Zaccaro Sentenced for Inflating Worth : Judge Orders Him to Perform 150 Hours of Community Service

NEW YORK —  John A. Zaccaro, whose financial dealings troubled the vice presidential campaign of his wife, Geraldine A. Ferraro, was sentenced Wednesday to perform 150 hours of community service for falsely inflating his net worth on a loan application to purchase apartment buildings.

Acting State Supreme Court Justice George Roberts had indicated that he would not require a jail term when Zaccaro made his bargain on Jan. 7 to plead guilty to one count of scheming to defraud, a misdemeanor.

“I will serve whatever your decision is, your honor. I know it will be fair. I have learned my lesson the hard way,” Zaccaro, obviously subdued, said as he stood before the bench for formal sentencing.

Wife Not in Court

” . . . In my business, sometimes you get involved in a situation that is unfair and you try to resolve it. I just hope this puts an end to my microscopic viewing by the press and by people in general.”

Zaccaro’s wife, who was Walter F. Mondale’s Democratic running mate, was not in court. She also did not attend the January session, which ended intensive plea bargaining between Zaccaro’s lawyers and the Manhattan district attorney’s office.

Judge Roberts said he believed there was “little or no chance” that Zaccaro would be involved in criminal activity a second time.

“That does not mean some sanction should not be imposed,” the judge added.

Help for Troubled Youths

Zaccaro was ordered to spend the first 50 hours of his sentence working at the Andrew Glover Youth Program, a halfway house on Manhattan’s Lower East Side that specializes in trying to help teen-agers with criminal records.

The judge noted that Zaccaro owns and manages properties in the neighborhood and asked Zaccaro to serve as a consultant and adviser on housing repair and maintenance.

The other 100 hours will be divided equally between a home for the aged in Manhattan and the Legal Aid Society’s Civil Division.

Zaccaro could have been sentenced to a year in prison and a $1,000 fine. When he pleaded guilty on Jan. 7, his lawyers said he wanted to spare his family the publicity and anguish of a trial.

Sales Price Exaggerated

The indictment charged that Zaccaro had lied in trying to arrange financing for a business associate who was seeking to buy an apartment complex in the New York City borough of Queens. As part of the transaction in June, 1983, it was charged, Zaccaro submitted a false sales contract to a mortgage broker showing the sales price of the complex as $15.5 million, while the actual price was $11.98 million.

According to the indictment, Zaccaro changed the date and the address on an appraisal of the property. The same month he signed a loan application listing his net worth as $21,640,000. The indictment charged Zaccaro’s net worth at the time was no more than $4 million.

Zaccaro had no comment as he left court. But his lawyer, Arthur Liman, charged that his client was singled out because of his wife’s political prominence.

“Anyone who feels that John Zaccaro got a break in this case does not understand the circumstances involved,” Liman said. “He was prosecuted under much higher standards than anyone else connected with this case. He is the spouse of a vice presidential candidate. His conduct has been scrutinized far beyond normal.”