NEWARK – A federal grand jury today indicted former state Senator Joseph Coniglio on nine counts of mail fraud and extortion in connection with an influence-peddling scheme connected to a $66,000-a-year consulting arrangement with Hackensack University Medical Center, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced today.

Coniglio, 65, of Paramus, a plumber by trade, allegedly set up the consulting arrangement with Hackensack University Medical Center (HUMC) to purportedly perform “hospital relations,” an area in which he had no prior experience. In fact, according to the Indictment, the arrangement was a way for him to receive $5,000 monthly from the hospital in exchange for his official support for funding requests for so-called “Christmas Tree” budget items from the state Legislature and funding from other state agencies.

Keith Garner, Gregg Savage, and Shalonda Harris, all of Atlanta, Georgia, and Latesha Garner, of Durham, North Carolina, were convicted on charges of conspiracy to commit mortgage fraud and wire fraud related to $6 million in fraudulent real estate financing from SunTrust Mortgage Company over a ten week period in the summer of 2006.