NY TIMES——August 4, 2006
By WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM
Officials Say Kerik Faces a Second Investigation
(Giuliani appointee used gov’t $$$ for phone sex)
Former Police Commissioner Bernard B. Kerik is under federal investigation for possible financial improprieties unrelated to the crimes he pleaded guilty to last month in state court, two law enforcement officials said yesterday.
The federal investigation began about a year ago and has focused on a foundation affiliated with the city’s Department of Correction during Mr. Kerik’s tenure as its commissioner, from 1998 to 2000, according to one of the officials, both of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity. Mr. Kerik later served as Giuliani’s police commissioner from August 2000 to December 2001.
Last month, Mr. Kerik pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors in State Supreme Court in the Bronx. Under an agreement that allowed him to avoid jail time and a felony conviction, he admitted accepting $165,000 in apartment renovations from a company accused of having ties to organized crime; he agreed to pay $221,000 in fines.
The foundation at the center of the federal inquiry first came under scrutiny in early 2003, after an article in The Daily News raised questions about its finances. In July of that year, a former high-ranking Correction Department official was arrested and later pleaded guilty to mail fraud charges, admitting that he stole more than $137,000 from the fund. But hundreds of thousands of dollars of the foundation’s money, which came from rebates on cigarettes purchased for inmates, was apparently never accounted for.
The federal investigation is being conducted by the F.B.I. and prosecutors from the office of Michael Garcia, the United States attorney in Manhattan, who have subpoenaed bank records, one of the officials said. The precise suspicions about Mr. Kerik with regard to the foundation funds were unclear.
Mark Mershon, the assistant F.B.I. director who heads the bureau’s New York office, declined to comment, as did Lauren McDonough, a spokeswoman for Mr. Garcia.
Mr. Kerik’s lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, scoffed. “I’m not going to justify a rumor like that with a comment,” he said. Word of the investigation came just five weeks after Mr. Kerik stood outside a Bronx courthouse, minutes after pleading guilty in the state case, and said, “Today it’s over.”
The investigation is the latest blow for a man whose stunning rise from (Giuliani’s driver and bodyguard, to) detective to the city’s highest-ranking law enforcement official (and Giuliani’s business partner) nearly took him to the White House, when President Bush nominated him to serve as Homeland Security secretary in December 2004.
Kerik withdrew his name a week after the president’s announcement, citing tax and immigration issues involving his nanny, a move that was followed by a torrent of disclosures and accusations of personal and financial improprieties.
The foundation, the New York City Correction Foundation, was headed by Mr. Kerik during his tenure at the Corrections Department. The sole signatory on the
foundation’s accounts was Frederick J. Patrick, who pleaded guilty in 2003 to looting the nonprofit (tax-exempt) corporation. Its stated purpose was to finance programs and activities to strengthen the department.
Mr. Patrick held high-level posts in the department from 1994 until 1998, during the administration of Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani. Mayor Giuliani went on to name him to a series of higher level posts, including commissioner of juvenile justice and deputy commissioner of community
affairs in the Police Department.
Mr. Patrick, who spent the stolen money on collect calls he accepted from inmates in city jails and state prisons, some of which officials have said involved phone sex, was sentenced in June 2004 to a year and day in federal prison. He was released in July 2005.
It was unclear yesterday whether the federal investigation was postponed during the 18-month inquiry by city investigators and Bronx prosecutors that led to Mr. Kerik’s guilty plea, or whether it arose from information developed in that inquiry. he original inquiry into the fund was conducted by city investigators from the Department of Investigation and by prosecutors in the United States attorney’s office in Manhattan. A Department of Investigation spokeswoman, Emily Gest, would not comment.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/04/nyregion/04kerik.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
ADDENDUM The New York City Correction Foundation, was headed by Mr. Kerik.....The sole signatory on the foundation’s accounts was Frederick J. Patrick, who pleaded guilty in 2003 to looting the tax-exempt NPO. Patrick held high-level posts in the department....during the administration of Mayor Giuliani.
Giuliani went on to name him to a series of higher level posts, including commissioner of juvenile justice and deputy commissioner of community affairs in the Police Department. Mr. Patrick spent the stolen money on collect calls he accepted from inmates, some of which officials have said involved phone sex.
Another of Rudy’s appointees stole the city blind. Gay activist Russell Harding-—son of Liberal Party honcho Ray Harding-—enjoyed child porn and trips with gay friends——all on the taxpayers’ dime. Russell was tried and convicted of government fraud.
Just like the Mafia, huh? How many times have we seen this where the driver who hears everything gets kicked upstairs more on what he's heard than on what he knows (professionally, that is).
Phone sex with prisoners from his own prison???? And this is another of Rudi's great appointees?