The “next chapter” of former GOP Rep. Vito Fossella’s life is unfolding at a financial firm in Midtown Manhattan that offers hedge fund-style investments to ordinary Joes, the Advance has learned.

The company is run by a high-flying, globetrotting college dropout and former Austrian policeman who hobnobs with celebrities like former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and “Desperate Housewives” star Teri Hatcher.

Fossella over the weekend served the first two days of a four-day jail stint stemming from his drunken-driving conviction in Virginia. He is set to return to jail in the commonwealth this weekend to finish his sentence.

Fossella’s new company, Superfund Investment Group, has offices in 16 countries around the world, and manages $1.6 billion in assets for 50,000 customers.

Not much is known about what Fossella does for Superfund, but sources told the Advance he has been seen on Capitol Hill in recent weeks, leading to speculation that he could be putting his political contacts to work on behalf of the firm.

Source: SiLive Continue Reading This Article Here

Former Staten Island Congressman Vito Fossella has plead guilty today to drunk driving charges, at his second trial in Alexandria, Virginia.

He was sentenced to five days in prison over two consecutive weekends.

The former lawmaker was not expected to enter a plea today. Instead, jury selection was scheduled to take place.

Fossella appealed his five-day jail sentence in December, after a judge found him guilty of a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence.

Under Virginia law, that appeal triggered an automatic retrial before a jury.

Fossella was arrested last May after police pulled him over for running a red light. Police say he was found to have a blood-alcohol level that was twice the legal limit in the state of Virginia.

Defense attorneys had claimed Fossella was not drunk, and had questioned the accuracy of a breathalyzer test.

Today, his attorneys said that Fossella decided not to fight the conviction after his team was unable to get the software for the breathalyzer machine.

His attornies also cited the death of Los Angeles Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart as another reason of entering the plea. Adenhart was killed last week in a drunk-driving accident.

Following his arrest, Fossella was forced to admit that he fathered a child during an extra-marital affair. He also decided not to seek re-election.

It is expected that Fossella will start his sentence this Friday.

Source: NY1

The jury trial in former Staten Island Rep. Vito Fossella’s drunken driving case is set to get underway this morning in Alexandria, Va.

After being convicted of driving under the influence in October and sentenced by a General District Court judge to five days in jail in December, the disgraced congressman immediately appealed, setting up a date in Alexandria Circuit Court.

Jury selection should begin sometime after 9:30 a.m. The court has set aside today and tomorrow for the trial.

During the trial, Fossella’s attorneys questioned the validity of the results of the Intoxilyzer test, in part because it misprinted, twice, the name of the officer who administered the test. Interference from police radios and cell phones and the presence of hand sanitizer on Fossella also could have produced a higher reading than was actually the case.

The legal team also pointed out that a field sobriety test indicated a .133 blood-alcohol content, which falls below the .15 threshold. Fossella, testifying on his own behalf, told the judge he did not drive drunk and was traveling to see his sick daughter when he ran a red light in Alexandria. He paid his $100 fine for the red-light violation on Nov. 5.

In papers filed with the court, Alexandria prosecutor David Lord cited another Virginia case where a judge ruled that the higher sobriety test result — taken hours after the defendant was driving — trumped the field sobriety test. Alcohol content rises in the period after a person stops drinking.

“Congressman Fossella, I’ve been sworn to follow the law and must impose jail time,” Cheif Judge Becky Moore said while imposing the sentence Dec. 8.

The DUI arrest was the first step that sparked Fossella’s fall from grace and led him not to seek re-election for his seat in November. After the media questioned why Fossella was bailed out by Alexandria retired Air Force Colonel Laura Fay, he admitted that he fathered a child out of wedlock with her.

Fossella, who was first elected to Congress in 1997, left Washington at the end of last year. He has not announced what he intends to do, but some speculate that he might run to win back his seat in 2010 after recent appearances around Staten Island.

