ALBANY — After being convicted of bilking the state out of $1.2 million, Guilderland resident James Leggiero was sentenced in Albany County Court last week.

Leggiero pleaded guilty to first-degree grand larceny in April, a class B felony, and his sentencing was delayed several times while he was out of jail on $50,000 bail.

He was sentenced by Judge Thomas A. Breslin in county court on Monday, July 2.

Breslin sentenced Leggiero to three-and-one-third to 10 years in state prison and he has to make full restitution of the stolen money. According to the plea agreement he took from the state Attorney General’s office, Leggiero can never work for New York State or any other public agency again.

The Attorney General’s Office said an asset forfeiture lawsuit has been filed against Leggiero, which has seized his bank accounts, five Corvettes, and some of his properties. The assets will be used to reimburse the state. A spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office, Lee Park, told The Enterprise that the stolen money was used to finance the Leggerio’s "lavish lifestyle."

Park said the money stolen totaled $1,232,072, and that Leggiero used the money to buy high-end sports cars and more than one home.
"We are pleased with the outcome," Park said when Leggiero was convicted. "He’s going to state prison and he’s paying back what he stole."

Leggiero started a bogus company in 1998 called Very Important Properties (VIP), according to the attorney general’s office. Park said Leggiero abused his position as a senior auditor at the state’s Office of Mental Health to approve approximately 80 vouchers for VIP, a company that was supposedly checking sites for group homes.

Over the course of nearly a decade, Laggiero took the vouchers that ranged from hundreds of dollars to nearly $100,000 and placed them into a checking account linked to the fake VIP company, Park said. He then used the used the funds in that business account for personal expenses.

Leggiero and his wife, Kathleen, share a home at 135 Kennewyck Ct. in Guilderland and have two young sons. Kathleen Leggiero, who was not implicated in the crime, also works for the New York State Office of Mental Health. She was put on paid administrative leave during the state’s investigation of her husband.

She has now returned to her $77,000-a-year job, but has been moved within the office.
"She has been reassigned to a new department with new responsibilities," said the Office of Mental Health’s public information officer, Jill Daniels.
"She’s back to work," Daniels told The Enterprise yesterday.

The state is using the couple’s assets to pay back restitution, but, according to Leggiero’s attorney, Steven Coffey, Kathleen Leggiero has done no wrong and should not be penalized on her share of the family’s assets.

The couple’s 29,000-square-foot Kennewyck Circle home is assessed by the town of Guilderland at $431,300. Kathleen Leggiero is legally entitled to half of those assets, according to Coffey.

Coffey has defended Mrs. Leggiero’s interests.
"She’s got title to those assets, too," Coffey said after Leggiero’s conviction. "She’s got an interest in these assets superior to the state’s."

Kathleen Leggiero could not be reached for comment.
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo recently cited Leggiero’s case in a release as being part of a series of recent actions by his office to "fight corruption and ethical break-downs in New York State government."

Cuomo’s office has created a confidential hotline for people to report questionable activities or any wrongdoings in state offices. The number is 1-800-428-9072.