Article under biz web site with title "F•E•G•S HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SYSTEM TO HONOR CHARLES KUSHNER, CHAIRMAN OF KUSHNER COMPANIES" can be found here
Posted on 07/14/2004 8:30:48 AM PDT by Liz
Kushner allegedly interfered with probe
NEWARK The man, described by his well-tanned attorney as "one of the great philanthropists of this century," had no belt, no tie.
But Charlie Kushner, the multimillion-dollar real estate mogul who became Governor McGreevey's top campaign contributor, definitely had leg irons and handcuffs as he shuffled into a federal courtroom Tuesday and came face to face with a problem that no amount of cash may erase.
During the past two years, The Record has printed major investigative articles about fund-raising conflicts involving both Charles Kushner and Commerce Bank. For background on Tuesday's events, check:
Paying for power; Banking on your money
If federal charges against Kushner are true, he seems to have concocted a plot that looks like a cross between the "The Sopranos" and "Seinfeld."
Think of Jerry Seinfeld at the Bada Bing and you get the idea.
This one has hookers and videotape, a botched blackmail attempt, a motel called the "Red Bull Inn," and a diner called "Time to Eat." It also has enough stupidity to make you wonder how Charlie Kushner could become so rich - rich enough to amass a real estate fortune and have enough spare cash to bankroll McGreevey and other Democratic Party candidates with more than $3 million in donations in the last five years.
This isn't just another court case. This is a case of rich-guy stupidity.
You can't make it up.
Last week, the feds indicted a McGreevey fund-raiser who came up with a code word - Machiavellian - to signal his alleged deal-making. This week, we have Kushner, one of the richest guys in New Jersey, allegedly hiring prostitutes to work on his behalf.
Kushner is accused of trying to thwart a federal investigation of his taxes and campaign contributions by hiring hookers to blackmail potential witnesses. Kushner was even willing to shell out $25,000 each for hookers and handlers, court papers say.
One problem, though. The lugs Kushner allegedly hired to find the hookers couldn't find any.
"Seinfeld" anyone? How about "Dumb and Dumber"?
So Kushner, who is smart enough to oversee 40 partnerships from his headquarters in Florham Park and influential enough to have placed himself in line for the Port Authority chairmanship before he resigned abruptly last year, went ahead and reportedly found the hookers himself in Manhattan.
Yep, you heard that right: Rich guy goes on hooker hunt.
The feds won't say how Kushner did this. But the notion is so surreal that even U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie had trouble holding back a smile as he described it. Kushner looks like he ought to be lining up putts at Pebble Beach, not lining up hookers on Eighth Avenue.
With the hookers in his pocket, the feds say, Kushner orchestrated a plan to have them lure two potential federal witnesses to the Time to Eat diner in Somerville and then to Bridgewater's Red Bull Inn for fun, frolic, and a secret video - all of which Kushner planned to use to coerce the witnesses and stop them from cooperating with the FBI.
Sounds simple, right? Well, consider this the "Seinfeld" version of Jersey corruption.
One witness turned down the hooker's offer. The other ended up at the Red Bull Inn for some physical activity. Afterward, Kushner watched the video and "expressed satisfaction with the result," the feds say in a statement that accompanied the formal charges.
Five months later - and only days after the feds sent letters to Kushner's associates, naming them as targets of a grand jury probe - Kushner reportedly ordered the video and other pictures mailed to the hooker-seduced witness and his unsuspecting wife. The feds say Kushner had to be talked out sending the video to the couple's children. Maybe it was all that philanthropy Kushner's deeply tanned lawyer says he is doing that inspired this small moment of reported mercy.
Oh, yes, Kushner's lawyer: Say hello to Benjamin Brafman, a guy who knows the meaning of overstatement.
Before he was touting Charlie Kushner one of the "most successful businessmen in the United States and one of the great philanthropists of this century," Brafman's client list has included Michael Jackson, Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, and Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano.
