JERSEY CITY -- Closing arguments were presented Monday in the trial of former Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini. Starting Tuesday at 9:30 a.m., the jury will deliberate on the evidence presented during the eight-day trial.

The attorneys for the government -- Sandra Moser and Thomas R. Calcagni -- called on the jury to weigh the evidence presented by the government to convict Beldini.

Beldini faces six counts of bribery and conspiring to commit extortion. She is accused of allegedly taking $20,000 in bribes and seeking real estate commissions in exchange for helping goverrment informant Solomon Dwek with a make-believe condo project on Garfield Avenue in Jersey City. She was one of 44 religious and political leaders statewide who were arrested in an FBI sting last summer, with Dwek serving the government as an informant posting as a developer.

She purportedly took some of the money as a donation for the re-election campaign of Mayor Jerramiah Healy, who has not been charged with any crime.

Beldini's attorney, Brian Neary, argued that his client was a just pawn in a government-enabled "Ponzi scheme" by Dwek, who he said targeted Beldini and Mayor Jerramiah Healy with the help of political consultant Jack Shaw and former Hudson County employee Edward Cheatam (who have also been charged), and asked of the jury to consider that in their verdict.

U.S. District Judge Jose Linares gave instructions to the jury -- eight men and four women -- before and after the closing arguments. He told them to weigh the information presented in the case before giving their verdict. There is no timeframe as to when the verdict will be announced. -- RK