The top aide to Gov. Cuomo has agreed to meet with federal prosecutors investigating the governor’s disbanding of his own anti-corruption panel.
Larry Schwartz voluntarily agreed to meet with prosecutors from US Attorney Preet Bharara’s office, according to a source with law-enforcement ties. Schwartz and others “want to avoid the embarrassment of a subpoena, so they proactively volunteered to go in,” the source said.
Schwartz has been at the center of alleged meddling into the panel to protect the governor against his own possible misdeeds.
Schwartz has been accused of contacting one of the panel’s co-chairs to yank a subpoena issued to an ad-buying firm that had worked for the governor’s campaign.
Bharara’s investigation into the Moreland Commission panel has recently been extended to allegations of witness tampering and obstruction of justice, after a number of members were allegedly influenced to support Cuomo’s decision to disband it.