Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
Bernard Kerik’s old law-enforcement pals are holding a fund-raising dinner next month to help him come up with the money he needs to keep out of jail.
The disgraced former police commissioner is called an “American hero” on a flier for the Dec. 1 affair.
Anyone who wants to attend the event at the Brownstone catering hall in Kerik’s hometown of Paterson, NJ, will have to spring for at least $75.
The dough will be used to defray the legal costs that Kerik – one of the most powerful men in the Giuliani administration and a close friend of the former mayor – is piling up fighting the feds.
The dinner would mark the first successful event that the Bernard Kerik Legal Defense Fund has been able to pull off. Previous attempts to raise money for the former top cop tanked.
“He tried this on the last go-round,” a source close to the case told The Post.
“But it never got off the ground. No one wanted to come [to his dinners]. People didn’t want to be involved with him anymore. His friends all turned their backs on him.”
The federal case, which is pending, involves two major issues:
* Charges that Kerik accepted about $225,000 in renovations to his Riverdale apartment from a company seeking to do business with the city – and didn’t report the freebies as income to the IRS.
* Charges of making false statements when he was being vetted after President Bush nominated him to become head of Homeland Security in 2004. Kerik later withdrew his name from consideration.
He pleaded guilty in 2006 to misdemeanor state administrative violations filed in The Bronx growing out of the Riverdale renovation controversy. Kerik was fined $221,000 but avoided prison time.
He faces a maximum 142 years behind bars and nearly $5 million in fines on the federal charges.
A source said that should the case go to trial, Kerik’s legal bills could easily surpass $1 million.
After stepping down as police commissioner in 2002, Kerik soon found himself flush with cash.
A board position at Taser International reportedly came with $6 million worth of stock options, which he immediately cashed in. At the same time, Kerik had a lucrative job with Giuliani Partners.
He also received a six-figure advance for his book, “The Lost Son.”
But Kerik has a reputation for spending money as fast as he makes it. He is still paying down a mortgage on a $1.2 million manse in Franklin Lakes, NJ, and has a Range Rover and a BMW.