Bruno to Feds: You never warned me I could be caught breaking the law… No Fair!
Joe Bruno, the former Majority Leader of the N.Y. Senate now under indictment for influence-peddling, who felt his indictment was worded too harshly, now says his case should be dismissed because he should’ve been warned by investigators.
Bruno, 80, is accused of eight counts of honest services fraud, each punishable by up to 20 years in prison. The charges allege he denied the public their right to honest services because he used his office to enrich himself as a private businessman and never revealed what he was doing. Bruno ran a consulting business and represented investment firms seeking business from New York labor union pension and health funds.
The indictment alleges Bruno gained from his elected job by pocketing at least $3.2 million in private consulting fees from clients who sought to use his influence.
Defense lawyers contend Bruno broke no law because he disclosed his dealings as fully as the state ethics disclosure rules require. They say federal prosecutors are manufacturing charges by alleging Bruno denied the public of “disinterested decision making” and did not completely disclose and conflicts of interest.
The conduct, the lawyers say, are “at worst . . . a state law misdemeanor” under circumstances that aren’t even applicable in the Bruno case.
Lawyers familiar with the honest services statute say it can successfully be applied to wide variety of improper activities of public officers because it is so malleable.
Bruno’s lawyers say the statute is not applicable in a case of non-disclosure of business activities. They contend the honest services law is too vague to be constitutional. “It fails to provide Mr. Bruno with notice of what is a crime and what is not,” the motion said.
Will it work? Probably not:
Wayne State Law School Professor Peter Henning, who has studied more than 200 honest services cases, said the arguments by Bruno lawyers, led by Abbe D. Lowell in Washington, D.C, and William J. Dreyer in Albany, are similar to those he’s seen in dozens of cases. They have never resulted in a dismissal from a trial court judge, he said, and could be aimed at the hope this case or a similar one arrives at the U.S. Supreme Court to test the constitutionality of the honest services statute.
Way to go, Joe!
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