Ex-Giuliani partner may be indicted
US prosecutors plan to file charges
WASHINGTON -- Federal prosecutors have told Bernard Kerik, whose nomination as homeland security secretary in 2004 ended in scandal, that he will probably be charged with several felonies ranging from conspiracy to commit wiretapping to tax evasion.
Kerik's indictment could set the stage for a courtroom battle that would draw attention to Kerik's extensive business and political dealings with former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who personally recommended him to President Bush for the Cabinet.
Giuliani, a leading prospect the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, later called the recommendation a mistake.
Kerik rose from being a warden and police detective to become Giuliani's campaign security adviser, correctional chief, police commissioner, and eventual partner in Giuliani-Kerik, a security arm of Giuliani Partners, which Giuliani established after leaving office in 2001.
Kerik resigned from Giuliani's firm after he was nominated for the homeland security job.
The former mayor is not in any legal jeopardy, according to legal sources familiar with the investigation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the inquiry is ongoing. He and his consulting firm have cooperated in the FBI's long-running investigation of Kerik.
During a recent meeting, federal prosecutors told Kerik's attorneys they are preparing to charge Kerik with filing false information to the government when Bush nominated him to the Cabinet, according to the legal sources.
Prosecutors are also prepared to charge Kerik with violating federal tax laws, alleging he did not declare on his tax returns gifts he received while serving as New York's correction commissioner, including costly renovations to an apartment he had bought, the sources said. The FBI is investigating loans Kerik received while he was in private business with Giuliani, the sources said, as well as information Kerik had omitted from a mortgage application.
In addition to filing charges involving false information and violations of tax law, the US attorney's office in New York is also threatening to charge Kerik with conspiracy to commit illegal wiretapping in his dealings with the 2006 GOP candidate for New York attorney general, Jeanine Pirro, the sources said.
Kerik turned down last month an offer to plead guilty to federal charges that would have required him to serve prison time. His attorney, Kenneth Breen, said in an interview that his client had done nothing wrong.
"He's not going to plead to something that he didn't do," Breen said.
The case against Kerik that federal prosecutors are preparing could generate uncomfortable political attention for Giuliani because it focuses on Kerik's activities while the two men were in government together and were jointly running Giuliani-Kerik, which was paid millions of dollars for advising upstart companies, doing federal work and consulting with clients overseas. 