Posted on 05/06/2003 5:23:23 AM PDT by Liz
A former deputy to Russell A. Harding, the former president of the city's Housing Development Corporation who is charged with misusing hundreds of thousands of dollars of the agency's money, pleaded guilty yesterday to participating in the scheme, and implicated Mr. Harding.
Luke Cusack, 33, of Manhattan, who was chief of staff and senior vice president for administration under Mr. Harding, entered his plea before Judge Sidney H. Stein in Federal District Court in Manhattan.
The terms of the plea agreement were not disclosed in court, and Mr. Cusack, his lawyer, Stuart Abrams, and others involved in the case declined to comment.
In a statement he read in court, Mr. Cusack said he had accompanied Mr. Harding on personal trips to Hong Kong, Vancouver and San Diego, charged some expenses to the housing agency on a business credit card that had been issued under his own name, and was aware that money was being used for the personal benefit of Mr. Harding and others without the knowledge of the agency's board of directors.
"The money was spent by Mr. Harding and others, including myself," Mr. Cusack said.
Mr. Harding was charged on March 17 with using the housing agency's money for vacations, gifts, parties for friends and other personal expenses. He was also charged with directing others to shred documents and erase computer files to cover up his activities after his expense records were requested by a reporter for The Village Voice.
Mr. Harding, who has entered a not-guilty plea to the charges, is the son of Raymond B. Harding, the longtime leader of the Liberal Party, who is a close ally of Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former mayor.
The younger Mr. Harding was appointed by Mr. Giuliani to run the housing corporation in 1998, even though he was at the time a college dropout with no experience in housing policy or management.
Among the charges against Mr. Harding are that he used $6,200 in agency funds to pay for hotel rooms and entertainment on a vacation to Las Vegas in 2000, and that he used $1,000 to hold a birthday party for a friend at the Four Seasons restaurant in 2001.
Although the indictment against Mr. Harding said other people participated in the fraud, no one else was named until Mr. Cusack appeared in court yesterday.
His plea agreement was reached without prosecutors filing an indictment against him. It was unclear yesterday whether other former associates of Mr. Harding would be charged. Federal prosecutors said that the investigation was continuing.
Judge Stein scheduled sentencing for Mr. Cusack for Nov. 7. He faces a maximum prison sentence of 10 years and a fine of up to $250,000, or twice the amount of public money he took for personal use.
Court records show that Mr. Cusack was hired as chief of staff to Mr. Harding in June 1998 and promoted to senior vice president for administration two months later. As vice president, he was authorized by Mr. Harding to approve the housing agency's corporate spending.
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