By Howard Koplowitz
High-profile Queens Republican campaign operative John Haggerty Jr. was indicted Monday by a Manhattan grand jury for allegedly stealing $1.1 million funneled to him through Mayor Michael Bloomberg last year, the Manhattan district attorney said.
Haggerty, 41, of 115 Greenway Ave. North in Forest Hills, faces up to 44 years in prison if convicted on charges of grand larceny, money laundering and falsifying business records, Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance said.
Haggerty pleaded not guilty to the charges during his arraignment in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Haggerty was a campaign volunteer for Bloomberg’s campaign in the summer of 2009 when he allegedly lied to the campaign that he would arrange for $1.1 million to be spent for an Election Day ballot security and poll watching operation that would be run through the Independence Party, Vance said.
Bloomberg’s campaign, which is not accused of any wrongdoing, approved a $1.1 million contribution from the mayor’s personal funds to the Independence Party’s housekeeping account to fund Haggerty’s operation, the DA said.
But Vance said neither Haggerty nor the corporation he set up to purportedly run the Election Day operation — Albany-based Special Election Operations, LLC — spent any money in connection with ballot security or poll watching.
Vance claimed Special Election Operations was a “shell company.”
The DA said the Independence Party spent less than $32,000 on those activities — way less than Haggerty said was needed.
“This case is about theft and greed, but it is also about transparency and the integrity of the electoral process,” Vance said in a statement. “Haggerty grossly abused his position within the campaign that trusted him with important matters. At a time when the public is particularly distrusting about our state government processes, his use of a shell company to conceal his involvement from the public simply further breeds cynicism.”
Vance said that during the time the Election Day operations were to be performed, Special Election Operations had not even been created and Bloomberg and his campaign staff did not know about its existence or that it was to be involved in the Election Day activities.
Haggerty created Special Election Operations on Dec. 3, 2009 — a month after Election Day — Vance said.
The DA said Haggerty opened a bank account in the company’s name within days of establishing the firm.
The Independence Party wired $750,000 from its housekeeping account into the Special Election Operations account Dec. 11, 2009, Vance said.
About $600,000 of those funds was used by Haggerty to buy a home, the DA said.
After Election Day passed, Haggerty allegedly tried to conceal his theft and money laundering by lying to Bloomberg’s campaign workers that he had actually made “significant expenditures on ballot security and poll watching,” Vance said.
Haggerty allegedly corroborated his false claims by showing a Bloomberg campaign worker three bogus paychecks for poll watchers, the DA said.
The charges against Haggerty seek $1.1 million from Haggerty and Special Election Operations and the forfeiture of the house Haggerty purchased with the money, Vance said.
Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e-mail at hkoplowitz@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4573.
