TRENTON — Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA) today announced that a Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission (PVSC) employee has pleaded guilty after trying to influence a PVSC Commissioner in a corrupt attempt to advance in his career.

Omid Bayati, 43, of Hillsdale, New Jersey, pleaded guilty on January 13, 2025, to an accusation charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit official misconduct (2nd degree), during a hearing before New Jersey Superior Court Judge Christopher R. Kazlau, presiding at the Bergen County Justice Center in Hackensack.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, the State will recommend that the court sentence Bayati to five years in state prison. Bayati’s plea agreement with the State will also require him to forfeit his employment as an operations worker for the PVSC, face a lifetime ban from any public employment, and forfeit the money seized by the State during the investigation, which Bayati gave to a PVSC Commissioner for personal gain.

“Mr. Bayati’s brazen attempt to influence his supervisor using money has earned him a felony conviction instead,” said Attorney General Platkin. “Trying to illegally influence a government official in New Jersey doesn’t pay.”

“Illegal attempts to influence public officials will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” said Drew Skinner, Executive Director of OPIA. “Mr. Bayati now faces a recommended five-year prison sentence for attempting to orchestrate an illegal scheme to pay off his boss for favorable treatment.”

According to the complaint filed in 2021 and documents subsequently filed in court, while he was employed at the PVSC, a Newark-based State agency, Bayati attempted to make an improper payment of $1,200 to a PVSC commissioner. Bayati’s goal, according to the investigation, was influencing that official to give him preferential treatment, including placing the defendant in a higher pay range than he was qualified for based on his position and experience level.

Bayati attempted to provide this illicit payment first by check, drawn from an account opened under the name “PVSC PAC,” an organization unaffiliated with the PVSC. That check was left at a restaurant in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, for the intended recipient to pick up. Written on the check’s memo line was one word: “donation.”

The commissioner reported the defendant’s conduct to his own supervisors, who reported it to law enforcement.

As the investigation unfolded, the defendant gave the commissioner an envelope filled with $1,200 in cash at a pub in Fair Lawn, and asked him to “push [his] salary a little bit,” among other, broader promotion requests. Bayati explained that he was seeking help in procuring promotional opportunities within the PVSC and in politics.

Bayati was indicted by the state grand jury on June 30, 2021. Sentencing is scheduled for March 21, 2025.

The case was investigated by the New Jersey State Police Official Corruption North Unit. The matter was prosecuted by Deputy Chief of the OPIA Corruption Bureau Frank L. Valdinoto, under the supervision of Bureau Co-Director Jeffrey J. Manis and OPIA Executive Director Skinner.

Defense Attorney
Kenneth Ralph, Esq., Rutherford, New Jersey
John J. Bruno Jr., Esq., Rutherford, New Jersey

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