Top Schumer Aide Indicted For Pension Fraud
A political consultant and a former deputy comptroller pleaded not guilty Thursday to enterprise corruption and other charges stemming from an alleged state pension fund scandal.
Hank Morris and David Loglisci were arrested and arraigned in a Manhattan court on 123 counts of enterprise corruption and other felonies, following a two-year investigation by State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office.
Prosecutors allege the two engaged in a three-year criminal enterprise to pocket
more than $35 million in finder's fees, helping private firms score business with the pension fund.
"The allegations in the indictment reveal a complex criminal scheme, involving numerous individuals operating at the highest political and governmental levels of the office of the state comptroller," said Cuomo. "It entails a web of corrupt acts for both political and personal gain."
Both men say they are innocent.
"The New York state pension fund made hundreds of millions if not billions on investments that Hank Morris lawfully introduced to it," said Morris' attorney, William Schwartz. "And the fund did not pay him one penny. There was no fraud, there was no corruption. Hank Morris is innocent and we will defeat these charges at trial."
Morris, who was released on $1 million cash bail and ordered to surrender his passport, is a top political consultant to former Comptroller Alan Hevesi and Senator Charles Schumer.
