A bagman for ex-state Sen. Carl Kruger pleaded guilty this afternoon in a plea bargain that closes the case against the crooked pol’s conspirators in an elaborate influence-peddling racket.
Solomon Kalish admitted funneling bribes to the once-powerful Brooklyn Democrat, who tearfully pleaded guilty last month after being charged with pocketing more than $1 million in illegal payoffs.
Kalish, 61, said he schemed with Kruger “to receive payments directly and indirectly from other individuals and entities…with the understanding that, in exchange for these payments, Sen. Kruger would take official actions to help these individuals and entities.”
“I accept responsibility for my actions and am truly sorry for my conduct,” he added.
Under terms of his deal with prosecutors, Kalish, who recently underwent heart surgery, agreed to serve up to 71 months in the slammer, but Manhattan federal Judge Jed Rakoff warned that he’ll face up to 20 years at his May 22 sentencing.
According to the feds, Kalish used his Adex Management health-care marketing and consulting firm to steer nearly $200,000 to a shell company run by Kruger’s “intimate associate,” gynecologist Michael Turano.
Some of the cash came from Dr. Robert Aquino, who pleaded guilty to paying Adex $60,000 in a failed bid to save the for-profit Parkway Hospital he founded in Queens.
Others who bribed Kruger include former hospital exec David Rosen, who was convicted after a non-jury trial, and lobbyist Richard Lipsky, who admitted paying Kruger “referral fees” as part of an “implicit agreement…to benefit me, my family and my business.”
The feds agreed to drop related charges against Brooklyn real-estate developer Aaron Malinksy if he stays out of trouble for six months.