title: Former New York deputy secretary of state accused of perjury
text: NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former New York deputy secretary of state was arraigned on Friday after being indicted this week on charges that he lied about paying restitution after being convicted in 2007 of defrauding the state, the U.S. Justice Department said. Joseph Strevell, 54, of Castleton, New York, served as deputy secretary of state of New York from 1997 to 1999. He faces five counts of perjury and one count of defaulting on a restitution obligation. The Justice Department has accused him of lying under oath about making monthly payments, as well as his contributions toward the purchase of a 138-acre horse farm in 2013 and his daughter’s wedding in 2014. Prosecutors said Strevell falsely testified that his mother and aunt paid most of a $75,440 down payment on a lease for the farm and that he paid a couple thousand dollars for the wedding, when in fact he contributed more than $30,000. Strevell was convicted in federal court of defrauding the state after he left the state department, which traditionally oversees official records, to serve as head of the state-funded Institute of Entrepreneurship. In 2009, he was ordered to pay $111,500 in restitution, and given guidelines to pay a minimum of $100 per month or 10 percent of his gross monthly earnings, whichever was greater. After his arraignment, Strevell was released from custody in Albany, New York pending a trial in U.S. District Court. “Restitution is a mandatory obligation that no convicted felon should be able to walk away from,” Richard Hartunian, U.S. attorney for the northern district of New York, said in a statement. Strevell’s attorney, Paul Evangelista, declined to comment on the case. 