US News

MORE HEV-PAL FIRMS GOT FEES

ALBANY – The top political consultant to former state Comptroller Alan Hevesi is affiliated with a slew of companies – including several using the address of his East Hampton home and one in the British Virgin Islands – that received pension-fund fees and are the subject of an investigation, The Post has learned.

Democratic campaign strategist Hank Morris listed the five firms on a report filed with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the largest nongovernmental regulator of U.S. securities firms.

Four of the firms – Nosemote LLC, Pantigo Emerging LLC, PB Placement LLC and Purpose LLC – share Morris’ East Hampton address.

Morris listed himself as the “sole member” of Nosemote, Pantigo Emerging and PB Placement, and said that Nosemote makes up half the members of Purpose.

For the fifth firm, Athena Capitol Advisors Ltd., which has an address in Tortola, British Virgin Islands, Morris lists himself as a 50 percent owner, vice president and treasurer.

According to Morris’ filing, all the entities “act as intermediaries between money [managers] and institutional investors to facilitate introductions and resulting investments.”

A source with knowledge of a probe by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and Albany County DA David Soares into the pension fund told The Post that each of the five Morris entities received placement fees from companies that won pension-fund business during Hevesi’s four years in office.

The state Comptroller’s Office denied a request from The Post for a breakdown on how much in fees were paid to the individual firms, and from what companies.

“The information requested is part of the ongoing investigation,” said Dennis Tompkins, spokesman for Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

The Post has reported that investigators believe that another firm employing Morris – Searle & Co. – raked in between $13 million and $18 million in fees from firms doing business with the state pension fund, with Morris keeping the bulk of the money.

Sources have said the probe is focused on whether firms looking to do business with the pension fund were improperly directed to Morris and whether Searle and Morris did anything for the fees they received.

Searle & Co., which is headed by Robert Searle, a longtime friend of Morris, recently amended its latest filings with the Security Exchange Commission to show that it took in $7.7 million in placement fees in 2005-06 and paid out $7.3 million in placement-fee expenses.

Morris, his lawyer and Searle did not return calls.

kenneth.lovett@nypost.com