LawFuel.com –
LEV L. DASSIN, the Acting United States Attorney for the
Southern District of New York, today announced that BERNARD KERIK,
a former New York City Police Commissioner and Commissioner of the
New York City Department of Corrections, was indicted by a federal
grand jury sitting in the District of Columbia on charges of making
false statements to White House officials during his vetting for
the position of Secretary of the United States Department of
Homeland Security. According to the Indictment:
KERIK, in 1999 and 2000–when he was the New York City
Commissioner of Corrections and then the City’s Police
Commissioner–spoke to City regulators on behalf of contractors who
were seeking one or more permits to do business in and with the
City. The contractors then spent more than $255,000 renovating
KERIK’s apartment in Riverdale, New York. Thereafter, in 2004, when
KERIK was under consideration by the White House for the position
of Secretary of the United States Department of Homeland Security,
KERIK gave false and misleading answers to questions by White House
officials about his relationship with the contractors.
In particular, and among other things, the Indictment
alleges that KERIK falsely denied that there was any possible
concern the President should have about KERIK’s relationship with
the contractors, and that as a public official he had had any
financial dealings with individuals seeking to do business with the
City; and that KERIK sent an e-mail to a White House official
containing false and misleading statements concerning the
renovations to the apartment in Riverdale.
Charges similar to those in today’s indictment were
initially brought as part of an indictment returned in the Southern
District of New York in November 2007 but were dismissed from that
indictment because the crimes are alleged to have occurred in the
District of Columbia and not in the Southern District of New York.
If convicted, KERIK faces a maximum prison sentence of
five years and a maximum fine of $250,000 on each of the two false
statement charges in the Indictment.
Mr. DASSIN praised the Federal Bureau of Investigation
and the Criminal Investigations Division of the Internal Revenue
Service for their efforts during the investigation, and thanked the
United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia for
its assistance in the transfer of this matter.
Assistant United States Attorneys ELLIOTT B. JACOBSON and
MICHAEL S. BOSWORTH are in charge of the prosecution and have been
designated as Special Assistant United States Attorneys in the
District of Columbia for the purpose of prosecuting this
Indictment.
The charges contained in the Indictment are merely
accusations and the defendant is innocent unless and until proven
guilty.
09-159 # # #
