NEW YORK -- Former New York state Sen. Pedro Espada Jr. has been found guilty of embezzlement charges. The judge has declared a mistrial in the case against of his son Pedro Gautier Espada.
A jury delivered the partial verdict Monday in federal court in Brooklyn. It was the 11th day of often tumultuous deliberations.Espada and his son were accused of looting $500,000 dollars from a health care network in the Bronx that was operated with state grants. Prosecutors said they lived a lavish lifestyle off the Soundview network while the clinics languished in poverty.Lawyers for Espada and his son had argued their clients did nothing wrong - that it was their company and they were allowed to draw a salary. Espada was convicted on four counts of embezzlement.
Espada Jr.'s son, Pedro G. Espada, was accused alongside his father of looting money from a low-income health care network to fund a lavish lifestyle of fancy cars, dinners and birthday pony rides.
Prosecutors said the Espadas used the Bronx-based Soundview Health Care Network as a personal ATM while the network's services languished. Their lawyers argued the two men may have made a lot of money, but it was their company and they were allowed to do so.
