TRENTON – Joseph Arrigo, 47, of Bayonne, was sentenced to 15 months in prison on November 3 after pleading guilty to paying $65,000 in bribes to former senior accountant for the Bayonne Department of Community Development (CBDCD), Anselmo Crisonimo, 56. In return for the bribes, Arrigo received assistance in securing $426,000 in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grants to Arrigo’s contracting firm, according to U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman. Crisonino was responsible for reviewing applications and awarding such funds to qualified applicants.
Crisonimo previously pleaded guilty for his role in the bribery scheme in February, 2014 and awaits sentencing.
Arrigo was the owner of Shadow Contracting LLC, a general contracting company in Bayonne. The CBDCD was a government agency that received funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) under a federal program that provided grants of up to $20,000 to low-income families to rehabilitate their homes and to repair conditions affecting health and safety, accessibility, energy efficiency or code compliance. The CBDCD also provided these HUD funds under the same federal program to nonprofit organizations.
Arrigo also admitted that he failed to report $151,993 in income on his U.S. Individual Tax Return, Form 1040, for tax year 2011.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Sheridan sentenced Arrigo to three years of supervised release.
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