MONTICELLO, NY — “The FBI is interested in this county, the U.S. Attorney is interested in this county, and I don’t remember a time [like this] in my being in the DA’s office for 20 years. They’re interested in making an impact in the lives of the people that live here… And I welcome Preet Bharara to Sullivan County.”

Those words came from Sullivan County District Attorney (DA) Jim Farrell during his pitch to the county legislature on Thursday, February 18. He asked them to authorize him to spend funds on an investigator in his office who would be assigned to the FBI White Collar Crime Task Force in Newburgh for two years. Bharara is the crusading federal prosecutor who brought corruption convictions against former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and former New York Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, among many other cases.

Farrell said the two-year position would cost the county only $50, and would not include benefit costs such as a state pension, because he intended to hire someone who was retired and already had a pension and other benefits.

He said the FBI White Collar Task Force, located in Newburgh, requested that his office place an investigator of the DA’s office into the task force to investigate white collar fraud.

He laid out some of the history of agencies working with the FBI.

Farrell said, “One of the things that we have been successful with is our partnership with the U.S. Attorney’s office with respect to drug investigations. In July 2015, there was a significant drug case with the arrest of over 40 people in Sullivan County involved in trafficking drugs. We dismantled serious cocaine and heroin conspiracies.” He said officers involved in that case came from multiple police forces including the Village of Liberty, Town of Fallsburg, Village of Monticello and the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office.

He said, “Now, the FBI has asked that we give an investigator for the white collar investigation, and we have a very significant white collar investigation that’s ongoing. And they want assistance from us, since it’s here, and I think that’s only appropriate.

“What happens is… if there’s an investigation here, the resources from the other counties that donate to the task force, Rockland, Orange, Dutchess and the other counties that are in the Southern District, those resources and the FBI come here, so it’s like a multiplier, The same holds true if an investigation is in Middletown or Ramapo, or White Plains, he would go there and help them.”

There was a discussion among the legislators about paying for the position. There is a memo of understanding (MOU) between the legislature and the DA’s office regarding the funding of the Fraud Investigations Team. The MOU expires at the end of March, and legislators must decide before then if the MOU will be renewed or otherwise changed.

There are currently two vacant positions on the fraud investigation team, and Farrell did not plan to fill those positions until the legislature determined if it will renew the arrangement. The legislature did adopt a resolution last Thursday authorizing the DA to hire the white collar investigator. However, it amended the resolution to make clear that no more than one position on the fraud team would be filled later. The move effectively traded the White Collar Task Force position for the second local fraud investigator position, and the resolution to allow the DA to move forward was unanimously approved.