Source: SiLive

A state panel is recommending a racino and hotel be built at Belmont Park race track to generate jobs and revenue for the state.

Gov. David Paterson embraced the recommendations from Racing & Wagering Board Chairman John Sabini and Empire State Development Corp. President Marisa Lago weeks ago, but kept it under wraps until their report was released Monday.

Sabini and Lago led a group charged with identifying uses for the Nassau County track, which the state acquired from the New York Racing Association. The hotel and racino would be built on 8 acres near the grandstand.

“These would create jobs and enable a sustainable, pedestrian-friendly environment,” the report says.

Development plans for another 20 acres should include retail, a smaller hotel, senior housing and some recreational opportunities. “These uses maximize economic benefits and create a lively urban center,” the report says.

Paterson spokesman Morgan Hook cautioned that while the governor had accepted the report, he hasn’t yet endorsed a specific development plan for Belmont.

The plan is far from a done deal. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and many members of his conference are not enthused about having Belmont compete with nearby Aqueduct for video lottery terminal customers.

Also, the operators of the proposed Aqueduct VLT racino in Queens must be granted a greater share of VLT revenues if Belmont gets a racino.

Under the deal in which Delaware North agreed to build the racino at Aqueduct, the Buffalo-based gaming company was assured a greater fee if Belmont gets a racino, too.

Legislation would have to be passed to alter the VLT rates to benefit Delaware North — and the company isn’t planning to give the state its $370 million up-front payment for rights to operate at Aqueduct until such legislation is in place, according to company officials.

Because Paterson is planning to receive that $370 million by March 31, the legislation is critical in the next few weeks, Delaware North says.

Source: Times Union

Disgraced Congressman Vito Fossella said nothing after a judge sentenced him to five days in jail Monday for driving under the influence of alcohol.

But Fossella isn’t going behind bars just yet. That’s because he is appealing the decision.

Fossella’s lawyer, Barry Pollack, said, “Congressman Fossella has filed his appeal, which makes this the beginning of the process, which is a trial by jury.”

Lawyers for Fossella argued that the breathalyzer tests given to the Congressman were faulty because they showed different results.

Shortly before the sentencing, Fossella’s lawyers brought in a waiter at the tavern where Fossella was drinking. He testified that the Congressman did not appear drunk, contradicting what the police said they had witnessed when they found his blood alcohol level to be above the legal limit.

“We simply disagree with the commonwealth’s decision that he was intoxicated over that legal limit. We believe that when all the evidence is considered by a jury, it will conclude the same thing,” said Pollock.

The arrest in May led to Fossella’s downfall, after it was also revealed that he fathered a child in an extramarital affair. Fossella did not run for reelection and will be out of office in just a few weeks, though there are rumors that he wants to run for elected office again.

With the appeal now filed, lawyers for Fossella expect the new trial to begin within the next three months.

Source: NY1

Embattled Staten Island Congressman Vito Fossella was convicted yesterday of driving under the influence after a Virginia cop said the politician couldn’t recite the alphabet or even stand on one leg after he was pulled over.

After the verdict was announced, Fossella hugged teary-eyed friends in the courtroom and told them, “Don’t worry, it’ll be OK.”

A hearing was set for Dec. 8 to decide if the congressman’s blood-alcohol content was high enough to mandate a five-day jail sentence.

Fossella was also convicted of running a red light and will have to pay a $100 fine for the traffic violation.

The congressman quickly left the courthouse without speaking to reporters.

But he later released a statement saying the trial gave “an honest and straightforward account” of what happened.

“I made a serious mistake and I want to again apologize for setting the wrong example,” he said.

Officer Jamie Gernatt testified that when he approached Fossella’s car on May 1 in Alexandria, he smelled wine and concluded that the Republican lawmaker had been hitting the juice.

“There was a strong odor of alcoholic beverage coming from the car and his lips were stained red,” Gernatt testified in Alexandria General District Court.

