Former Bronx District Leader And Board Of Elections Employee Sentenced To Two Years In Prison For Extortion And Fraud

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, announced that NICOLE TORRES, a former elected district leader in the Bronx and employee of the New York City Board of Elections (the "NYC-BOE"), was sentenced today to two years in prison for participating in conspiracies to commit extortion and mail fraud for illegally demanding payments from Bronx residents in exchange for selecting those individuals as poll workers and for agreeing with others to falsify documents to make it appear that certain individuals had worked as poll workers when they had not. TORRES previously pled guilty on April 17, 2025, before U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil, who imposed today's sentence.

"For years, Nicole Torres abused her power to corrupt one of New York City's most fundamental democratic processes," said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. "By shaking down Bronx residents and falsifying election records, she undermined trust in the very system New Yorkers depend on to make their voices heard. New Yorkers can and should rely on the integrity of the election process, and public officials who contaminate the process and betray this city and its people will be held accountable."

As detailed in public filings and public court proceedings:

From at least 2019 through at least 2024, TORRES was a district leader for New York's 81st Assembly District in the Bronx. In addition, from at least 2016 through at least 2024, TORRES was an employee of the NYC-BOE. While working at the NYC-BOE, TORRES had at times been responsible for ensuring that poll workers were paid for their work during early voting and Election Day. TORRES abused her power as a district leader and a NYC-BOE employee to engage in two illegal schemes.

First, from at least 2019 through August 2024, TORRES agreed to require and required Bronx residents to pay a sum of money, usually $150, either to her or to a local organization (the "Bronx Organization") in exchange for TORRES selecting those individuals as poll workers for upcoming elections. Both the Bronx Organization and TORRES profited from the scheme. TORRES personally obtained at least approximately $28,000 in illegal payments. TORRES received the payments, often in the amount of $150, through mobile payment applications, money orders, and checks. In certain instances, TORRES received money orders or checks that were written out to the Bronx Organization, and TORRES altered the payee line on those money orders or checks to say "Nicole Torres" so that she could deposit that money into her personal bank account.

Second, from at least 2018 through August 2024, TORRES agreed to falsify the Election District Forms Booklet-which is a NYC-BOE record in which poll workers record their attendance at a particular poll site-to make it appear that certain individuals (the "'No Show' Poll Workers") worked as poll workers during early voting and Election Day when, in truth and fact, and as TORRES well knew, those individuals did not work on those dates. TORRES often worked with coordinators who oversaw the Forms Booklets at specific poll sites. These coordinators signed in "No Show" Poll Workers in the Forms Booklets, frequently at TORRES's direction. TORRES and her coconspirators then received the salaries for the "No Show" Poll Workers-sometimes through the mail-and split the fraudulently obtained salaries among themselves.

Based on her participation in the two schemes, TORRES personally earned at least approximately $40,970.

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In addition to her prison term, TORRES, 44, of the Bronx, New York, was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay forfeiture of $40,970.

Mr. Clayton praised the outstanding investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New York City Department of Investigation.

The case is being handled by the Office's Public Corruption Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Benjamin M. Burkett and Rebecca T. Dell are in charge of the prosecution.