November 7, 2014

Former Union County Port Executive Sentenced to One Year in Prison for Commercial Bribery

TRENTON, NJ—A maintenance director at Maher Terminals in Union County, New Jersey, was sentenced today to 12 months in prison for soliciting and accepting cash bribes of more than $100,000 in return for demolition and construction contracts at a container ship facility, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Donald Olesky, 57, of Sayreville, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Freda L. Wolfson in Trenton federal court to an information charging him with two counts of using, and causing to be used, the mail in aid of an unlawful activity, specifically commercial bribery under New Jersey law. Judge Wolfson imposed the sentence today in Trenton federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements in court:

Olesky was director of facility maintenance at Maher Terminals at Port Elizabeth, New Jersey. As part of his duties, he obtained bids and awarded contracts for construction projects. From 2000 through 2011, Olesky manipulated the bidding process to ensure demolition and construction projects were awarded to contractors that paid him cash bribes. During his plea proceeding, Olesky admitted to soliciting and accepting $122,000 in bribes.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Wolfson sentenced Olesky to two years of supervised release, ordered him to forfeit $288,000 and fined him $10,000.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI’s Trenton Field Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford, for the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Harvey Bartle, the Attorney-in-Charge of the U.S. Attorney’s Trenton Office, and Vikas Khanna, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Special Prosecutions Division.