The former director in charge of student meals at the New York City Department of Education, Eric Goldstein, was sentenced on September 9 at the Brooklyn Federal Court for his involvement in a bribery case. The four defendants all received lenient sentences, with the main offender Goldstein sentenced to two years in prison.
Goldstein, aged 56, along with the three accomplices – Michael Turley, aged 54, Brian Twomey, aged 54, and Blaine Iler, aged 37 – were convicted by a jury last year and originally faced a maximum sentence of over six years. Federal Judge Denny Chin remarked during the sentencing on September 9 that these four defendants were fundamentally good people who had veered off course. However, the judge also acknowledged that this was a serious and blatant criminal activity, and that the defendants were well aware of their bribery schemes. Despite this, the prosecutor had initially sought a maximum sentence of six and a half years for Goldstein, but the judge ultimately handed down a two-year prison term. The other three defendants, who had initially faced sentences ranging from three and a half to four years as sought by the prosecutor, were sentenced to 15 months for Turley and Twomey, and a year and a day for Iler. Additionally, Iler and Twomey were also ordered to pay a fine of $10,000.
Goldstein served as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Department of Education’s Office of School Support Services from 2008 to 2018, overseeing the management of student meals. Starting in 2015, he solicited kickbacks from the owners of Somma Foods, a Texas meat supplier, namely Turley, Twomey, and Iler, in exchange for introducing the company’s poor-quality and contaminated meat products to nearly 2,000 public schools across the city until April 2017. Goldstein received nearly $100,000 in cash bribes and company stock as a result. According to the New York Post, on August 23, Goldstein wrote a letter to the judge pleading for forgiveness, stating that his actions had caused his family to fall apart, with his two sons and ex-wife experiencing significant pain and struggling to cope, therefore hoping for a lenient sentence. While Goldstein did not receive clemency, the judge still opted for lighter sentencing.
The New York Daily News reported that retired NYPD Captain Pat Russo, who had provided information to the FBI regarding this case and collaborated with a whistleblower, expressed dissatisfaction with Goldstein’s lenient sentence, feeling that he had escaped severe legal consequences, acknowledging that Goldstein had ruined his own life.