FBI Says He Agreed to Spirit $150,000 Out of Country : N.Y. State Senator Seized in Money Deal

NEW YORK —  A New York state senator was arrested Saturday in the posh Plaza Hotel after an undercover agent gave him $150,000 in cash to spirit out of the country, the FBI said.

Democratic Sen. Andrew Jenkins, who had booked flights for Saturday night to Brussels and on to Zaire, was arrested after a two-month sting operation, Joseph Valiquette, a spokesman for the FBI, said in Manhattan.

Met With Undercover Agent

In a series of meetings with an undercover FBI agent posing as an international financier, Jenkins allegedly agreed to carry currency out of the country without filing the required federal forms, Valiquette said.

Jenkins, who was elected to the state Assembly in 1979 and served until 1982, when he won election to the Senate, was charged under federal laws that make it a crime to transport more than $10,000 out of the country without notifying the U.S. Treasury Department, the spokesman said. The law is intended largely to deter money laundering.

A law enforcement source told the Associated Press that Jenkins had been promised a percentage of the cash as payment for moving it out of the country. The source said also that Jenkins had been told the money was ill-gotten.

‘Friends in Zaire’

Valiquette said: “He had indicated that he had friends in Zaire who could handle it, who could take it.”

Jenkins, 46, of Queens, was arrested in the Edwardian Room, a dining room at the midtown Manhattan hotel. He was released on a $50,000 personal recognizance bond after his arraignment at U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Magistrate Nina Gershon set Aug. 20 for a preliminary hearing.

“I have no comment to make other than that we will maintain my innocence throughout these proceedings,” Jenkins said as he left the courthouse.

Valiquette refused to say what had prompted the investigation, and he said it was not alleged that Jenkins had engaged in such transactions before.

Nonetheless, he said, the FBI became aware that the senator might be able to offer some assistance to the agent. As a result, meetings were held over the last two months between the agent and the senator, “and it was agreed that the senator would make this trip,” he said.

An FBI complaint released by Assistant U.S. Atty. Linda Imes said that a confidential informant had introduced Jenkins to the agent.