by, among other things, depositing checks made payable to NEORSD (including insurance premium returns and NEORSD tenant payments) totaling approximately $166,940.00 into accounts he controlled using a fraudulent deposit stamp he had obtained for this purpose.

Schatz further admitted that he failed to report income from his private law practice, as well as his bribery and embezzlement income, on his Form1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Returns in the amount of $148,213.00 for the calendar year 2003; $219,678.00 for the calendar year 2004; $185,527 for the calendar year 2005; $179,929.00 for the calendar year 2006; and $88,975.00 for the calendar year 2007.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Justin J. Roberts and Daniel J. Riedl, following an investigation by the Cleveland offices of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division.

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