"Consultant gets jail term for Philadelphia airport pay-to-play"

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Consultant gets jail term for airport pay-to-play
By George Anastasia
The Philadelphia (PA) Inquirer


A Bryn Mawr business consultant caught in a pay-to-play scandal at
Philadelphia International Airport was sentenced yesterday to 14 months in
prison and ordered to pay more than $25,000 in fines and restitution. 

Joseph Moderski, 70, was one of four defendants charged in the scheme, which
involved illegally funneling political contributions to Mayor Street from an
advertising company that was seeking contracts at the airport. The mayor was
not charged with wrongdoing.

All four pleaded guilty. Two cooperated with authorities.

Moderski, described by a federal prosecutor as "the instigator" of the
scheme, was the only defendant sentenced to prison. 

In urging a sentence within the 10- to 16-month sentencing guideline,
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joan L. Markman told U.S. District Judge James T.
Giles that Moderski was guilty of more than fraud. 

"He corrupted the political process," she said.

Dressed in black slacks and black shirt, and sporting his trademark thick,
white Santa Claus-like beard, Moderski told Giles he was "deeply sorry" for
what he had done. 

He was ordered to begin serving his sentence within 75 days.

In addition, he was fined $15,000 and ordered to pay $10,833 in restitution
and $300 in special court costs.

Moderski, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy, mail fraud and wire fraud in the
airport case, faces unrelated income-tax evasion and fraud charges in
connection with the operation of his consulting firm, J.C. Moderski Inc. 

In the pay-to-play scheme, prosecutors alleged that Moderski orchestrated a
plan in which his client, Sky Sites Inc., funneled illegal campaign
contributions to the mayor.

Sky Sites and its parent company, JCDecaux, specialize in back-lit
advertising displays in airport terminals. At the time the illegal
contributions were made, the company had an advertising contract at the
airport and hoped to obtain others. 

It is illegal for corporations to make such contributions.

The charges grew out of a broader political corruption investigation that
included the bugging of Mayor Street's office and the eventual indictment of
Ron White, a chief fund-raiser for Street, and former City Treasurer Corey
Kemp. 

Prosecutors alleged that Moderski received a "sham bonus" of $10,000 from
Sky Sites to cover one contribution he made to Street's campaign and that
Moderski and two others split a $30,000 architectural "consultant fee" to
cover $10,000 contributions they each made to a PAC run by White, who is now
deceased. The contributions were made in 2000 and 2001.

The three other defendants in the case, former Sky Sites executives Joseph
Evans and Eric Selby and architect Terry Crockett, were also charged.

Evans was sentenced to 5 1/2 months in a halfway house and 5 1/2 months of
house arrest. Selby and Crockett, because of their cooperation, were
sentenced to probation.

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