November 9, 2007
Kerik Surrenders After Federal Grand Jury Indictment
A grand jury voted to indict former police commissioner Bernard Kerik on federal corruption charges yesterday and, this morning, he surrender to the FBI in White Plains. The indictment was sealed, but the 16 counts include charges of "conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, tax fraud and making false statements."
The U.S. Attorney's office, which sought the indictment, and the FBI are giving a press conference now; U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Michael Garcia is making the point that the charges were brought against Kerik because he was a top city official and applied to high federal positions. According to WNBC, the charges include not claiming more than $500,000 in income on his tax returns, including the more than $200,00 from NJ contractor Interstate interested in a city contract, plus:
- Conspiracy to cover up payments from Interstate between 1998-2006.
- Lying about his ties to Interstate when applying to jobs like Department of Homeland Secretary to various investigation agencies.
- Taking a free Upper East Side apartment from a developer, which resulted in $236,000 in free rent, as he was ending his term as police commissioner.
- Claiming $80,000 in charitable donations he never made.
Still, some, like WNBC's Gabe Pressman, think Giuliani showed very poor judgment. The Daily News editorial calls Kerik "a man of limited integrity and enormous hubris."
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Giuliani said he made a "mistake" in not thoroughly vetting Kerik? he certainly had plenty of time to figure this boob out - first he was his driver, then his police commissioner, then his business partner, then his choice for Homeland Security -
bla bla bla...wanna buy a bridge?
what's scary are criminals behind bars that may ask for retrials.
Typical cop attitude: I'm above the law.
Said it before ... it's amazing that cops pretend that they don't know why people hate them.
there's a very small percentage of bad eggs in the NYPD.
Giuliani is such a liar. Kerik was police chief for about a year, and neither crime nor murder dropped anywhere nearly that much over that limited time.
I'm just surprise his wife hasn't divorced his sorry ass, not so much for being lowlife cop on the take and evading taxes, but for cheating on her....TWICE.
oh who would want to divorce such a charming guy?
"there's a very small percentage of bad eggs in the NYPD"
Whaat? I saw Serpico, man.
Bernard, don't drop the soap