Two former City Council aides pleaded guilty yesterday to embezzling nearly $200,000 as part of the council “slush fund” scandal exposed by The Post.
One aide, Asquith Reid, 65, also admitted to tampering with a witness by telling an associate to deny everything in front of a federal grand jury.
Reid, ex-chief of staff to Councilman Kendall Stewart (D-Brooklyn), pleaded guilty without cutting a deal on the sentencing guidelines for his crimes, which carry a 40-year maximum term.
Reid, who’s being treated for prostate cancer, said he wired some of the stolen money “to Jamaica, to friends and relatives who I believed were in need.”
Manhattan federal prosecutor Rua Kelly said a special hearing would determine the full extent of his corruption.
The second aide, Joycinth Anderson, 70, admitted cashing checks and turning over the money to Reid as part of the scheme, tied to the council’s practice of parking discretionary budget funds under the names of phony charities.
Anderson faces a maximum 14 months in prison under her nonbinding deal with the feds.