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Sun 28 May, 2006 07:37 am
I wonder if Kerik will ever be investigated for taking the taxpayer money Bush contract to train the Iraq police force, doing a lousy job and leaving Iraq before the end of his contract?---BBB
More Problems For NYC's Ex-Top Cop
NEW YORK, May 26, 2006
(AP)
Bernard Kerik once enjoyed a national reputation as a brash, self-made law enforcer. As New York's police commissioner, he was at Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's side during the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. By late 2004, President Bush wanted him for homeland security chief.
Kerik's fame faded after allegations of ethical lapses doomed his nomination. His troubles, however, have endured.
A grand jury in the Bronx has been hearing testimony about a possible corruption case against Kerik involving reputed mob associates, alleged influence peddling and a questionable home-renovation project.
The Bronx District Attorney's office refused this week to comment on speculation that the grand jury could soon charge Kerik with abusing his authority while a top city official, or to discuss any aspect of the case. But defense lawyers confirmed that their clients had testified during the past several weeks.
Among the witnesses was Timothy Woods, a contractor who supervised a project to convert two apartments ?- bought by Kerik in 1999 for $170,000 ?- into one home. Kerik, who was commissioner of the city's Department of Correction when the work was done, sold the home for $460,000 in 2002 after real estate advertisements described it as a "gem" adorned with marble and granite.
In a civil complaint filed last year, New Jersey authorities now working with the Bronx prosecutors alleged that most of the $240,000 renovation was secretly paid for by a construction firm in that state with ties to the Mafia, Interstate Industrial Corp. In return, Kerik allegedly vouched for Interstate with city regulators, charges both he and the company's owners, Frank and Peter DiTommaso, vehemently deny.
"Everything in that complaint was completely false," said the owners' attorney, Thomas Durkin Jr.
The DiTommaso brothers, who gave grand jury testimony earlier this year, insist "there was never, never, never any conversation about Woods doing the work and Interstate paying for it," the lawyer said.
Woods, who last spoke to prosecutors May 15, told a different story: According to his attorney, Kyle Watters, the contractor claimed Kerik paid only about $30,000 ?- and that Interstate footed the rest of the bill.
Because so much work was being done for so little, "the inference at least is that Kerik had to know" he was being underwritten, Watters said.
But Kerik's attorney, Joseph Tacopina, said his client never struck a deal.
"He paid every bill he ever got for the apartment," he said. "He committed no crime. He didn't attempt to influence anyone."
Kerik's woes began almost immediately after the White House nominated him in December 2004 to replace Tom Ridge as head of the Department of Homeland Security.
There were questions about his $6.2 million windfall from exercising stock options in a stun-gun company that did business with the government. There also were reports that during his 18-month tenure as police commissioner he had simultaneous extramarital affairs with two women, including the publisher of his memoir.
Kerik cited immigration and tax issues over a former nanny as the reason for withdrawing his name only a week after his nomination. He later resigned from Giuliani's high-powered consulting firm and started his own security business doing work in Jordan and Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
More problems surfaced in November, when the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement filed court papers seeking to revoke Interstate Industrial's license to work on casinos in Atlantic City, N.J. The papers cited testimony by mob turncoats that the DiTommaso brothers were associates of the Gambino organized crime family.
The civil complaint also detailed Kerik's cozy relationship with an Interstate official. In 1999, he sent a series of e-mails to the official that "indicated his lack of sufficient funds to both purchase and renovate his new Bronx apartment," and "indicated he would provide information to Frank DiTommaso regarding New York City contracts," the papers said.
Kerik later met with a regulator at the city's Trade Waste Commission, which was investigating Interstate, telling him was interested in "alleviating the agency's concerns" about the firm, the papers said. (The official has said he didn't believe Kerik improperly tried to influence him, Kerik's lawyer said.)
