Prosecutors say Lipsky clients paid $260G in bribes for favors from ex-state Sen. Kruger
CommentsBy Robert Gearty / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, January 3 2012, 10:01
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.
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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