Disgraced former NYC Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik pleaded guilty to lying to the White House and tax fraud Thursday, consolidating three federal cases against him into a agreement that could land him in jail for nearly three years.
Kerik, who was appointed top cop by former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, earned praise for leading the NYPD through 9/11 in a career that reached its pinnacle with his nomination to run the Department of Homeland Security in 2004. He eventually withdrew his name.
“No one is above the law,” said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.
Kerik replied “guilty” eight times in a White Plains federal courtroom when Judge Stephen Robinson ran through the charges in the plea deal. His corruption trial was to start Monday on charges that he accepted renovations at his Bronx home from a firm that was seeking city contracts and suspected of having links to organized crime.
“You’ve had a very full life,” Judge Stephen Robinson told Kerik. “There is much good in that full life, I believe.”
His lawyer requested Kerik, 54, be released on bail pending his Feb. 18 sentencing. Robinson had revoked Kerik’s $500,000 bail after he released sealed, pre-trial documents.
