A state senator from Queens was arrested by the FBI at the Plaza Hotel Saturday morning after an agent posing as an international financier gave him $150,000 to smuggle out of the country in violation of currency laws. The suspect, Andrew Jenkins, is serving his second term in the Senate
representing southeastern Queens. A lawyer and Fordham University graduate identified with Queens Democratic regulars, he formerly served as an assemblyman, an assistant district attorney and a deputy buildings
commissioner.
Authorities said the arrest culminated a four-month inquiry in which the 46-year-old senator held a series of meetings at bars and restaurants with an undercover agent–all of them secretly videotaped–and agreed to go to Africa to launder what he was told were the proceeds of criminal activities.
As hidden cameras recorded the transaction Saturday, Jenkins was handed a briefcase containing the money at a breakfast with the agent at the Plaza, the FBI said.
