NEW YORK — A federal grand jury has indicted Bernard Kerik, the former New York City police commissioner under former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, on corruption charges, a person close to the investigation said Thursday.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the indictment was sealed and wasn’t expected to be unsealed until Kerik’s arraignment today.
The charges include mail and wire fraud, tax fraud, making false statements on a bank application, making false statements for a U.S. government position and theft of honest services, the person said.
The theft charge essentially accuses a government employee of defrauding the public by depriving it of the honest service expected of him.
Several calls to Kerik’s lawyer, Kenneth Breen, were not immediately returned.
Authorities have alleged that Kerik took tens of thousands of dollars in services from benefactors and never reported it as income. Earlier this year, he rejected a plea deal, and his attorney insisted he had done nothing wrong.
A former undercover police officer, Kerik has been hit with a string of revelations about personal and professional improprieties.
His 2004 nomination was confronted with news reports about stock-option windfalls, his connections with people suspected of doing business with the mob and overlapping extramarital affairs with two women: Judith Regan, the publisher of his memoir, and a city corrections officer. The liaisons reportedly occurred in an apartment near ground zero that had been set aside for rescue workers.
Kerik, 51, married his current wife in 1998 and has two children with her.
Giuliani was forced to testify before a state grand jury in a case that resulted in Kerik’s pleading guilty last year to accepting illegal gifts while on the city payroll. The plea spared Kerik jail time and preserved his new career as a security consultant.
Related
Democrats jump on Giuliani- Kerik connection
DUBUQUE, IOWA — The news about Bernard Kerik’s expected indictment had hardly arrived when the Democratic National Committee hit “send” on a blistering e-mail Thursday that questioned Rudy Giuliani’s relationship with the disgraced former police commissioner, calling the scandal “Kerik-gate.”
Political analysts and former campaign strategists predicted that while Republicans may tread lightly on the issue, Democrats are likely to seize on the Kerik connection to undercut Giuliani’s central campaign themes, leadership and security.
“The Kerik indictment has the potential to be somewhat of a catalytic moment in the campaign,” said Democratic strategist Jenny Backus. The indictment of Giuliani’s former top cop “goes at his greatest strength and raises questions about it,” she said.
Giuliani told ABC News on Thursday that he made a “mistake” by not sufficiently checking Kerik’s background and even compared Kerik to former President Nixon as a person who had both triumphs and flaws.
Kerik’s indictment raises the prospect of an ongoing criminal trial while Giuliani is campaigning for president. It’s possible Giuliani himself could be called to testify if Kerik is charged with lying on his application for the Homeland Security post – papers that Giuliani Partners reportedly helped prepare.
While Democrats are likely to hit the Kerik issue hard, Republicans may be more reluctant – uneasy about beating up on “America’s Mayor” and a fellow Republican. Instead, experts said, look for Giuliani’s Republican opponents to take indirect swipes, stepping up mention of issues like “government corruption,” for example.
Newsday
