Federal prosecutors want a Brooklyn businessman to serve four to six years behind bars for bribing a cop in exchange for expedited gun permits, according to court documents.
Alex (Shaya) Lichtenstein pleaded guilty to bribery and conspiracy charges as part of the widening NYPD corruption investigation.
The 45-year-old offered an officer $6,000 per gun license to speed up the permitting process and told the cop that he had landed gun licenses for 150 people in the past.
Prosecutors made their request Thursday.
Lichtenstein is scheduled to be sentenced March 16.
He still hasn’t learned.
The Brooklyn businessman who admitted to bribing NYPD cops for expedited gun permits used photos showing him with police in arguing for a lenient sentence, according to court papers.
Alex Lichtenstein, a volunteer for Borough Park’s Shomrim patrol, submitted pics of him alongside NYPD officers and fellow volunteers “in connection with various law enforcement matters” to the judge who will sentence him later this week, prosecutors said in court papers filed Monday.
“The defendant’s continued emphasis on his relationship with the NYPD as an example of his good character and charitable efforts is confounding,” prosecutors wrote. “Lichtenstein stands convicted of participating in a long-running conspiracy in which he bribed NYPD personnel in the Licensing Division in exchange for obtaining gun licenses for his clients.
“Moreover, rather than support any leniency, the defendant’s submission of these additional exhibits instead should signal to the Court the need for a significant sentence to specifically deter the defendant in light of his demonstrated inability to appreciate the gravity of his criminal conduct,” prosecutors also charged.
They want six years in federal lockup for Lichtenstein, who copped to bribery and offering a bribe charges on Nov. 10 for his role in a graft scheme running from 2013 to 2016.
“I had a good and friendly relationship with New York City police officers. During these years, I gave police officers in the Licensing Division things of value, including money, knowing that by giving them those things, the officers would do me favors, including expediting gun license applications,” the 45-year-old admitted during the plea proceedings.
He also said he offered an officer a $6,000 bribe in April 2016 to speed up a gun permit approval.
Before Lichtenstein pleaded guilty, his lawyer had tried to get the case tossed — maintaining the bizman was loaded when talking to the feds. Lichtenstein said he has since gone into rehab for alcohol use.
Lichtenstein’s lawyer Richard Finkel has not put these arguments for leniency, including the photos, on the public record — though the images were given to the judge last week.
Manhattan Federal Judge Sidney Stein has ordered Finkel to file them publicly by the end of Tuesday.
Finkel did not immediately respond to requests for comment.