Shorter Sentence Possible for Indian American Harendra Singh, the Star Witness in Bribery Case in Long Island

Indian American entrepreneur Harendra Singh of Laurel Hollow, New York, could serve a shorter sentence because of his cooperation in former Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano’s prosecution case. Singh, the “once-politically connected restaurateur turned government witness should serve less than the 14 to 17½ years in prison prescribed for his crimes under federal sentencing guidelines,” Newsday reported, citing newly released court documents. 

The Nassau County Executive, elected countywide to a four-year term, is the chief administrator of county government, responsible for law enforcement, planning, consumer protection, roads, parks and recreation facilities, all other services provided by the county, and preparation of the county budget.

Singh, who confessed to bribing Mangano and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, is scheduled to be sentenced next week. “He should also be on the hook for $22,824,082.54 in restitution, prosecutor Catherine Mirabile wrote, according to the Newsday report. 

Singh was friends with Edward Mangano and his wife, Linda Mangano. He was the star witness against the couple when they were convicted by a jury in 2019 on corruption charges. During the trial, the jury found that “Mangano used his influence as county executive to sway Town of Oyster Bay officials into indirectly backing what amounted to $20 million in loans for Singh, who was also a town concessionaire,” the Newsday report said. 

Singh has been under investigation since 2015. He was the owner of the Singh Hospitality Group which operated multiple restaurants in Queens and on Long Island. He was awarded agreements with the Town of Oyster Bay (the Town), including concession agreements to operate various food concessions within the Town. 

A 2015 indictment by the U.S. Attorney of the Eastern Division of New York, charged that Singh paid bribes and kickbacks to a town employee in exchange for the co-conspirator’s assistance in obtaining the town’s guarantee of two loans totaling approximately $20 million that two of Singh’s businesses received from a private corporate financing company. If Singh’s entities defaulted on the loans, “the town would be responsible for repaying the Lender the entire amount of the loan,” the DoJ said. He was also accused OF “underreporting his business earnings to the IRS to the tune of more than $17 million between the years 2009 and 2014.”

During the 2019 trial, Singh provided the government “with substantial assistance over the course of several years, which included many debriefings, document review, trial preparation and trial testimony,” Newsday said, quoting Mirabile’s letter. She said his testimony “strengthened the government’s case against the Manganos and provided valuable corroboration to other testimonial and documentary evidence.” She, however, did not provide details about his sentencing.

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Singh testified that “he bribed the county executive with free meals and vacations, two luxury chairs, hardwood flooring for the master bedroom in the couple’s Bethpage home, a $7,300 wristwatch for one of their sons and a $454,000 ‘no-show’ job for Linda Mangano,” Newsday said. 

“He pleaded guilty as part of a cooperation agreement in 2016 to an eight-count indictment, including conspiracy to commit federal program bribery and honest services wire fraud related to the Town of Oyster Bay loan scheme and a nearly $1 million fraudulent claim to FEM,” Newsday said. He also pleaded guilty to obstructing and impeding the due administration of the Internal Revenue laws.

In addition to bribing Mangano and de Blasio, who was not accused of any wrongdoing, Singh admitted bribing several other Oyster Bay Town officials, including former deputy town attorney Frederick Mei, who also pleaded guilty to corruption-related charges and is scheduled to be sentenced on the same day as Singh.