Hudson County, New Jersey, Woman Admits Conspiracy To Promote Voter Bribery Scheme

NEWARK, N.J. – A Hoboken, New Jersey, woman today admitted her role in a conspiracy to promote a voter bribery scheme, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced. 

Lizaida Camis, 55, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge William J. Martini in Newark federal court to Count 2 of an indictment charging her with conspiracy to use the mail to promote a voter bribery scheme during the 2013 municipal election in Hoboken.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Camis, Dio Braxton, and others, at former Hoboken City Council candidate Frank Raia’s direction, agreed to pay certain Hoboken voters $50 each if those voters applied for and cast mail-in ballots for the November 2013 Hoboken municipal election. Camis and others provided these voters with vote-by-mail applications and then delivered the completed applications to the Hudson County Clerk’s office. After the mail-in ballots were delivered to the voters, Camis and others went to the voters’ residences and, in some cases, instructed the voters to vote for a rent control referendum that Raia supported. Camis, Braxton and others promised the voters that they would be paid $50 for casting their mail-in ballots and told them that they could pick up their checks after the election at Raia’s office in Hoboken. Bank records show that voters who interacted with Camis and Braxton received $50 checks from an entity associated with Raia.

Raia and Braxton were indicted on Oct. 31, 2018, for their roles in the scheme.

The conspiracy charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 21, 2019.

U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Gregory W. Ehrie in Newark, and special agents of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of the Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Christina Scaringi, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.    

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Farrell of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Special Prosecutions Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Rahul Agarwal, Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division.

The charges and allegations against Raia and Braxton are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Defense Counsel: Brandon D. Minde, Esq., Cranford, New Jersey