He was trying to rekindle a teenage romance — and he wound up in the middle of the John Liu campaign- finance scandal.
Thomas Wang, 26, testified yesterday in Manhattan federal court that he agreed to donate $500 to the Democratic city comptroller at the request of Liu’s then-campaign manager, Jia “Jenny” Hou, whom Wang had dated at the Bronx HS of Science.
Wang said he was hoping to get back together with Hou when she asked him to help meet a $1 million fund-raising goal for Liu’s nascent mayoral campaign in July 2011, and promised to personally reimburse Wang for his contribution.
Wang e-mailed Hou his credit card info, although online-chat records introduced into evidence in Manhattan federal court showed that Hou never used the card because the campaign had met its mark.
Wang admitted lying to the FBI when he was first questioned about the alleged scheme, but said he later cut a deal to avoid prosecution by testifying against Hou and co-defendant Xing Wu “Oliver” Pan, a former Liu fund-raiser.
Although Wang testified for the prosecution that “my understanding is (Hou) would have” reimbursed him, he later said during cross-examination that he didn’t really expect her to make good on the offer.
Wang said that’s because he gave Hou a $1,500 Louis Vuitton handbag around the same time, and while she protested that “it was too expensive to take” and repeatedly offered to pay him for it, she never did.
Also testifying yesterday was construction-company owner Jian Kang Chen, who posed next to Liu for a group photo at May 2011 fund-raising event where Liu was allegedly showered with illegal contributions.Chen, who also testified under a non-prosecution agreement, said he arranged for six of his employees to donate $800 each and later get reimbursed with his money.
Chen, who said he didn’t make a donation himself because he doesn’t have a green card, said he engaged in the scam to curry favor with Liu supporter and Chinese-grocery magnate Jeffrey Wu, who hosted the event and hired Chen to renovate apartments in a Flushing, Queens, high-rise he owns.