Former New York police commissioner, Bernard Kerik, yesterday pleaded guilty to eight felonies in a Federal District Court in the US and a New York Times (NYT) report said the former top cop who will be sentenced next February, faces 27 to 33 months in prison.
Bernard Kerik
The report said Kerik, who had rejected a plea bargain when he was slapped with the charges in 2007, appeared in the packed courtroom wearing a blue suit and a red tie with a subdued expression, and said, “Guilty, your honour,” as each of the charges were read by Judge Stephen C. Robinson.
Throughout the 90-minute proceeding, Kerik’s lawyer, Michael F. Bachner, rubbed the defendant’s back in support.
According to the NYT, Kerik, 54, pleaded guilty to two counts of tax fraud, one count of making a false statement on a loan application — the most serious — and five separate counts of making false statements to the federal government.
The last set of charges stemmed from statements Kerik made to the White House during the vetting process after the Bush administration had nominated him to lead the Department of Homeland Security. He later withdrew his name.
The loan application charge could have resulted in a maximum of 30 years in prison but as part of the plea deal, prosecutors requested far less time behind bars for Kerik, who had also been commissioner of the city’s Correction Department.
One charge that had been expected, depriving the public of his honest services as a government official, was not addressed.
The report said Judge Robinson asked Kerik a series of questions to be sure he was aware of his rights. Kerik, who was jailed last month after his bail was revoked, had been planning to fight the charges in court.
Sentencing was set for February 18, 2010 and Bachner said he would ask that his client be freed on bail prior to that, and the judge said he would be receptive to such a request.
“I think you had a very full life,” Judge Robinson told Kerik, saying he would take the good with the bad as he mulled sentencing. “There is much good in that full life, I believe.”
It was the same judge who revoked Kerik’s US$500,000 bail last month after he disclosed case information that had been sealed, to the trustee of his legal defense fund.
The judge had said he did not believe Kerik’s claim that the trustee had been hired as a lawyer and was therefore allowed to see the information.
According to the NYT report, before revoking the bail Judge Robinson described Kerik as a “toxic combination of self-minded focus and arrogance, and I fear that combination leads him to believe his ends justify his means.”
“He sees the court’s rulings as an inconvenience,” Judge Robinson said, “something to be ignored, and an obstacle to be circumvented.”
After the proceedings, the report said, Kerik loosened his tie and removed papers and a wallet from his pockets. He then carefully took off a chain and medallion and handed it to one of his lawyers. He was led away, not in handcuffs, by court officers.
During a hearing last month, Judge Robinson criticized Kerik and his lawyers for what he said were various offences committed by an attorney who heads Kerik’s legal defence fund. The judge said the lawyer, Anthony K. Modafferi, sent e-mail messages to him and to The Washington Times that defamed government prosecutors.
Modafferi violated a consent order because in some of his e-mail messages, he leaked information that indicated he was privy to sealed court papers, Judge Robinson said. The judge had then ordered Kerik to file an affidavit detailing his legal arrangement with Modafferi, whom he said, may end up being called to testify in documents or in court.
The case against Kerik centred on claims that a construction company suspected of having ties to organized crime paid for much of the renovation work at his home in Riverdale in the Bronx, in the hope that he would help the company obtain a city licence. One of the tax charges is directly related to the renovation case.
Kerik, who was the NYPD Commissioner from 2000 to 2001, was offered a plea bargain in 2007 after he was slapped with the charges but rejected the deal as his lawyers said he had paid his taxes and done nothing wrong. The deal would have seen him serving a two-year sentence.
Kerik, who was at one point former US President George W. Bush’s nominee for Homeland Security Secretary, was hired in February 2007 by the Guyana Government as a security adviser. He was hired as a special adviser to President Bharrat Jagdeo and was to provide general advisory services to the president and Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee
His appointment had been greeted with strong criticism, owing to growing allegations about professional misconduct. His contract, which was later ended, was for one year and was said to be renewable. His international security consultancy firm, the Kerik Group, was also contracted to provide services to Trinidad and Tobago. He had held similar contracts in Jordan, Iraq and other Middle Eastern hotspots.
Reports were that federal investigators were exploring a range of allegations about Kerik, who was a leading official under former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. The allegations included accusations he conspired to help a former district attorney, Jeanine Pirro, plant listening devices to catch her husband in an extramarital affair. Kerik and Pirro were captured on a state wiretap discussing such a plan.
He was also charged in connection with his acceptance of US$165,000 in free renovations to his Bronx apartment in 1999 from Interstate Industrial Corporation, a New Jersey contractor, or a subsidiary. Last summer in State Supreme Court in the Bronx, Kerik pleaded guilty to two misdemeanour counts and admitted accepting the free work. At the time, his lawyer said Kerik did not owe any federal taxes on the construction work.
Hmpppppppp I wonder how this man was going to advice yall president on this country’s affairs???!!!…..I wonder…
Jagdeo’s home boy mr dictator u like the dark side
Two things for the Presee (you say dictator but I still call’im Presee):
1.is he going to be back in Guyana as soon as he comes out of jail, we knowing full well how de Presee liked him for his security forces?
2.what about the US$100k that he was paid up front? Any refund in sight or is that a down payment for when he comes out of jail?
What a mess the Presee made !
In his classical dictatorial style and despite knowledge of Mr. Kerick’s spotty past, the PPP insisted that the disgraced former NY Police Commissioner be placed on the payroll of the Guyana Government and at the expense of the Guyanese taxpayers.
