DEALERS: Dr. Michael Turano (left) and state Sen. Carl Kruger have cut deals with feds in a bribery case. (
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Embattled state Sen. Carl Kruger is expected to plead guilty today to a raft of corruption charges after cutting a deal with the feds, The Post has learned.
A source close to the negotiations said Kruger’s partner and co-defendant, gynecologist Dr. Michael Turano, has also struck a plea bargain and is likewise expected to plead guilty in Manhattan federal court.
It wasn’t clear how much time in the slammer either man would face under terms of the pending agreements.
But a guilty plea from Kruger — who’s expected to admit committing four felonies — would result in the Brooklyn Democrat’s automatic expulsion from the state Senate, where he’s served since 1994.
A spokeswoman for the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office declined comment, as did lawyers for Kruger and Turano.
Kruger, 62, was busted earlier this year in a five-year “pay-to-play” scheme in which he allegedly pocketed more than $1 million in payoffs for peddling influence in Albany.
Court papers say he sponsored legislation, attempted to allocate millions in pork-barrel funds and even wrote a letter to a federal judge in Buffalo in exchange for a “stream of bribes” from real-estate, hospital and beverage-industry interests.
Turano allegedly helped launder the money through two shell companies and used it to finance a lavish lifestyle that included a Bentley sedan and the garish mansion Kruger and Turano share with the doctor’s brother and mother, Brooklyn Community Board 18 District Manager Dorothy Turano.
According to The Post’s source, Kruger is expected to plead guilty to four counts conspiracy to commit fraud and take bribes.
Turano is expected to plead guilty to one count of bribery conspiracy.
Money-laundering charges against both men would apparently be dropped under the deals.
Kruger and Turano were among eight people busted in March for what the feds called a “broad-based bribery racket” that also involved Assemblyman Anthony Seminerio (D-Queens), who by then had died in prison after pleading guilty to a corruption charge.
In September, former hospital exec David Rosen was convicted following a nonjury trial at which the prosecution said Kruger “was not subtle about the quid pro quo” he provided in exchange for payoffs.
Additional reporting by Erik Kriss