On Tuesday, as he entered a Newark courtroom, Kushner looked over the gallery of FBI agents, journalists, lawyers, and friends. He pressed his lips together and slumped into a chair, hunching forward as he listened quietly to Brafman and two other attorneys whisper instructions.
Kushner nodded slightly as his attorneys agreed to $5 million in bail secured by Kushner's home in Livingston and beach house in Elberon. He nodded again when the judge ordered him to wear an electronic monitoring devise, turn in his passport, and not try to obtain any other travel documents.
Otherwise, he said nothing to the judge.
His attorney dutifully marched outside to the TV cameras and called the charges "baseless" and promised Kushner would be exonerated. It hardly seemed to matter, though.
Upstairs, one of the richest guys in New Jersey was still in handcuffs and trying to fight off a forlorn look.
The man who bankrolled McGreevey got caught trying to bankroll hookers.
Bada Bing.
Bada busted.
E-mail: kellym@northjersey.com
Kushner is a Clinton and Torricelli backer. He sure knows how to pick 'em, eh?
|
Contributor |
Occupation |
Date |
Amount |
Recipient |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
KUSHNER COMPANIES/PRINCIPAL |
11/13/2003 |
$2,500 |
Pascrell, Bill Jr |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
KUSHNER COMPANIES/PRINCIPAL |
12/24/2003 |
$500 |
Pascrell, Bill Jr |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
KUSHNER COMPANIES/PRINCIPAL |
3/31/2004 |
$1,500 |
Pascrell, Bill Jr |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
WESTMINISTER MANAGEMENT |
10/1/2003 |
$2,000 |
Deutsch, Peter |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
WESTMINSTER MANAGEMENT |
9/29/2003 |
$2,000 |
Clinton, Hillary Rodham |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
WESTMINSTER MANAGEMENT LLC |
9/26/2003 |
$10,000 |
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
WESTMINSTER MANAGEMENT LLC/REAL EST |
2/13/2003 |
$2,000 |
Lieberman, Joe |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
WESTMINSTER MANAGEMENT |
9/29/2003 |
$1,000 |
Schumer, Charles E |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
WESTMINSTER MANAGEMENT |
11/10/2003 |
$1,000 |
Knowles, Tony |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
12/6/2001 |
$600 |
Pascrell, Bill Jr |
|||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
BRUCKNER PLAZA ASSOCIATES/PARTNER |
2/14/2001 |
$1,000 |
Menendez, Robert |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
GENERAL GREENE VILLAGE ASSOC |
12/31/2001 |
$15,000 |
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
KUSHNER COMPANIES |
12/21/2001 |
$1,000 |
Corzine, Jon S |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
KUSHNER COMPANIES/CHIEF EXECUTIVE O |
11/9/2001 |
$5,000 |
Liberal Party of New York State |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
NEW PUCK LLP |
6/24/2002 |
$10,000 |
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
NEW PUCK LLP |
9/30/2002 |
$100,000 |
DSCC/Non-Federal Unicorp Assoc |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
REAL ESTATE DEVELOPM |
2/14/2001 |
$1,500 |
Pascrell, Bill Jr |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
SELF/EXECUTIVE |
6/4/2002 |
$1,000 |
Holt, Rush |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
KUSHNER COMPANIES/SELF |
7/19/2001 |
$5,000 |
New Jersey United |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
BROCKNER PLAZA ASSOCIATES |
5/2/2000 |
$5,000 |
Cmte for Working Families |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
BRUCKNER PLAZA |
4/18/2000 |
$1,000 |
Schumer, Charles E |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
BRUCKNER PLAZA ASSOCIATES |
2/24/2000 |
$1,000 |
Dear, Noach |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
BRUCKNER PLAZA ASSOCIATES |
3/31/2000 |
$1,000 |
Levin, Susan Bass |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
BRUCKNER PLAZA ASSOCIATES LP |
3/20/2000 |
$1,000 |
