Anthony R. Suarez (born 1967) is a

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

attorney and has served as Mayor of Ridgefield, New Jersey since 2004.

Biography

Suarez was born in Englewood, New Jersey and was raised in Ridgefield. He graduated from Ridgefield Memorial High School in 1984. He then attended Saint Peter's College in Jersey City, graduating with a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

degree in 1988. He received a J.D. degree from

Fordham University School of Law Fordham University School of Law is the law school of Fordham University. The school is located in Manhattan in New York City, and is one of eight ABA-approved law schools in that city. In 2013, 91% of the law school's first-time test t ...

in 1993. He was admitted to the New Jersey Bar in 1993 and the New York Bar in 1994. He is currently an attorney at the Fort Lee law firm Dario Yacker Suarez & Albert. Suarez was elected to the Ridgefield Borough Council in 1998, and was reelected to the Council in 2001. He was elected mayor in 2003 and was reelected in 2007. He is the first elected Latino mayor in the history of Bergen County and the second Democratic mayor in the history of Ridgefield.

Operation Bid Rig

On July 23, 2009, Suarez was arrested as part of

Operation Bid Rig Operation Bid Rig was a long-term investigation into political corruption in New Jersey conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, and the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey from 2002 to 2014 ...

, a joint operation of the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

IRS The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax ...

, and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey into political corruption and money laundering. Suarez was charged with accepting a $10,000 cash bribe from an FBI informant through a middleman, Vincent Tabbachino, for assistance in arranging approvals to develop properties in Ridgefield. Though the two other mayors implicated in the sting operation,

Peter Cammarano Peter J. Cammarano III (born July 22, 1977) is an American disbarred attorney, former Democratic politician and a convicted felon. He was the 37th mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey, serving from July 1 until July 31, 2009. Cammarano was arrested by t ...

Hoboken Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,69 ...

and Dennis Elwell of

Secaucus Secaucus ( ) is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the town's population was 16,264,Jon Corzine Jon Stevens Corzine ( ; born January 1, 1947) is an American financial executive and retired politician who served as a United States Senator from New Jersey from 2001 to 2006 and the 54th governor of New Jersey from 2006 to 2010. Corzine ran fo ...

. On August 3, 2009, Corzine launched an investigation into whether the State of New Jersey should seize control of Ridgefield's finances. Targeting Ridgefield, Corzine also signed an Executive Order freezing development approvals in municipalities with chief executives facing corruption charges who have not resigned from office. Suarez was acquitted on all charges on October 27, 2010.

References

External links

Suarez & Tabbachino criminal complaint

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United Stat ...

, July 23, 2009 {{DEFAULTSORT:Suarez, Anthony 1967 births Living people People from Englewood, New Jersey Saint Peter's University alumni Fordham University School of Law alumni Mayors of Ridgefield, New Jersey New Jersey Democrats New Jersey lawyers Operation Bid Rig Hispanic and Latino American mayors in New Jersey Ridgefield Memorial High School alumni