Administration October 7, 2010

Former NY Comptroller Pleads Guilty to Pension Corruption Charge

October 7, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Former New York state Comptroller Alan Hevesi has pleaded guilty to a felony corruption charge for accepting free travel and campaign contributions from a financier who wanted the state's multibillion-dollar pension fund to invest in his company.
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The Associated Press reports that Hevesi admitted he allowed a California venture capitalist to pay for him and his family to take five trips to Israel and one to Italy, at a total cost of about $75,000. The businessman, Elliott Broidy, also arranged for $500,000 in campaign contributions (see Cuomo’s N.Y. Pension Pay-to-Play Probe Nets Guilty Plea).  

Around the same time, Hevesi authorized the pension fund to invest $250 million in Broidy’s company, Markstone Capital Partners, according to the news report. Hevesi could get anywhere from no jail time to a range of 1 1/3 to 4 years in prison. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for December 16. 

New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo’s years-long probe of a scandal in which Hevesi aides and associates are accused of extracting millions of dollars in kickbacks from money management firms that had been awarded lucrative state investment contracts has resulted in more than $130 million in settlements and six previous guilty pleas (see NY Reaches another Settlement in Pay-to-Play Probe).

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