Former New York State Comptroller and Queens Assemblymember Alan Hevesi is prepared to plead guilty to a felony corruption charge involving the state’s $129 billion pension fund, according to a story broken by the NY Times on Tuesday night, September 28. Other news outlets also reported the same thing later that night into Wednesday.
Hevesi’s office is accused of running a pay-to-play scheme – allegedly soliciting payments from money managers before they could win business from the state’s pension fund, which Hevesi’s office controlled.
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has led an ongoing investigation of Hevesi since the disgraced comptroller resigned in 2006 after pleading guilty to a Class E felony of defrauding the state government, specifically by using a state employee as a personal chauffeur for his wife.
Cuomo’s office has secured guilty pleas from other officials in the investigation, but not yet from Hevesi, who could face substantial prison time if convicted. Cuomo’s office denied that a plea deal has been struck.
"There is no agreement between the Attorney General’s Office and Alan
Hevesi,” Cuomo’s team said in a statement. “The office has an ongoing investigation."
According to published reports, firms wanting to do business with the fund were made to give campaign donations to Hevesi’s political strategist, Hank Morris, who was charged in a 123-count indictment for his role in the scheme.
These same reports alleged that Hevesi himself was the recipient of luxurious overseas trips and other gifts in exchange for business from Israeli investor Elliott Broidy, who has pleaded guilty under the pressure of Cuomo’s investigation. Broidy admitted his company, Los Angeles-based Markstone Capital Partners, got $250 million in pension fund commitments and collected more than $18 million in management fees.
Others close to Hevesi that have either been indicted or are cooperating with the investigation are his chief investment officer, David Loglisci, who was indicted along with Morris, and chief of staff Jack Chartier, who is cooperating with Cuomo’s investigation, according to The Daily News.
