Former State Comptroller Alan Hevesi was just sentenced to one to four years in prison for his role in the state pension fund pay-to-play scandal on Friday and, now, it's reported that 71-year-old inmate 11-R-1334 at Ulster Correctional is in the hospital infirmary. Prison officials won't disclose why he's there. more ›

Former State Comptroller Alan Hevesi, 71, was sentenced to one to four years in prison for his role in the pay-to-play scam with the $125 billion state pension system. Hevesi, who accepted money in from firms that wanted a piece of NY State pension's pie, said in court, "I have publicly disgraced myself. I have only myself to blame. I will live with this for the rest of my life," and apologized, "I am truly sorry for my illegal conduct. First and foremost I want to apologize to the people of New York State who put their faith and confidence in me to serve them honorably. I violated their trust." more ›

Financier (and friend of Bloomberg) Steven Rattner will pay $10 million to settle lawsuit with NY State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Rattner was involved in the disgusting pay-to-play state pension fund scandal. According to NY1, "Cuomo originally wanted Rattner to pay $26 million and receive a lifetime ban," but, hey, better to get this settled before becoming governor, right? Rattner, who bitched and moaned about Cuomo's investigations, said, “I apologize if during the course of this process there is anything I did that may have made reaching this agreement more difficult." more ›

Attorney General and Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo has been going after those involved with state pension pay-to-play scheme for a while, but there is one white whale still out there: Financier Steven Rattner, whose Quadrangle Group got a $150 million investment from the NY State pension fund. Apparently Rattner's wife is telling people, "Andrew will be sorry when it all comes out. He is being unfair to Steve," and Rattner's friends are telling Cuomo to back off, to which Cuomo has replied, "I am sorry you feel that way. But do you know the facts in this case?" The NY Times looks at the he-said, he-emailed, he said and how the conflict is making things awkward amongst the rich and powerful. more ›

Hank Morris, the top aide to former state comptroller Alan Hevesi, pleaded guilty to securities fraud yesterday. It is the final guilty plea in the massive state pension fraud scandal which saw Hevesi, Morris and six others steer business to investment firms who would give them fees or favors in return. Morris said in court, "I intentionally engaged in fraud, deception, concealment, suppression, false pretense and fictitious and pretended purchase and sale and made material false representations and statements with intent to deceive and defraud." more ›

Former NY State Comptroller Alan Hevesi resigned in 2007 because it was discovered he used state vehicles to chauffeur his sick wife around. Now he's expected to plead guilty to charges that his office gave state pension business to investment firms that would give his team, family and friends kickbacks and fees. Albany—forever stinky! more ›

Attorney General Cuomo's office revealed that in its investigation of NY State's pension fund pay-to-play practices, it was now looking at current State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. The NY Times reports, "The state pension fund increased its investment in Intermedia in early 2007, shortly after Mr. DiNapoli, a former assemblyman, was chosen by the Legislature to replace Mr. Hevesi. The increase came after a meeting between Mr. DiNapoli and Intermedia’s chief executive, Leo Hindery Jr., that was arranged by Global and Roberto Ramirez, an executive at Mirram Group and a prominent former assemblyman." DiNapoli denied acting improperly, adding, "As the attorney general’s investigation has revealed, I inherited a mess. But it is a mess that I have fixed." Former Comptroller Alan Hevesi's aides were allegedly involved in corrupt practices. more ›

State Democrats promised to meet with union officials—only if the labor leaders forked over $50,000 in donations first. In a letter sent to labor groups as Senators considered budget cuts that could have major ramifications for unions, state Sen. Jeff Klein (D-Bronx) offered to sell $50,000 "chairmanships" of a "Labor Advisory Council" that would give union honchos "the unique opportunity to advise the Senate Dems" as well as "an exclusive meeting with the Senate majority leaders," the Post reports. more ›

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced that private equity firm Riverstone Holdings agreed to adopt his office's Public Pension Fund Code of Conduct plus pay $30 million to the NY State Pension Fund for its role in pay-to-play dealings. Cuomo has been investigating how numerous firms paid intermediaries to gain access to the NY State Pension Fund; Cuomo said, "If you knew and paid the right people, you could do business in New York. Hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer money went to people who were politically connected. That’s not going to be allowed any more." Some of those right people allegedly include aides to the former state comptroller. This settlement is the second; equity firm Carlyle also agreed to pay $20 million to the NY State Pension Fund, whose declined 26%. more ›