The jury in U.S. District Court in Manhattan found James Grant, a former New York City deputy inspector, not guilty on all charges, but still decided to convict one of the businessmen, Jeremy Reichberg, on several other bribery and conspiracy charges. The jury found Reichberg not guilty on one count — that he had paid bribes to Grant.
The case had cast a shadow over the Police Department and had even tarnished the reputation of Mayor Bill de Blasio, though he was not accused of wrongdoing.
The verdict appeared to reflect the higher bar the U.S. Supreme Court has set for public corruption cases with its 2016 ruling that reversed the bribery conviction of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell. In that ruling, the court determined that making introductions or setting up meetings, even in exchange for gifts or financial benefits, did not constitute a crime.
Federal prosecutors presented evidence they said documented years of corruption “big and small” in which high-ranking police officials provided favors to Reichberg and a second businessman, Jona S. Rechnitz. In return, prosecutors said, the officers received gifts, all-expenses-paid trips on private jets, dinners and access to prostitutes.
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“The favors happened because of the gifts,” Kimberly J. Ravener, a federal prosecutor, told jurors. “They weren’t part of a special, unique friendship. They were part of a worn playbook.”
But the defense maintained there was nothing criminal about the friendship between Grant, 45, and Reichberg, 44. Showing photos of the two men at a dining table inside Reichberg’s home, Susan R. Necheles, Reichberg’s lawyer, told jurors in her closing remarks: “We ask for help from our friends, and they ask for help from us. In life, it’s called friendship.”
Part of the government’s case relied on testimony from Rechnitz, the wealthy son of a real estate developer who pleaded guilty to honest services wire fraud as part of the investigation that led to charges against the two defendants.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.