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APLawyers want to ask Kerik jurors about Giuliani
September 22, 2009 By The Associated Press JIM FITZGERALD (Associated Press Writer)
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) — Lawyers trying the corruption case against former New York City police Commissioner Bernard Kerik want to ask potential jurors how they feel about former Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Both sides have submitted requests of federal Judge Stephen Robinson to include a question about Giuliani, as the judge winnows the jury pool before next month's trial.
A Guiliani protege, Kerik was police commissioner during the 2001 terrorist attacks and almost became head of Homeland Security. The trial will center on allegations that Kerik, while commissioner, accepted apartment renovations from a construction company in exchange for recommending the company for city contracts. He has pleaded not guilty.
Tuesday, the judge said he may add some questions to his standard list, but he did not say which ones. He denied a defense request to have potential jurors fill out a multi-page questionnaire that closely examines what they've heard about the case.
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http://www.newsday.com/news/new-york/lawyers-want-to-ask-kerik-jurors-about-giuliani-1.1467043
EX-NYPD Chief Charged with Mortgage Fraud, Could Face 142 Years in Jail 09/22/2009 By: Adam Weinstein
Bernard Kerik spent his life enforcing the laws, and now the law is blasting him with both barrels.
Kerik, the former New York Police Department commissioner who’s a close confidant of former New York City Mayor and presidential also-ran Rudy Giuliani, was indicted today on numerous corruption charges – including mortgage fraud. The charges against Kerik are a cornucopia of money-moving, favors and conspiracy, arising out of kickbacks he allegedly took from parties that had business with the city while he was working as the New York Department of Corrections’ commissioner.
But the charges relating to his home mortgage application especially stand out, not as a run-of-the-mill case of government abuse, but another example of “American Dream” delusions born out of the housing boom. As the mortgage crisis has snowballed and defaults mount, regulators have been putting extra scrutiny on unsavory loan deals and fraudulent applications that they say are indicative of the greed that contributed to the downturn. “Just last week, DS News reported on a summit attended by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Attorney General Eric Holder and 12 state attorneys general to crack down on mortgage fraud nationwide.
At issue is a loan Kerik received from National Community Bank to purchase his Riverdale, Bronx apartment. He allegedly received money for a down payment from a Manhattan Realtor, identified in the indictment only as “John Doe #6.”
“Through a mortgage broker, KERIK falsely represented to the bank that two checks deposited to his bank account were wedding gifts when, as KERIK well knew, they were proceeds from the John Doe #6 loan,” the indictment reads. “KERIK also signed and caused to be submitted to the bank a uniform residential loan application… wherein he stated that no part of the down payment for the purchase of the apartment had been borrowed when, as KERIK well knew, he had paid for the down payment with proceeds from the John Doe #6 loan.”
more:
http://www.dsnews.com/articles/ex-nypd-chief-charged-with-mortgage-fraud-could-face-142-years-in-jail-2009-09-22