Lapolla, Michael J |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
BRUCKNER PLAZA ASSOCIATES LP |
6/29/2000 |
$1,000 |
Clinton, Hillary Rodham |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
KUSHNER COMPANIES |
12/30/1999 |
$1,000 |
Corzine, Jon |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
KUSHNER COMPANIES |
3/15/2000 |
$1,000 |
Menendez, Robert |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
KUSHNER COMPANIES |
6/15/2000 |
$1,000 |
New Jersey Democratic State Cmte |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
KUSHNER COMPANY |
5/16/2000 |
$1,000 |
Senn, Deborah |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
REAL ESTATE |
6/30/1999 |
$5,000 |
Cmte for Working Families |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
KUSHNER COMPANIES/PRINCIPAL |
12/24/2003 |
($500) |
Pascrell, Bill Jr |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
KUSHNER COMPANIES/PRINCIPAL |
2/20/2004 |
$1,500 |
Pascrell, Bill Jr |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
QUAIL RIDGE ASSOCIATES/PARTNER |
12/19/2003 |
$10,000 |
Democratic Congressional Campaign Cmte |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
WESTMINISTER MANAGEMENT |
10/1/2003 |
$2,000 |
Deutsch, Peter |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
WESTMINSTER MANAGEMENT |
9/29/2003 |
$2,000 |
Clinton, Hillary Rodham |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
WESTMINSTER MANAGEMENT LLC |
2/23/2004 |
$7,500 |
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
WESTMINSTER MANAGEMENT/REAL ESTATE |
10/13/2003 |
$2,000 |
Lantos, Tom |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
WESTMINSTER MANAGEMENT |
9/29/2003 |
$1,000 |
Schumer, Charles E |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
BRUCKNER PLAZA ASSOCIATES |
6/29/2001 |
$5,000 |
HILLPAC |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
BRUCKNER PLAZA ASSOCIATES/PARTNER |
2/14/2001 |
$1,000 |
Menendez, Robert |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
KUSHNER COMPANIES |
7/16/2001 |
$500 |
Assn for Commercial Real Estate |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
KUSHNER COMPANIES |
12/21/2001 |
$1,000 |
Corzine, Jon S |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
KUSHNER COMPANIES/REAL ESTATE DEVEL |
9/30/2002 |
$1,000 |
Swett, Katrina |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
NEW PUCK LLP |
9/11/2002 |
$100,000 |
DSCC/Non-Federal Building Fund |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
NEW PUCK LP |
6/24/2002 |
$10,000 |
New Jersey Senate 2002 |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
SELF/EXECUTIVE |
6/4/2002 |
$1,000 |
Holt, Rush |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
MILLBURN DEVELOPMENT CORP./PARTNER/ |
10/16/2002 |
$1,000 |
Carden, Timothy L |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
11/14/2000 |
($1,000) |
Senn, Deborah |
|||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
BRUCKNER PLAZA |
4/18/2000 |
$1,000 |
Schumer, Charles E |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
BRUCKNER PLAZA ASSOCIATES |
2/19/1999 |
$1,000 |
Torricelli, Robert G Contributor |
Occupation |
Date |
Amount |
Recipient |
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
KUSHNER COMPANIES |
12/30/1999 |
$1,000 |
Corzine, Jon |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
KUSHNER COMPANIES |
3/15/2000 |
$1,000 |
Menendez, Robert |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
KUSHNER COMPANIES |
3/15/2000 |
$1,000 |
Menendez, Robert |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
KUSHNER COMPANIES |
6/15/2000 |
$1,000 |
New Jersey Democratic State Cmte |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
KUSHNER COMPANY |
5/16/2000 |
$1,000 |
Senn, Deborah |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
KUSHNER COMPANY |
5/16/2000 |
$1,000 |
Senn, Deborah |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
QUAIL RIDGE ASSOCIATES |
3/16/1999 |
$1,000 |
Pascrell, Bill Jr |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES |
