State Sen. Carl Kruger will face a single trial next year on charges he pocketed at least $1 million in bribes during a long-running corruption scheme.
Manhattan federal Judge Jed Rakoff rejected arguments from two co-defendants to hold separate trials over allegations that the powerful Brooklyn Democrat peddled his influence on behalf of real-estate and hospital interests.
In a ruling made public this morning, Rakoff ordered that the trial will begin on Jan. 17 and said his reasoning "will be explained in a forthcoming written order."
Standing trial with Kruger will be his longtime live-in boyfriend, Dr. Michael Turano; health-care consultant Solomon Kalish; Robert Aquino, former CEO of Parkway Hospital in Queens; developer Aaron Malinksy and lobbyist Richard Lipsky.
Malinksy and Lipsky had sought to have the case against them tried separately on grounds that the evidence is unrelated to the rest of the charges.
Democratic Assemblyman William Boyland of Brooklyn previously was granted a separate trial on charges he got a no-show job from since-ousted MediSys Health Network CEO David Rosen, who was also granted his own non-jury trial, set to start July 25.
No comments:
Post a Comment