Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Lobbyist Richard Lipsky to take guilty plea for relaying bribes to Carl Kruger, sources say

Prosecutors say Lipsky clients paid $260G in bribes for favors from ex-state Sen. Kruger

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Tuesday, January 3 2012, 10:01







  Richard Lipsky, left, with lawyer at Federal Court in Manhattan Tuesday, where he was arraigned.

David Handschuh/New York Daily News

Lobbyist Richard Lipsky (l.), shown with lawyer outside Manhattan Federal Court, plans to enter a guilty plea before Judge Jed Rakoff, sources say.

  NY State Senator Carl Kruger arrives at Manhattan Federal Court. He is expected to plead guilty to corruption charges.

Jefferson Siegel for New York Daily News

Disgraced former state Sen. Carl Kruger pleaded guilty to corruption charges two weeks ago.

A TOP LOBBYIST is expected to cop a plea Wednesday to funneling bribes to Carl Kruger — part of a scheme that netted the former pol $1million in payoffs.

Richard Lipsky is scheduled to enter a guilty plea before Manhattan Federal Court Judge Jed Rakoff, sources said.

His anticipated plea comes two weeks after a sobbing Kruger appeared before Rakoff and confessed to selling his office to line his own pockets.

Prosecutors charge Kruger, as a state senator, did favors for Lipsky clients in exchange for $260,000 in bribes.

In one case, Kruger wrote to a judge urging enforcement of cigarette taxes.

The feds say the letter helped a Lipsky client, a supermarket chain, hurt by the sale of tax-free cigarettes on Indian reservations.

On Tuesday, the CEO of the former Parkway Hospital in Queens pleaded guilty to paying Kruger $60,000 in bribes.

Dr. Robert Aquino, 54, said he made the payments in a futile effort to keep Parkway open.

“My actions were in violation of the law, and I knew that they were wrong,” said Aquino, a licensed emergency room doctor.

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