ALBANY — Disgraced former state Comptroller Alan Hevesi helped rig an Assembly seat for his son and ordered an aide to reward a longtime crony — who pocketed $800,000, sources claimed yesterday, in the pension-fund scandal’s latest bombshell.
The ally — former Liberal Party boss Raymond Harding, who was also close to Rudy Giuliani — was in Manhattan Criminal Court yesterday to face three felony counts.
Among the allegations against Harding is receiving huge payoffs to steer public-employee pension-fund investments to two financial firms.
Harding got the kickbacks to reward him for political favors, including his help in securing an Assembly seat for Hevesi’s son, Andrew, in May 2005, according to the criminal complaint by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.
The revelations come after a two-year investigation of a pay-to-play scheme in which Cuomo says Hevesi aides — led by prominent Democratic consultant Hank Morris — traded access to the massive pension fund for more than $30 million in fees, gifts and campaign contributions.
“They were using the fund as a piggy bank to pay people who did them political favors, like clearing an Assembly seat for the comptroller’s son,” Cuomo said.
Last month, Morris and former pension-fund manager David Loglisci were indicted on 123 counts for their alleged roles in the scheme.
According to yesterday’s complaint, Harding joined the scheme in June 2003, seeking help from a Comptroller’s Office official — whom Cuomo didn’t identify — to secure kickbacks.
Sources identified the anonymous “Official A” as Hevesi’s former chief of staff, Jack Chartier, who is believed to be cooperating with the investigation.
Harding had over the previous 30 years delivered the key Liberal ballot line to many elected officials.
He had endorsed Alan Hevesi in his numerous runs for state Assembly and, later, city and state comptroller.
At the time, however, Harding needed help with legal bills related to his son, Russell A. Harding, who was battling embezzlement charges.
The aide brought the elder Harding’s plight to someone whom Cuomo identified only as “Official B,” but who sources confirmed was Hevesi.
Hevesi told the aide that Harding should see Morris, Hevesi’s longtime political guru.
Morris then brokered a meeting between Harding and Paladin Capital Group, a private equity firm seeking an investment from the state pension fund. Months later, Loglisci approved a $20 million pension-fund investment.
Harding, in turn, allegedly received $300,000 in sham consulting fees.
An attorney for the former comptroller denies wrongdoing.
Hevesi resigned in December 2006 after being convicted of an unrelated felony.
Hevesi ordered a top aide to approach then-Queens Assemblyman Michael Cohen about leaving his seat in 2005 so the younger Hevesi could run for it, according to Cuomo and sources.
Harding arranged an interview for Cohen for a $150,000-a-year marketing post at the Health Insurance Plan of New York. Cohen got the job and stepped down in March.
A spokesman for Cohen, who is currently running for City Council, said was cooperating with probers. The younger Hevesi easily won the seat in a special election quickly arranged by then-Gov. George Pataki.
Harding soon afterward collected $505,000 in fees from Pequot, a firm that had received a $100 million fund investment.
Cuomo said investigators do not believe the younger Hevesi had any knowledge of the deal.
Additional reporting by Dareh Gregorian, Sally Goldenberg and David Seifman