Jury begins deliberating Toussie case

A federal jury began deliberations Wednesday over Robert Toussie's $30-million discrimination suit against Suffolk County following closing arguments from both sides.

Toussie, of Brooklyn, in his suit said the county in 2001 unjustly refused to sell surplus land to him even though he was the highest bidder at auction. He said county officials again refused to sell him land in 2002 and then in 2004 barred him from bidding at all.

His lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said the county discriminated against his client because Toussie's son, Isaac, was convicted of mail fraud in connection with the sale of the Chandler Estate in Mount Sinai to the county.

"The government is not supposed to drive wedges between husbands and spouses and children," said Lowell in his closing argument in federal court in Central Islip after almost two weeks of testimony. "It is not supposed to punish one for the sins of the other."

Robert Toussie was never charged with a crime and has denied any wrongdoing.

His son was sentenced to 5 months in federal prison and 5 months of home detention. He was pardoned in 2008 by President George W. Bush, who reversed his decision the following day after it was discovered the elder Toussie made donations to the Republican National Committee and to Sen. John McCain, a Republican from Arizona.

Assistant County Attorney Christopher Termini said county officials acted properly because they believed Toussie was profiting from his son's illegal dealings and after hearing complaints from residents who sued Toussie over the quality of the homes he built.

"What the legislature did in 2001 was proper, and they had every right to do it," Termini said, as he disputed Toussie's claim that his son had little involvement in the real estate business.

"Who do you think gets all the profits from all that fraudulent activity?" Termini said. "The owner of the property. And who's the owner of the property? Robert Toussie."

In 2010, Toussie and a local mortgage bank agreed to pay $455,000 to settle a class-action suit accusing them of conspiring to sell shoddily built homes to more than 250 minority homeowners.

He and the bank denied the allegations.

The eight-member jury will resume deliberations today.