Jurors begin deliberations in Milan case

By CLINT RILEYand RENEE WINKLER
Courier-Post Staff
CAMDEN

Jurors began deliberating the fate of Camden Mayor Milton Milan on Wednesday after listening to five weeks of government allegations that he repeatedly broke the law before and after he took public office.

"You are the sole judges of fact," U.S. District Court Judge Joel Pisano instructed the eight women and four men chosen to consider the 19-count corruption case against Milan.

Jurors began weighing Milan's guilt or innocence at 2:17 p.m., following three hours of instructions from the judge. Shortly after 4 p.m., jurors went home for the day without reaching a verdict. They are scheduled to continue deliberations today.

Milan, 38, has maintained his innocence. He remained outwardly upbeat Wednesday but said little when court recessed for the day.

In his closing statement Tuesday, defense attorney Carlos Martir Jr. said Milan is a victim of overzealous federal prosecutors who brought a criminal case against the mayor based on the word of convicted criminals and his political opponents.

Prosecutors argued to jurors during closing arguments this week that Milan's life between 1994 and 1999 was "a chronology of crime and corruption." Milan was elected to the City Council in November 1995, and mayor in May 1997.

Federal prosecutors allege Milan committed an array of serious crimes dating back to late 1994, when he co-owned a Camden construction company, Atlas Contracting.

The government's case includes allegations that the mayor committed wire and mail fraud, bribery, attempted extortion and money laundering. He faces more than 10 years in federal prison without parole if convicted on all counts.

Milan is accused of devising a scheme in 1994 and 1995 to evade Internal Revenue Service bank reporting requirements on a $65,000 cash loan that he and Gholam H. Darakhshan, his former partner in Atlas, received from convicted drug lord Jose "JR" Rivera. Prosecutors allege Milan knew the money he was borrowing came from Rivera's drug trafficking.

To evade IRS reporting requirements, Milan and his partner divided the cash among friends and relatives, the government alleges. The friends and relatives were then instructed to either purchase bank checks or deposit the money in personal checking accounts, and make the checks payable to Atlas Contracting, prosecutors say. The deposits were in amounts of less than $10,000, the amount that requires reporting to the IRS.

In addition, Milan is accused of staging a burglary with Darakhshan at the Atlas Contracting offices on Dec. 31, 1995, as part of an insurance scam.

Prosecutors say Milan kept a leased office computer for himself and then sold it in August 1997 to a former City Hall intern for $1,500 - about $1,000 more than its normal resale value.

From March 1996 to April 1999, Milan is accused of secretly using his elected office for personal gain. Prosecutors said he accepted cash, vacations, dinners, automobiles and home improvements from individuals, companies and the Philadelphia/South Jersey Mafia - all of whom sought city business.

Further, Milan is accused of conspiring with Joseph S. Caruso, a former adviser and city municipal prosecutor, to solicit and accept a $5,000 political contribution in late 1997 from the municipal public defender in exchange for the defender's reappointment.

Prosecutors also allege Milan devised an illegal scheme to use $7,500 in election contributions to help pay for a post-election vacation to Puerto Rico for himself, his girlfriend and more than 13 others.