Former Newark city council member sentenced to 18 months for bribery, kickback, and tax fraud scheme; co-conspirator sentenced to 25 months

Date: Dec. 22, 2025

Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov

Newark, NJ – Joseph A. McCallum, Jr., a former member of the Newark Municipal Council who also served on the Board of Directors of the Newark Community Economic Development Corporation (“NCEDC”), was sentenced on December 2, 2025 to 18 months’ imprisonment and one year of supervised release for participating in a scheme to obtain bribes and kickbacks and subscribing to a false personal tax return for 2018. Malik Frederick, 65, a former consultant for developers seeking construction and real estate deals in Newark, was sentenced on December 4, 2025, to 25 months’ imprisonment and one year of supervised release for his role in the same scheme and for subscribing to a false personal tax return for 2017, Senior Counsel Philip Lamparello announced.

“Combatting public corruption in New Jersey is a top priority for our Office. Crimes like these erode public trust and undermine confidence in the institutions meant to serve the community. We will continue to investigate and prosecute public officials and others who seek to enrich themselves at the public’s expense by engaging in bribery and kickback schemes. We thank our federal partners, including IRS, the FBI, and HUD, for their continued partnership in these cases.” - Senior Counsel Philip Lamparello

McCallum previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge William J. Martini to an Information charging him with one count of wire fraud for devising a scheme, using interstate wire communications, to defraud Newark and the NCEDC of the right to McCallum’s honest services and one count of subscribing to a false personal tax return for calendar year 2018. Frederick previously pleaded guilty before Judge Martini to participating in the honest services wire fraud conspiracy and one count of subscribing to a false personal tax return.

According to documents filed in these cases and statements made in court:

From 2017 through February 2020, Frederick paid concealed bribes and kickbacks to McCallum, who was then a member of the Newark City Council, representing the West Ward of Newark, and an NCEDC Board member. These bribes and kickbacks were funded by developers, contracting companies, and other businesses seeking contracts and approvals principally related to development, construction, and real estate projects and deals in Newark. Frederick and others solicited these developers to hire Frederick’s consulting company for “access,” and were introduced to McCallum as the Councilman behind the project or deal of interest to them. McCallum then received concealed bribes and kickbacks from the fees that Frederick obtained from those who retained his company.

In exchange, McCallum used his official positions on the City Council and NCEDC to provide assistance in support of the projects and deals of interest to the developers and others who retained Frederick’s company. For those who refused to pay or were hesitant to pay the fees that Frederick charged, McCallum and Frederick intended to prevent them from obtaining contracts and work from the NCEDC and the City of Newark. McCallum and Frederick took significant steps to conceal these bribes and kickbacks and other material aspects of their arrangement and dealings with these developers and others.

The bribes and kickbacks that McCallum sought and received through Frederick included:

• On April 11, 2017, McCallum accepted a $16,000 check from Frederick’s company bank account in exchange for McCallum’s official assistance and favors for Frederick as specific opportunities related to construction projects in Newark arose that were of interest to the contracting company.
• On October 29, 2018, McCallum accepted a $25,000 check from Frederick’s company bank account in exchange for McCallum’s official assistance to Developer 1’s company in acquiring City-owned properties in the West Ward for a redevelopment project.
• From October 2019 through early 2020, McCallum also sought to obtain bribes from Frederick funded by Developer 2’s company, which was seeking to acquire and redevelop properties in Newark, including multiple City-owned lots in the West Ward and the City Council’s passage of a resolution for a redevelopment agreement related to those lots. On October 9, 2019, McCallum accepted $500 in cash from Frederick at a cigar lounge in Newark, funded by one of the monthly payments that Developer 2’s company made to Frederick’s company in relation to the redevelopment agreement that Developer 2 sought. In addition, in early 2020, McCallum, using Frederick to assist him, sought a balloon payment of $100,000 from Developer 2 once McCallum secured the City Council’s approval of the redevelopment agreement with the passage of the official resolution approving the deal.
• From October 2019 through January 2020, McCallum planned to share payments with Frederick from a business owner in Newark seeking to sell property to and from Developer 1, who was seeking to acquire and develop the property, in exchange for McCallum’s official assistance to ensure Developer 1’s acquisition and eventual development of City-owned lots adjoining the Seller’s Property.

In addition to paying the bribes and kickbacks to McCallum and attempting to obtain payments to be used for bribes and kickbacks, Frederick sought to have a modular home company that was in negotiations with the NCEDC on a development project in Newark to retain Frederick’s company and obtain a $40,000 payment. Frederick intended to share the $40,000 payment with a NCEDC official (labeled “Co-Conspirator 2” in the Information) who referred Frederick to the modular home company and expected a portion of whatever Frederick would be paid. After the modular home company refused to retain Frederick’s company, it did not receive a contract from the NCEDC.

Senior Counsel Lamparello credited special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jenifer L. Piovesan; special agents of the FBI’s Newark Field Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Stefanie Roddy; and special agents of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Shawn A. Rice, with the investigation leading to today’s conviction.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Francesca Liquori and Matthew Specht of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Special Prosecutions Division.

IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 19 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.