New York, New York – Brill Legal Group secured a probationary sentence and no jail time for the former controller of the NYPD Sergeants Benevolent Association in a federal tax fraud case heard in Manhattan, NY.

At a recent sentencing in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the judge imposed a sentence of two years of probation on Dennis Ostermann after he admitted to filing false tax returns related to $150,000 in payments that benefited former union president Ed Mullins’ legal defense.

Prosecutors had sought a term of imprisonment. In a sentencing memorandum, Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexandra Rothman asked the court to impose a sentence of six to twelve months in custody, arguing that anything less would be “a mere slap on the wrist” and would not fully reflect the seriousness of the offense.

Ostermann, who had served as the union’s controller, pleaded guilty in June 2025 to charges arising from past tax returns. According to the government’s submissions, he disguised $150,000 in payments to Mullins’ attorneys as “legal fees” of a separate company he created and then claimed those amounts as business expenses on his personal returns.

In written submissions to the court, attorney Peter Brill of Brill Legal Group described Ostermann as a long-serving law enforcement professional who joined the NYPD in 1979, retired as a sergeant in 1999, and later became the union’s controller.

The defense emphasized his lack of prior criminal history, his age, and his consistent work history in arguing that a prison term was not necessary to achieve the goals of sentencing. The filing detailed Ostermann’s long-standing community ties, including his involvement in his Nassau County church, his education in Catholic schools in Brooklyn and at St. John’s University in Queens, and his history of assisting others with tax preparation and accounting.

The firm also argued that Ostermann had been misled by Mullins and that the union’s internal controls relied heavily on trust in the then-president. Brill stated that the outcome in Ostermann’s case reflected the court’s consideration of his client’s decades-long work history and lack of prior criminal record.

CASE INFORMATION

District Court, S.D. New York
United States v. Ostermann
Case No. 1:25-cr-00252