REAL ESTATE |
6/30/1999 |
$5,000 |
Cmte for Working Families |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES MR |
KUSHNER COMPANIES/REAL ESTATE DEVEL |
2/21/2003 |
$2,000 |
Menendez, Robert |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES MR |
KUSHNER COMPANIES/REAL ESTATE DEVEL |
2/21/2003 |
$2,000 |
Menendez, Robert |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES MR |
KUSHNER COMPANIES/PRESIDENT/ REAL E |
12/31/2003 |
$25,000 |
DNC Services Corp |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES MR |
KUSHNER COMPANIES |
10/25/2002 |
$1,000,000 |
DNC/Non-Federal Individual |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLES MR |
KUSHNER COMPANIES |
6/22/1999 |
$1,000 |
Bradley, Bill |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLIE |
BRUCKNER PLAZA ASSOCIATES/PARTNER |
9/15/2003 |
$5,000 |
New Millenium PAC |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLIE |
BRUCKNER PLAZA ASSOCIATES/PARTNER |
1/22/2002 |
$5,000 |
New Millenium PAC |
||||
|
KUSHNER, CHARLIE |
QUAIL RIDGE ASSOCIATES/PARTNER |
10/9/2001 |
$2,500 |
New Millenium PAC. |
Great article. What an idiot--and scumball. I thought the FEC fine for Mr. Bundle was some justice but this is just too kewl. Wouldn't happen if Gore was in office. Sweet...
This guy gives extortion a bad name...
Don't be fooled for a second into believing this guy is just dumb. The NJ dem party is a largely criminal organization controlling development in the state and reaping millions for its cronies. They play ditrty hardball and anyone who gets in their way gets threatened or worse. A local group I know got involved in a lawsuit that interfered with their plans and within 24 hours a dem was on the phone to their lawyer giving him some "friendly" warnings about possible threats to his legal practice. I've written before how they stopped a mom from running for office by threatening her husband at work, and that's just my little locality. If Bush loses you can kiss the probe of their corruption goodbye.
IMHO, the REAALY BIG story here is yet to come..First, they have this guy dead to rights..witness tampering..he's looking at serious time...Second, the prosecutor, though on the record he's strictly nonpartisan, is a McGreevey's strongest potential opponent..so this idiot has a strong incentive to try and cut a deal for himself..and to get one he'll have to give up a lot on the crooked and corrupt Dems....a lot of NJ Dem officials are sweating big time..
Hold on a second. The civil rights of these people have been grossly violated. This is America. No one is allowed to threaten people or their livelihood.......no one is allowed to intimidate people to prevent them from running for office.......
There is solid ground on which to launch lawsuits against these corrupt Dems, particularly now when the political climate in NJ is weakned by the multiple investigations into corruption.
People injured by Dems illegal intimidations and threats should be encouraged to act now.
Mmmmmmm, love it. Nice to know corrupt Dems are sweating it out, isn't it? Could also have an effect in Nov. If Kerry wins, the NJ prosecutor will be out on his ear. Also could explain the close polling in NJ, usually a solid Dem state for presidential candidates.
Thanks.
Even the most fertile writer could not make this story up. LOL.
His forked tongue is way up LIEberman, Schemer Schumer, and Hildebeast's (and her PAC!) bum, it seems.
He gave ONE MILLION DOLLARS to the DNC!
From personal experience, having debated her on TV, I can tell you Katrina is a clone of Hillary. Very sneaky.
Now that's a pretty picture to contemplate....LOL.
Another Dim corruption story (yawn).
I guess Kushner was counting on a Janet Reno-type justice dept under Gore. Too bad.
Another friend of Bill's heads to jail.
Whoopi is heading to the unemployment line to sit with Ed Asner and Danny Glover. Martha is probably headed to jail.
Life is good.
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