The complaint said when the gaming division sought answers and documents from Kerik, he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
Kerik Pleads Guilty for Gifts and a Loan
Kerik's plea bargain doesn't include his corruption in Iraq. He was paid millions to train Iraq's police force. Contrary to the Media's focus n
the army being the problem, it is the Iraq police force which is the real problem---thanks to Kerik. Kerik was George Bush's first nominee for Secretary of Homeland Security. Kerik was joined at the hip to Rudy Guilanni. That's all this country needs - more corrupt cronies.---BBB
June 30, 2006
Kerik Pleads Guilty for Gifts and a Loan
By WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM and JOHN HOLUSHA
New York Times
Bernard B. Kerik, the former New York City police commissioner, pleaded guilty today to two misdemeanor charges as the result of accepting tens of thousands of dollars of gifts and a loan while he was a city official in the late 1990's.
He entered the pleas, one to a violation of the city charter and the other of the city administrative code, in a Bronx courtroom before Justice John P. Collins and was sentenced to a total of $221,000 in fines. He was accompanied by three lawyers and three supporters for the proceeding, which lasted about 10 minutes.
Speaking in a quiet voice, Mr. Kerik admitted that he had accepted renovations to his Bronx apartment from a company he believed to be "clean."
Justice Collins acknowledged Mr. Kerik's past career. "The court recognizes the contributions made by Bernard Kerik, particularly on Sept. 11, 2001, and the days after. Still, the defendant has violated the law for personal gain."
Outside the court, Mr. Kerik said he should have been more "focused and sophisticated" in dealing with contractors who worked on his Bronx apartment.
"From this moment on, it's back to work," he said before getting into a black B.M.W. and driving south on the Grand Concourse toward Manhattan.
City officials insisted that Mr. Kerik received no special treatment. "He was arrested and booked," said Rose Gill Hearn, the city's investigations commissioner. "He was fingerprinted and photographed like every other perp who gets arrested and processed."
One of Mr. Kerik's lawyers, Joseph Tacopina, disputed this account. He said Mr. Kerik was not arrested or processed in central booking like a common criminal. He was instead afforded the opportunity to be processed at the district attorney's office and allowed to walk to court. He was fingerprinted in the executive wing, Mr. Tacopina said.
Robert T. Johnson, the Bronx district attorney, noted that the grand jury considered and rejected more serious charges of bribery. He termed the outcome "fair and just" based on the evidence and circumstances and questions about how the statute of limitations applies to public officials.
The pleas completed a stunning fall from grace for a public official who rose in a decade's time from a third-grade police detective to police commissioner and a nomination as secretary of the federal Department of Homeland Security.
Mr. Kerik accepted the subsidized work on his Bronx apartment in the late 1990's, while he was correction commissioner under Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, according to investigators.
Investigators said Mr. Kerik paid about $30,000 for renovations worth about $200,000, a violation of the city's administrative code. The work was performed by an affiliate of a construction company that the city has accused of having ties to organized crime.
The company, Interstate Industrial Corporation, had sought Mr. Kerik's assistance in obtaining a license from the city to operate a construction debris transfer station and held meetings in Mr. Kerik's office. The license was ultimately not granted.
One of Mr. Kerik's pleas was for accepting the gift of the subsidized remodeling. The other was for failing to report a loan of $29,000 from a friend for a down payment on the apartment.
Mr. Kerik, a former driver and bodyguard for Mr. Giuliani while he was campaigning for mayor, was named police commissioner in 2000 and held that post on Sept. 11, 2001, when the World Trade Center was attacked.
On the basis of his performance then, President Bush nominated him to be the head of the Homeland Security Department in December 2004. But he withdrew a week later, citing possible tax problems related to the family's nanny.
Mr. Kerik also left Mr. Giuliani's private consulting firm within days of his failed federal nomination. He has been doing independent security consulting work since then, most recently in Jordan.
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Alan Feuer contributed reporting for this article.
It appears he's received "special" treatment, no matter how it's written or quoted. He's as corrupt and as black as the Ace of Spades! A guiliani "butt kisser"!
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