The US should house Kerik and Khan in the same facility.
They should then be able to relate to they friends on the outside how it feels to be a fallen powerhouse.
Today they cannot even decide their own bed time.
All people from the blind association people will stay away from this one today.
look like u dos sit and wonder all day. Why blame jegdeo for this guy. everybody makes mistake in hiring the wrong person, the man was COP for years in NY did jagdeo hire him there? did jagdeo hire the guy that killed 15 solders? get real and do some work.
All you supporters who said that that you have not lost confidence in the President ability to make sound judjement should be wondering if at the time of your pronouncement you were under the influence of a control substance……….. another slap in the GOG Face!!!!
Was George Bush under the influence when he Kerick was his nominee for Homeland Security Secretary???
Bush was under the influence of Gulliani who was America’s Mayor. Julliani recommended him to Bush. Come on soldier you know Kerik lied to the federal government about his deals with the mob. They tossed him as soon as the realized they were dealing with a crook. Even then Jagdeo refused to see the truth and kept insisting he found no fault with the man. There is none so blind as he who will not see. Is there anything that Jagdeo do you wouldn’t try to defend soldier? I am not trying to be funny soldier I really do want to know the answer to that question.
soldier, these is the type of people your budies are comfortable with. remember roger khan and his gang ? man i tell you i am sorry i did not do journalism. i would come to guyana and work. there is always news even when you don’t want it. the pee pee pee really like the spot light.
This was the same man Jagdeo wanted to hire. This gov’t seems to have a gravitational pull to the likes of Kerik and Khan. It takes the U.S. to bring these men to justice.
Haha Raj, my sentiments exactly!!!
It seems this regime like to be in bed with shady characters.
The motto of the party!!!
Raj, they say,“Birds of a feather flock together.”
Yea Raj this was the man that was to bring back law and order to Guyana !!!!! very very basic investigations,and the rest of the world would not have been laughing at us today.
did u realize that this same man worked for the us government for years as COP for the biggest city in the world? why not sit and think before writing non-sense. Tax fraud? there are people working in the US gov’t right now involved in that hiring nannies(illegal) and paying cash because they cheap.
Show me your company and I will tell you who you are.
Raja,is this gravitional pull,pulling on the soft convoluted mass of nervous tissues.
This man served the American ppl and you are here performing a Adumu(jumping up and down) dance.Blame BUSH and the US gov for having this guy as a TOP COP.
This is for James. He was not employed by the US Government he was an employee of New York City. And they had the balls to prosecute him for his crimes, unlike the PPP Government who have time and time again turn a blind eye to the wrong doings of their officals.
Mr. Kerik’s mom has no relevance to these discussions.
James ! You are trying too hard. Ever heard of Shanghai city or Mexico city. Give it up, man. Kerik is a convicted felon. Case closed.
James you can come to the US and work as a nanny too. like if canadians are not cheap.
“Kerik, who was at one point former US President George W. Bush’s nominee for Homeland Security Secretary, was hired in February 2007 by the Guyana Government as a security adviser.”
A man admired by our President. A man admired by a Texas cowboy. The son of a prostitute from his book “Lost Son”. The fruit does not fall far from the tree. Nice going Borat.
Dont be so quick to judge Borapork, what about the kids who come from good parents and do wrong?
His mom might be a prostitute,u dont know her situation, atleast she did not give him up for adoption.
Sometimes women are forced to do things to feed their kids, might not be the best choice but atleast she fed and clothes him.
Everyone has a right to choose to do what is right from wrong, its a personal choice.
This man is facing his consequences for his wrong doings, his mom would not love him less.
Obama is the son of a wife abuser (his brother’s book)does that make him a wife abuser?
She abandoned him.
And this joker was going to work for the Guyana Gov. Jagdeo bad judgment again ,don’t you learn anything from your mistakes .
Well this will keep everyone busy today how about that GOG manages to hire a NY bent cop. They say opposites attract i say bad people always find bad alies and good people attract good people.
And Mr lunchman as problems doing a police reform project with the UK. This guy must rubbed is hands raw when struck a deal with GOG.
By the way this guy ran is private affairs by accepting building works etc, he certainly was intune with guyanese authority style’s.
junk story.yawwwn
To the apologists and supporters of the P.P.P. every report is a “Junk Story and Yawn” that shows the shortcomings of the party.
Reddy student.
Praise the lord we are in the 21 century and not the middle ages, Kerik would have gotten off.
The apologists can not denfend they lawlessness that this PPP regime has created under the watch, so they keep blaming a man who died some 20+ years. Typical of the ostrich with head in the sand.
no no witchee, this is no junk story this just goes to show the kind of rejects that guyanese tax dollars are wasted on by this goverment.
And yet, dutiful as ever, you are on here commenting. When the headline is enough for me, I don’t open up the story and comment.
Borat and the other ‘leaf’
I’ve accepted that everyone has subconscious biases but to link Kerick’s actions to the PPP Gov is just absurd and ridiculous.
SN is looking to gain points here but there are more ‘news worthy’stories out there…..
No witchie, no one is linking Kerick’s actions to the PPP.
It was the PPP who was seeking to align itself with a like minded companion, as it always do.
We just happen to call it out, go back and read the articles when the story was discussed. Jagdeo was insisting that he retain Kerik, even though he had this matter hanging.
Just read these here posts and one will recognise, it this is the mindset of the entire gobernment, why the country the way it is.
What a disgrace, he felled from his high horse.
They all fall eventually, give it time. Every dog got he day.