No jail. No restitution. No kidding.
With the blessing of the state Attorney General’s office, disgraced former Liberal Party powerhouse Ray Harding was wrist-slapped and turned back loose in all his rotund ingloriousness following a Manhattan Supreme Court sentencing for his role in the Pay-to-Play scandal.
The super-sized crook had pleaded guilty in October to a felony securities fraud for pocketing some $800,000 in fees in exchange for granting political favors to investment funds hoping for access to former Comptroller Alan Hevesi and the massive state pension fund.
In agreeing to the free ride, officials cited Harding’s poor health, long history of public service and his cooperation against Hevesi and other figures in the pension scandal — cooperation that resulted in prison terms for Hevesi and political consultant Hank Morris, both of whom have been sentenced to four years behind bars.
“I’m profoundly sorry for what I have done,” Harding told Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Lewis Bart Stone.
“In the world of criminal prosecution.. cooperation is a necessity for the prosecution of wrongdoers,” Stone said in agreeing to the sentencing deal.
Speaking before the judge, State Inspector Ellen Biben said Harding knew full well that the Pay-to-Play scheme was criminal, and that it “exposed the state pension fund to risk of serious harm.”
Harding “Agreed to cooperate at a time of strategic importance with then-Attorney General Andrew Cuomo,” she said, ultimately leading to eight guilty pleas and the recovery of $170 million for the pension fund and the state.
“He has documented severe health and medical issues that would be extremely hard to accommodate” in prison, she added.
Defense lawyer David Frankel called his client’s misdeeds “aberrational conduct,” committed under the duress of an unspecified family crisis.
Under the terms of the sentencing, Harding withdrew his guilty plea to felony securities violations, and remains stuck with only a misdemeanor violation of the state business laws.
He cannot reapply for reinstatement to the state bar association, and cannot engage in any transactions with state government.
Gov. Cuomo, who investigated the pension fund scandal as attorney general, said in a statement: “Today’s sentencing of former Liberal Party boss Ray Harding is a reminder that those who partner with corrupt public officials can no longer rely on the defense of business as usual in Albany. While the judge spared him prison time due to his health, Harding now has a criminal record, has lost his law license, and can never reapply to the bar or do business with the state again.”