A lawyer enmeshed in a federal corruption probe targeting state Sen. Carl Kruger said yesterday he is guilty of lying to FBI agents about a pay-to-play bribe.
Michael Levitis, an attorney and restaurant owner, admitted in Brooklyn federal court that he lied when questioned about his involvement in an effort to pay off the powerful chair of the Senate Finance Committee through an intermediary, whom he didn’t realize was an undercover FBI agent.
Levitis allegedly acted as a go-between in a pay-to-play scheme to help Kruger (D-Brooklyn) raise money in exchange for official favors, the feds say.
In April 2009, Levitis was caught on a secretly recorded audiotape telling the informant he needed to pay off Jason Koppel — Kruger’s longtime chief of staff and campaign treasurer — to get assistance on an upcoming official business inspection.
The informant was instructed by Levitis that he would “have to do a fund-raiser” for Kruger.
On the FBI’s instruction, the informant recorded another conversation with Levitis, and agreed to give him $3,000. About $2,000 of that money was allegedly for Koppel, and the rest allegedly for Levitis.
Following his 2010 arrest, Levitis was asked by federal prosecutors to help them investigate allegations that Kruger performed official acts in exchange for campaign donations, a source told The Post.
Levitis, however, did not become a cooperating witness.
Kruger has been the focus of an FBI corruption probe into alleged influence peddling since 2008, and the investigation is still ongoing, a source said.
At yesterday’s court hearing, Levitis told Judge Allyne Ross, “FBI agents showed up at my door and asked me specifically if I was holding a fund-raiser with a certain individual.”
He admitted he lied and told the agents he was not.
In reality, “I did discuss holding a fund-raiser with a certain individual,” he said.
Levitis, who owns the Russian nightspot Rasputin in Gravesend, faces up to six months when sentenced for lying to federal agents.
Kruger and Koppel have said through a spokeswoman, “We have no information of any ongoing investigation.”
They declined to comment on Levitis’ guilty plea