Bruno Trial - Closing arguments
Former State Senate leader Joe Bruno stands accused of corruption. Basically, a conflict of interest as Bruno was a paid consultant for those having business in front of the State Senate. For juicer tidbits - check out this editorial
On Friday, businessman Jared Abbruzzese confirmed that he secretly hired Bruno as a $20,000-a-month “consultant” in 2004, even as he was lobbying for government help with business ventures. Previously, Bruno had arranged $500,000 in state grants for an Abbruzzese firm.
Before that, a Senate lawyer testified that Bruno ignored his warnings to stop mixing public and private affairs.
Before that, jurors learned that senators are routinely advised to hand-deliver financial disclosure forms to the Legislative Ethics Commission - the better to avoid federal mail fraud charges for any lies they might contain.
Before that, Bruno’s longtime secretary testified that she handled all the senator’s personal bookkeeping - not to mention Christmas shopping - out of his Capitol office.
In fact, the trial has made clear that Bruno treated his government digs, and his aides, as appendages of private enterprises.
He took meetings with clients there. He received his “consulting” checks there. Government secretaries sitting at government desks opened his business mail. Government lawyers drafted his business contracts. He even named his firm “Capitol Business Consultants.”
Imagine that - getting paid by the same folks that you steer state contracts too. Anyway - closing arguments -
the Prosecution says -
Time after time, Mr. Pericak said, Mr. Bruno failed to disclose his myriad business interests to his associates, other lawmakers, members of his staff, and the public, in part by filing what prosecutors have said were financial disclosure forms that deliberately disguised his sources of income.
The Defense? -
Mr. Bruno merely opened doors for his clients through actions like introducing them to officials in unions and state agencies, Mr. Lowell argued. He noted that all the unions that invested pension money with Wright Investors’ Service, a firm that paid Mr. Bruno $1.37 million to solicit business, first consulted independent investment advisers who signed off on Wright.
Night and Day huh.
Lets hope the sun finally sets on the Bruno empire.
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It’s just another example of how politics works.
As is this - “New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s campaign fund took tens of thousands of dollars from law firms representing clients his office investigated or accused of wrongdoing, state records show.”
He learned well from Client #9.