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February 16, 2012
Jereis: Gifts to Annabi were for love, not bribes; judge limits use of emails
The Journal News
by Jonathan Bandler
For love? Yeah, the love of Bruce Ratner.
The $170,000 in cash and gifts Zehy Jereis gave former Yonkers Councilwoman Sandy Annabi wasn’t a bribe to influence her vote.
It was a manifestation of his love for his cousin, he said — and he thinks a series of emails he sent Annabi can prove that to jurors at their federal corruption trial, which began Wednesday.
But U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon has severely limited how the jury might get to see the alleged romantic emails, if at all.
The suggestion that Jereis and Annabi had a social, not a political, relationship was made by the defense last year. But the exact nature of that relationship was never made clear. Annabi has told The Journal News in the past that the two were cousins.
NoLandGrab: There's really nothing about this case that isn't creepy on some level.
Photo: Matthew Brown/The Journal News
Posted by eric at February 16, 2012 11:19 AM