Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul E. Bonanno, who handled the
case, stated that the defendant served as the New York State Senator for the
60th Senate District between January 1, 2015, and December 31, 2016. In that
position, Panepinto employed a young woman as a staff member in his district
office.
On January 7, 2016, the defendant and the staff member
traveled together to New York City to attend a fundraiser for Panepinto.
Following the event, the staff member took possession of the donations from the
fundraiser. Later that evening, the defendant suggested that he and the staff
member go to her hotel room to count the donations together.
While in the staff member’s hotel room, Panepinto made a
series of unwanted, verbal, and physical sexual advances which were rebuffed by
the staff member. The defendant eventually complied with the staff member’s
request that he leave, although he did return to the staffer member’s hotel
room during the early morning hours in an unsuccessful attempt to get back into
her hotel room. The following morning, Panepinto and the staff member returned
to Buffalo together. However, the two did not discuss the events that took
place the night before.
Upset by what occurred in her hotel room, the staff member
subsequently resigned from her position in Panepinto’s district office.
Following her resignation, the New York State Senate conducted an investigation
into what had occurred, and, as a result of the investigation, referred the
matter to the New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) for
further investigation.
The defendant was concerned that the JCOPE investigation
would jeopardize his 2016 campaign for re-election. As a result, Panepinto
directed a senior staff member to meet with the staff member and offer her
money and/or new employment if she refused to participate in the JCOPE
investigation. It was suggested that the new employment would be political in
nature and funded in whole or in part by an Act of Congress. The meeting took
place on March 7, 2016, at which time the staff member did not accept or refuse
the offer. On March 9, 2016, the senior staff member contacted the staff member
to arrange a follow-up meeting but the staff member did not agree to a
follow-up meeting. Subsequently, on March 15, 2016, Panepinto announced that he
would not be seeking re-election to the New York State Senate.
“The defendant essentially sought to purchase this young
woman’s silence,” stated U.S. Attorney Kennedy. “In so doing, he placed his own
interests above those of his staff and his constituents; he sought to use his
position to benefit himself above all others. His abuse of power cost him his
office and bought him a federal criminal conviction.”
“Panepinto's admitted criminal misconduct -- behavior that
he engaged in while he served in public office -- is not acceptable,” said FBI
Special Agent-in-Charge Gary Loeffert. “Today's sentencing highlights the
importance of rooting out acts of public corruption in our community.”
Today’s sentencing is the result of an investigation by the
Buffalo Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of
Special Agent-in-Charge Gary Loeffert, and the New York State Joint Commission
on Public Ethics, under the direction of Executive Director Seth H. Agata.
