Sudhan Thomas
Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA) today announced the guilty plea of a former Jersey City Board of Education president, who was indicted after a corruption investigation found he accepted bribes to steer government contracts to a law firm while running for a position on the City Council and reelection to the school board.
Former Jersey City Board of Education President Sudhan Thomas, 50, of Jersey City, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery in official and political matters (3rd degree). The plea was entered on September 5, 2025, during a hearing before New Jersey Superior Court Judge Peter J. Tober, presiding in state court in Somerset County.
Under a plea agreement with OPIA, the State will recommend that the defendant be sentenced to a five-year New Jersey state prison term, while Thomas is permitted to seek a lesser sentence.
As part of the plea agreement, Thomas has agreed to forfeit $10,000 in funds illegally received as a result of the crime, and to pay a $30,000 public corruption profiteering penalty. He will also forfeit all public employment and be subject to permanent disqualification from public office or employment. Additionally, the defendant will be debarred from doing business with the State or any of its subdivisions for five years.
“This defendant placed personal profit ahead of fulfilling his duties and doing what was best for the people who elected him,” said Attorney General Platkin. “This case shows that my office takes fighting public corruption seriously. We will continue to prioritize reassuring taxpayers that their elected representatives are serving the public good, not using public resources for their own benefit.”
“As today’s guilty plea reflects, anyone who uses their public office to illegally line their own pockets will be held accountable,” said Drew Skinner, Executive Director of the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability.
Based on the guilty plea, the charging document, and other documents and statements in court: During the plea, Thomas acknowledged that he took thousands of dollars in cash bribes from a tax attorney. Thomas pleaded guilty to accepting $35,000 in cash from the individual in two payments between June 2019 and July 2019, agreeing to use his official position on the Jersey City Board of Education and Council, if successful, to provide public contracts or work to the tax attorney’s law firm. Thomas was stopped immediately after accepting the second $25,000 payment, which was recovered by law enforcement.
Sentencing is scheduled for October 17, 2025.
Thomas was charged along with several other defendants who allegedly likewise received separate bribe payments from the tax attorney, who was cooperating with the State. They included former Morris County Freeholder John Cesaro of Parsippany, former State Assemblyman and former Bayonne mayoral candidate Jason O’Donnell of Bayonne, former candidate for Morris County freeholder Mary Dougherty of Morristown, and John S. Windish, a former member of the Borough Council of Mount Arlington.
In May 2025, Windish pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery in official and political matters (a 3rd-degree crime). Under the terms of a plea agreement he agreed to forfeit the $7,000 he received in connection with the crime and agreed to be permanently barred from any future public office or position in New Jersey.
Dougherty pleaded guilty on February 19, 2021 to false swearing (4th degree). She was sentenced on March 18, 2021 to probation and forfeiture of the unlawful $10,000 payment she had received.
The cases against Cesaro and O’Donnell are pending. With respect to the pending cases, the charges are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant Attorneys General Michael Grillo and Andrew Wellbrock of OPIA, under the supervision of Bureau Co-Directors Jeffrey J. Manis and Eric Gibson, and OPIA Executive Director Skinner.
