Sidney Brown, the CEO of privately owned NFI Industries, was not in a New Jersey courtroom Tuesday when his co-defendants were arraigned on multiple felony charges relating to real estate on the Camden waterfront.
Judge Peter Warshaw, the presiding judge of the criminal division of the Mercer County court system based in Trenton, told the court that Brown, part of the family that owns truckload carrier NFI, could not be present because his attorney was in court Tuesday in a separate federal action. Brown will be arraigned Aug. 7.
He was charged in eight of the 13 felony counts brought last month by the state’s attorney general office against six people — including former Camden mayor Dana Redd— regarding development rights on the waterfront. Significant tax benefits were set to accrue to the developers of certain sites, including the Triad1828 building where NFI has its headquarters.
The 111-page indictment mostly focuses on alleged efforts by South Jersey Democratic political power broker George Norcross — who has never held public office — to move out Cooper’s Ferry Partnership, a Camden nonprofit that held development rights to the waterfront sites, in favor of people connected to Norcross, including Brown. The financial benefit if the effort was successful would be the tax credits that flowed from legislation pushed by Norcross and his brother Philip, a co-defendant.
The other defendants, including Norcross, entered not guilty pleas at the arraignment. Norcross’ attorney said he was “emphatically” pleading not guilty.
The arraignment, which lasted a little more than 40 minutes and was livestreamed, disclosed that the investigation into Norcross had gone back at least eight years. That would have taken it back to the administration of Republican Gov. Chris Christie, who served two terms after first being elected in 2009. He was followed by current Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat.
Legislation that provided the tax credits for Camden redevelopment was approved in 2013.
After the not guilty pleas were entered, most of the discussion focused on issues of document discovery. As one of the attorneys for the defendants said, “I want the government to make sure they turn over everything that we’re entitled to. That indictment is permeated with conversations that took place eight years ago in connection wiretaps.” The documentation that was able to secure court orders allowing the wiretaps is necessary, the attorney said, “because we’re going to challenge the underlying legality of those intercepts.”
At another point in the discussion over discovery, an attorney for the defendants said the indictment “stretches the [Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act] beyond all recognition. It’s obviously a novel use of the statute. The only thing they forgot to establish in that indictment are the elements of a crime.”
Besides the Brown arraignment next month, the next hearing in the case will be Sept. 10.
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