An ex-con who spent more than three years in federal prison for defrauding investors out of at least $1 million for a sham upstate water park for foster kids is now gunning for a Bronx City Council seat — even though she’s unable to hold office under city law.
Liliana Trafficante, 58, announced her campaign earlier this month on Instagram, writing that her sudden calling for public service was driven by there being “no help” for her “hurting community.”
The Country Club resident’s longest-shot candidacy comes just over a decade after she pled guilty to felony wire fraud conspiracy, having bilked investors in a fictitious plan to build a waterpark on 120 acres in Goshen, according to Justice Department officials.
Trafficante was sentenced to nearly three years in federal prison and ordered to pay $750,000 in restitution to her victims, of which she’s coughed up just $118, according to Manhattan federal court records.
“Any consideration for her to be running for any city employment is a joke,” real estate investor Welby Accely, one of Trafficante’s victims, told The Post.
The political neophyte claims she’s pursuing a seat in the Bronx’s 13th District, which is currently repped by freshmen Republican Kristy Marmorato and covers Country Club and Throggs Neck, although she erroneously filed paperwork to run in Manhattan’s 3rd District.
If Trafficante somehow bests the incumbent, however, she will be ineligible to serve in the council due to a 2021 law that prohibits people convicted of fraud or public corruption felonies from holding office. The law faces a challenge in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Trafficante has received zero donations, according to city campaign finance records.
The wannabe pol, who currently works for government services company Maximus, insisted her time in the clink makes her the ideal representative for her nabe.
“I just want to serve and make this community better, and I think that if you have lived the problem, you’re better suited,” she said.
