He’s soaking the taxpayers again.
Lawyers for former New York Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada Jr. convinced a judge yesterday to split his corruption case into at least two distinct trials — costing taxpayers extra money.
Federal Judge Frederic Block made the ruling after defense attorneys argued that some tax-fraud charges leveled at Espada occurred in the jurisdiction of Manhattan’s Southern District, and should be tried separately from the disgraced pol’s upcoming corruption conspiracy and embezzlement trial in Brooklyn’s Eastern District federal courthouse.
In practical terms, yesterday’s ruling means that Espada could face at least two — and possibly three — criminal trials that will focus on different aspects of his alleged misconduct.
Brooklyn federal prosecutors disagreed with the defense’s suggestion that a single case was “unwieldy,” and warned about the potential expense of chopping up the case.