SDNY COURTHOUSE, Nov 8 – Francis Lorenzo used his position as UN Ambassador for the Dominican Republic to take and pay bribes for a Macau "UN South South Development Conference Center proposed by now incarcerated Ng Lap Seng.
On November 8 Lorenzo was given a sentence of time served, which was twenty days in detention, by U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Vernon S. Broderick.
It was what the US Attorney's Office of Geoffrey S. Berman essentially recommended, calling Lorenzo a model cooperating witness. This despite acknowledging that Lorenzo had to "re-plead" guilty when it emerged he had not disclosed his receipt of bribes. Assistant US Attorney Douglas S. Zolkind at sentencing praised Lorenzo for example for always appearing in a three-piece suit.
Judge Broderick before giving the time served sentence said there was a need for general deterence. But neither he nor Zolkind even mentioned an after arising UN bribery case, for which Patrick Ho of CEFC China Energy was convicted by SDNY Judge Loretta A. Preska.
Judge Broderick did impose two years of supervised release, and 250 hours of community service.
Afterward Inner City Press sought to ask Lorenzo a question but was told by his lawyerBrian H. Bieber that Lorenzo would not answer questions.
So Inner City Press asked Bieber how Lorenzo would do his community service and when Lorenzo last saw and communicated with Carlos Garcia, the former El Salvador ambassador shown in the trial before Judge Broderick to have helped launder money for Lorenzo.
Bieber said he would ask Lorenzo, and perhaps get back to Inner City Press, which has reported and will continue to report on these cases. This case is US v. Lorenzo, 15-cr-706 (Broderick).
