Joseph Bruno, the Republican former Majority Leader of the New York State Senate, was indicted by a federal grand jury today on eight counts of public corruption, reports the Times Union of Albany.
Bruno, who as the Senate leader had been a crucial and high-profile figure in New York politics for well over a decade, had been the subject of a three-year FBI investigation focused both on his personal and professional dealings.
The investigation had dogged Bruno during the last two years of his political career as information surfaced publicly about the FBI’s deep foray into his real-estate dealings, investments, political decisions and his ownership and breeding of thoroughbred horses. Bruno’s ties to labor unions, and his secretive work as a private business consultant for an unknown number of private clients, including a Connecticut investment firm, were at the heart of the probe.
The investigation began three years ago, when FBI agents from a white-collar crime unit in Albany began examining a series of private jet flights provided to Bruno by people with whom he did business both politically and privately, a source close to the case said.
The chartered jet flights, in some cases worth thousands of dollars per hour, ferried Bruno to private vacations in South Florida, political fundraisers, government functions and at least once to Kentucky horse country.
The charges arise from Bruno’s alleged receipt of almost $3.2 million from five groups of individuals and related entities, either directly or through so-called consulting companies, between 1993 and 2006.
Source: washingtonmonthly.com