When Fossella was asked to recite the alphabet beginning with the letter “D,” he struggled, skipping “G” and “K,” Gernatt said.

Fossella’s lawyers tried unsuccessfully to have the alphabet sobriety test tossed, arguing the cop should have started with the letter “A.”

Fossella’s arrest led to revelations the married 43-year-old congressman had fathered a child with retired Air Force colonel Laura Fay, of Virginia.

Fossella was at one point asked to stand on one leg for 30 seconds as part of another field sobriety test.

Gernatt said Fossella had to use his arms to maintain his balance. His lawyers countered that the congressman was nervous.

After Fossella was given the field sobriety tests, he blew a blood-alcohol level of 0.133 on a handheld Breathalyzer – above the state limit of 0.08.

He was arrested and taken to the Alexandria police station, but there the blood-alcohol machine, the Intoxylizer 5000, wasn’t working.

Fossella was then taken to the Mount Vernon, Va., police station where the first test there was inconclusive, but the second registered a blood-alcohol level of 0.17.

The mandatory jail sentence kicks in for anyone convicted with a blood-alcohol level of at least 0.15. If not, the penalty is left up to the judge’s discretion.

Fossella, who was not wearing his wedding ring yesterday, vehemently defended himself – testifying that he had “no more than a glass and a half of wine during dinner” – plus a few more sips at a bar hours before he was busted for blowing a red light. His parents were in the courtroom. Fay and his wife were not.

Thomas Workman, a defense witness and electrical engineer who specializes in Breathalyzer tests, said the machine was faulty the night Fossella was arrested.

Source: NY Post

Staten Island Congressman Vito Fossella will face a Virginia judge today for his DWI rap – and argue that cops administered a flawed Breathalyzer test.

Alexandria police say the Republican pol had a 0.13 blood-alcohol level during a field sobriety test after a traffic stop May 1.

Three hours later, two different machines registered 0.17 and at 0.185. The legal limit is 0.08.

Fossella’s lawyer, Barry Pollack, will argue there was no way his client got more drunk between the first and last tests.

“The reading suggests he was far more intoxicated than anyone’s description – even the officers who were present,” Pollack told The Post.

Fossella, who is not running for re-election, was on his way to see his mistress, Laura Fay.

Source: NY Post

An ex-Staten Island GOP lawmaker is seeking to replace scandal-scarred Vito Fossella as his district’s next congressman.

Former state Assemblyman Bob Straniere began circulating petitions yesterday to get on the ballot for the seat, which covers the island and South Brooklyn. Straniere served the island’s South Shore from 1981 through 2004.

Source: NY Post

Staten Island Republicans are once again in turmoil, as the man they chose to run for Congress died yesterday.

Frank Powers was the party’s pick to take over the seat that’s been held by disgraced Congressman Vito Fossella. Powers died in his sleep yesterday morning, reportedly of a heart attack.

Powers’ wake will be held Thursday. His funeral will be Friday morning at Our Lady Queen of Peace Church in New Dorp.

The 67-year-old retired Wall Street executive and MTA board member was selected by party officials to run for Congress last month. Powers had often contributed to GOP candidates, but had never run for office.

His son made a brief statement to reporters yesterday.

“As you can imagine, this is a very difficult time for our family. We would appreciate privacy at this time as we make the final arrangements,” said his son, Frank Jr.

“I talked to him the day before,” said State Senator Andrew Lanza. “He was in great spirits and looking forward to the campaign, to the summer. And this is not the time to start thinking about tomorrow. Today is about being here together with the family and seeing what we can do for each other.”

Staten Island’s Republican leaders will now have to evaluate their choices again — as they try to hold on to the city’s only Republican congressional seat.

On the Democratic side, City Councilman Michael McMahon and local attorney Steve Harrison are both vying for the seat.

Source: NY1

Under mounting pressure Vito Fossella has decided to not seek re-election for his house seat citing “healing wounds”

The official press release below: