Metro

Liu caught a nasty ‘bug’ from the feds

Jia “Jenny” Hou

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The feds tapped city Comptroller John Liu’s phone in a bid to nail him on campaign-finance charges, according to bombshell court papers filed yesterday.

The stunning revelation came from a former fund-raiser and Liu’s ex-campaign treasurer, both of whom are charged with scheming to funnel illegal donations to his planned mayoral campaign.

One court filing says the feds secretly applied “to a succession of judges” between March 2010 and September 2011 for permission to listen in on calls made by and to the embattled Queens Democrat and others.

New Jersey real-estate developer Xing Wu “Oliver” Pan further alleges that “the government misled these judges either intentionally or with a reckless disregard for the truth.”

Pan claims that the feds falsely portrayed “conduct and conversations between various of the targeted persons as evidence of criminal activity.”

In a separate Manhattan federal court filing, Liu’s former campaign treasurer, Jia “Jenny” Hou, says the wiretaps were part of the feds’ “obsessive” pursuit of Liu.

Other tactics cited include “confidential sources,” along with “undercover FBI agents; an undercover ‘sting’ operation; inducing others to cooperate; and simultaneous subpoenas and search warrants.”

But Hou notes, “For all the resources expended, a case against John Liu has never been made.”

Both Pan and Hou say the feds’ investigation of Liu began in 2009, with Hou saying the probe “was ignited by a confidential source, who had been providing information to the FBI for more than 10 years and who had previously been convicted of federal crimes.”

Hou says the feds got court orders for 10 wiretaps on six different phones used by Liu, Pan, an unidentified campaign donor, former campaign treasurer Mei-Hua Ru and campaign worker Crystal Feng.

“The government intercepted thousands of calls on the wiretaps” — including “many” involving Hou — but currently doesn’t plan to use any of that evidence against her, Hou says.

Hou’s filing seeks to suppress a mountain of e-mails seized from her Gmail account and to sever the charges against her from the case against Pan.

Pan, meanwhile, says the entire indictment against him should be tossed due to “demonstrably outrageous and conscious shocking conduct” by the feds.

Pan claims he was entrapped into violating campaign-finance laws during an undercover sting operation that he says targeted him in violation of internal FBI guidelines, because he “was not a close aide or close adviser or even part of the Liu campaign.”

He also says that he was “terrorized” into cooperating after getting caught in the sting but that “the government broke its promise” not to arrest him after he failed to help bust Liu.

“The government’s misconduct was driven by what can only be described as its obsession with prosecuting Comptroller Liu,” Pan’s filing says.

Hou’s filing says the undercover agent that “offered Pan a criminal scheme” called himself “Richard Kong,” and “gushed over Liu as the ‘Asian JFK’” during a meeting in June 2011.

Liu’s lawyer, Paul Shechtman, said the court filings “reveal what seems to be a long and fruitless effort to make a case against John Liu for reasons that aren’t at all apparent.”

”If the allegations in the submissions are true, this has not been the government’s finest hour,” Shechtman said.

”It’s now apparent that the government has been trying for a long time to make a case against John Liu, but there’s no there there.”

A spokeswoman for the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office declined to comment.