US News

MCG AND THE G-MEN ; FBI LOOKS INTO GOV’S BLACKMAIL CLAIM – BUT MAY PROBE HIM, TOO

The FBI is investigating fallen New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey’s claim that a former male lover tried to extort $5 million from him and is expected to examine the governor’s own conduct, law enforcement officials told The Post yesterday.

Federal authorities are preparing to issue subpoenas soon to collect evidence in the case, which first came to the FBI’s attention after McGreevey’s staff asked the feds to probe extortion threats allegedly made by 35-year-old Israeli citizen Golan Cipel, a former McGreevey aide.

McGreevey resigned from office Thursday during a stunning nationally televised appearance in which the married Democratic politician declared he was “a gay American” who could no longer hold office because of the fallout he would likely endure because of a homosexual love affair.

Law enforcement sources told The Post investigators will closely look at possible misconduct relating to McGreevey’s hiring of Cipel in 2002 as a top aide.

McGreevey’s personal attorney, Bill Lawler, told ABC News the governor wasn’t worried about the probe leading back to McGreevey’s door.

“We are the ones who called the FBI,” he said. “[They] will do their jobs right.”

Fox News reported the feds would look at allegations that McGreevey – already under investigation for possible corruption in an unrelated matter – had attempted to obtain money to pay off his former lover.

Cipel was given a sensitive spot dealing with the Garden State’s anti-terror defenses despite an apparent lack of qualifications and an inability to handle classified information because of his foreign citizenship.

Cipel had a staff of two for his $110,000-a-year post, despite the fact pals said he didn’t know the fist thing about homeland security.

He left the job after about six months as New Jersey legislators demanded to know details behind his hiring.

He later moved to another $110,000 state job as “policy counselor” to the governor, but resigned a few months later as more questions about his hiring surfaced.

The unprecedented turn of events began Thursday, when McGreevey became the first governor in the nation to come out of the closet by declaring, “I engaged in an adult consensual affair with another man.”

The 47-year-old married father of two – whose administration had been hit by a number of scandals – said he was stepping down not because he was gay, but because of the “circumstances surrounding the affair and its likely impact upon my family and my ability to govern.”

After the announcement, sources close to the governor claimed Cipel had demanded $5 million.

Unless the cash was paid, the sources said, Cipel would file a sexual-harassment suit and go public with their affair.

Cipel met McGreevey in 2000, as the then-Woodbridge mayor toured Israel.

Cipel later came to the United States with the help of a work visa obtained by top McGreevey contributor Charles Kushner – who is himself involved in a blackmail case in which he allegedly hired a hooker to squeeze money out of politicians.

This year, a Democratic fund-raiser and former high school classmate of McGreevey’s was charged with trying to extort campaign donations from a farmer in exchange for help in selling his land.

Last month, the governor’s commerce secretary quit amid reports he funneled money to businesses he owned with family members.