News in the Press

NBA: Feds looking to cut Donaghy a $$$ deal

His attorney argued that testimony in the NBA case could affect sentencing on other charges.

BY ANTHONY M. DESTEFANO | anthony.destefano@newsday.com
July 9, 2008

Federal prosecutors want to spare hundreds of thousands of dollars in financial grief for disgraced former NBA referee Tim Donaghy.

In a letter filed in federal court yesterday in Brooklyn, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Goldberg said the law shields the referee from having to pay back more than $500,000 in his salary and benefits to the NBA.

In addition, Donaghy, 41, who pleaded guilty last year to illegal gambling charges, should be allowed to split the remaining $233,317 in restitution to the league with gamblers James Battista and Thomas Martino, said Goldberg.

The issue of Donaghy's restitution, as well as that of Battista and Martino, will be argued today before Judge Carol B. Amon. If Amon agrees with the government's analysis, Donaghy would be saddled only with repaying $76,000 in salary and other costs, for a total of about $121,000, according to court papers. Martino pleaded guilty to a gambling conspiracy charge in April and Battista pleaded guilty to a related conspiracy charge later that month.

That amount is a far cry from the $1.4 million restitution the NBA had requested earlier. The initial NBA figure included recouping the value of Donaghy's "honest services" from 2003 to 2007 and the costs of the league internal investigation as well as a review of videotapes of games he officiated. But after Amon questioned the NBA computation, the league winnowed its restitution request to about $740,000.

However, Goldberg said in his letter that Donaghy shouldn't have to pay more than $500,000 of that amount because it represents the value of Donaghy's honest services for the years 2003 to 2006, money the NBA isn't entitled to get, said Goldberg.

The only amount of salary the NBA can get back as restitution would be for the part of the years 2006 and 2007, when Donaghy admitted being part of the gambling conspiracy to which he pleaded guilty last August, Goldberg said.

Donaghy is scheduled to be sentenced July 14. Under sentencing guidelines, he could get about 33 months in prison. Prosecutors have sent a letter to Amon detailing Donaghy's cooperation so that she can take that into account when she sentences him.

Donaghy's attorney, John Lauro, couldn't be reached for comment yesterday. Paul Schectman, the lawyer for the NBA, said he might wait to reply to Goldberg's letter in court this morning.

Amon is also expected to deal with a request by Donaghy to subpoena retired FBI supervisor Philip Scala, who once headed the Gambino family squad and supervised the probe of Donaghy. Lauro apparently hopes to use Scala's testimony as a way of showing the importance of Donaghy's cooperation. The government has asked Amon to toss out the subpoena as unjustified.