Bernard Kerik, Ex-NYPD Commissioner, Pleads Guilty
Former NYPD Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik pleaded guilty today in a federal court in a case accusing him of criminal conspiracy, tax fraud, making a host of false statements to both federal agents and New York City investigators, and lying on a loan application for his New York City apartment. According to his plea agreement, Kerik could get from 27 to 33 months in federal prison under sentencing guidelines.
The disgraced former N.Y.C. top cop was accused of making multiple false statements to White House and other federal officials when he applied for an advisor position to former President Bush's Homeland Security Advisory Council and in connection with his nomination to be Secretary of the United States Department of Homeland Security.
He was also charged with illegally receiving $255,000 in renovation work to his apartment from a contractor who wanted to do business with the City government, falsely telling regulators that the company did not have ties to organized crime, and failing to disclose these six-figure benefits in his financial disclosure forms.
Read Kerik's plea agreement here:
Although he was admitted to a medical center for psychiatric observation on October 22, 2009, Dr. Robert Mahler informed U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Robinson via letter (below) that, after a ten (10) day course of voluntary admission, Kerik "poses no risk to himself or others due to any psychiatric illness."
That assessment is significant, because it helped pave the way for Judge Robinson to consider Kerik's guilty plea as made by someone who is not incapacitated with a mental impairment that could preclude him from pleading guilty.
Today's court hearing was originally scheduled for a preliminary trial conference.
Read Kerik's superseding indictment detailing his criminal charges here:
Related Resources:
- Ex-head of NY Police Pleads Guilty to Corruption, Reuters (Nov. 5, 2009)
- Eric Tirschwell, Kerik's Criminal Defense Lawyer
- U.S. Attorney's Office, S.D.N.Y. - White Plains
- Press Release (U.S. v. Bernard Kerik), U.S. Attorney, S.D.N.Y., (Dec. 7, 2007)
- Disgraced and Penalized, Kerik Finds His Name Stripped Off Jail, New York Times (Jul. 3, 2006)