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Feds widen crackdown on New York political corruption

The federal prosecutor on a mission to crack down on corruption in New York politics has requested all complaints of wrongdoing filed against public officials with the state’s ethics panel, The Post has learned.

Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara has filed a subpoena to review hundreds of accusations and dozens of cases filed with the Joint Commission on Public Ethics as part of an explosive grand-jury probe of potential Albany misdeeds, sources close to the probe said.

Bharara’s office will keep busy.

Last year, JCOPE received 250 complaints. There are 21 open investigations, and 69 other cases are under review.

JCOPE investigates public officials accused of conflict of interest, receiving improper gifts, nepotism and other misdeeds. It also regulates lobbyists.

Bharara is following up on the investigative work of Gov. Cuomo’s Moreland Commission to Combat Public Corruption.

The federal prosecutor obtained the files of the Moreland panel after Cuomo abruptly disbanded it when the state budget was approved.

“Preet said he would do a deep dive into Albany corruption. This is it,” a source familiar with the probe said.

State legislators and top administration officials file personal financial disclosure reports with JCOPE.

A spokesman for the ethics panel said, “The Joint Commission on Public Ethics routinely works with other law-enforcement agencies on various cases, but it will not confirm or comment on any specific investigative matter.”

A spokesman for Bharara declined to comment.

The offices of Cuomo, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate GOP leader Dean Skelos also declined to comment.

JCOPE itself — a 14- member panel made up of appointees of Cuomo and the Legislature — is not believed to be the target of the probe, a source said.

But critics have accused JCOPE of foot-dragging on ethics complaints or blocking other probes because of outside political pressure from Albany power brokers. The feds will be able to determine what complaints JCOPE pursued — and which ones they didn’t.

Bharara blasted Cuomo for scuttling the Moreland commission before its investigations were completed, saying in a letter that its work was “ bargained away as part of the negotiated arrangement between legislative and executive leaders.”