More Trouble for Chris! Supervisor St. Lawrence also being investigated by the SEC

RCT EXCLUSIVE 

Public records reveal that the FBI is not the only agency of the law pursuing the financial demons of Provident Bank Park and the infamous Ramapo LDC, led by Town Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence.

The Security and Exchange Commission is also on St. Lawrence’s trail, recently subpoenaing the town, the Ramapo Local Development Corporation (RLDC) and the town’s auditing firm led by Nick DeSantis regarding the issuing of debt on a Bond Anticipation Notice.

It appears investigators believe Ramapo’s financial team may have misled the market regarding reasonable anticipation of incoming revenues.

The SEC has the power to file criminal charges, but the case must be prosecuted by the Justice Department and the FBI. Sources in the town indicate the SEC came to Ramapo Town Hall last week and made a haul of inventory similar to the FBI’s raid in the spring of 2013. [UPDATE — After further investigation, the Rockland County Times received information that the SEC did not come to Town Hall, but rather officials from Ramapo loaded boxes of material requested by the SEC and delivered it to the SEC’s New York City offices].

The manner in which the FBI and SEC investigations are interrelated, or perhaps conjoined, is not known to the public. The FBI case has been the subject to a grand jury investigation for over a year.

The Town of Ramapo has sought to refinance the BANs this year, which is a possible reason for the SEC subpoenas. The SEC also had a small number of agents at Ramapo Town Hall in 2013 assisting in the FBI raid.

The town has been scrambling to find or borrow money pay off the bonds posted by the LDC, the “quasi-governmental entity” that has advanced the Provident Bank Ballpark project and the Elm Street housing developments.

Bill Weber  of the Ramapo Republican Committee has been hot on the case of the SEC investigation and potential corruption in the filing of the town’s BANs. Weber and his cohorts have filed a plethora of FOILs attempting to investigate the situation, often feeling they are running into a brick wall.

The current head of the SEC is former Eastern District federal prosecutor Mary Jo White, a well known name in the New York area. She participated in the prosecution of John Gotti and the 1993 World Trade Center terrorists.