Updates to our Terms of Use

We are updating our Terms of Use. Please carefully review the updated Terms before proceeding to our website.

Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Ex-Assemblyman Boyland Sued Over Firing

BROOKLYN, N.Y. (CN) - Disgraced former New York Assemblyman William Boyland fired a staffer caught cooperating against him with the FBI, a new complaint alleges.

Michael Caver makes the wrongful-termination claims in a Jan. 14 federal complaint against the four-term assemblyman and his chief of staff, Juana Gauthier.

Boyland, who represented Brooklyn's 55th District before his conviction last year on 21 counts of bribery, mail fraud and extortion, is looking at 30 years in prison.

Caver says he was working for Boyland as a community liaison when the assemblyman was facing his latest federal investigation.

Suspecting that Boyland had taken bribes "related to a purported project to bring a carnival to Boyland's district," the FBI approached Caver several times for information, according to the complaint.

"In or around December of 2012, Plaintiff returned to his home to find two FBI agents waiting to speak to him," the complaint sates. "He cooperated with the agents and answered their questions for several hours."

Shortly after the FBI had Caver come down to its offices for further questioning in March 2013, the ex-staffer says his job was in jeopardy.

"Soon after plaintiff met with the FBI in March, defendant Boyland asked Plaintiff to stay after work on a Friday afternoon to speak to him," the complaint states.

"Defendant Boyland told Plaintiff he heard that plaintiff was talking to FBI, and that he was going to do something about it.

"The following Monday, plaintiff received a call from defendant Gauthier, terminating Plaintiff without notice."

Caver says he received a letter from the New York State Assembly on March 21, 2013, stating that his employment with it ended on March 18, 2013.

Around this time, media outlets were reporting that Boyland's previous chief of staff, Ry Ann Hermon, would after plead guilty to a bribery charge and testify against the assemblyman. Hermon is not named as a defendnant to Caver's civil action.

Gauthier does not appear to have gotten caught up in the criminal case.

Mounting evidence did not sway Boyland into taking a plea deal, perhaps thinking he would escape the prosecution unscathed as he did in 2011 when he beat a corruption sting that took down fellow Assemblyman Anthony Seminerio and state Sen. Carl Kruger.

Billed in the tabloids a scion of "the Black Kennedys of Brownsville," Boyland inherited his office in the assembly from his father, William Boyland Sr., and his late uncle Thomas Boyland.

Caver makes no mention of the previous prosecution in his complaint, though he says he began working for Boyland's office in November 2008.

"As community liaison, Mr. Caver's job duties were to assist the constituents with problems and connect them with other government agencies that could assist them further," the complaint states.

"Mr. Caver worked diligently, and eventually became one of the most senior employees in Boyland's office," it continues. "He was given more responsibility, such as scheduling and attending meetings on behalf of defendant Boyland, and assisting the chief of staff, defendant Gauthier. Mr. Caver also became the office manager."

Stoll Glickman attorney Andrew Stoll represents Caver in the complaint for punitive damages.

Categories / Uncategorized

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Loading...