Former NYC housing official under Giuliani admits using public funds for self, friends
March 15, 2005 8:05 PM EST
NEW YORK -- A housing official under former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani pleaded guilty Tuesday to using city funds to finance vacations and a bachelor party and having child pornography.
In an unusual court proceeding, Russell Harding appeared in U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan's courtroom on a television monitor and entered the plea from a prison facility in Butler, N.C.
Harding, 40, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to embezzle, mail and wire fraud and possession of child pornography after he was accused of spending at least $400,000 in public funds on himself and friends _ for a car, vacations to Hong Kong and Canada, magazine subscriptions and other items.
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Shargel said his client was not in court because it was decided it might jeopardize his mental health if he were moved from a facility where he has been treated for bipolar disorder and a nonverbal mental disability.
http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/manhattan/ny-bc-ny--ex-giulianiaide0315mar15,0,3685193.story?coll=nyc-moreny-headlinesGuiliani sure knows how to pick 'em. Wonder where Bernie Kerik is hiding these days?