NEW YORK, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- A New York jury Friday found a political operative guilty of bilking hundreds of thousands of dollars in a voting security scam from Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
On the third day of the trial a Manhattan jury convicted John Haggerty of money laundering and grand larceny in the second degree. The panel did not find for grand larceny in the first degree because although prosecutors said Haggerty intended to pocket $1.1 million, ultimately he ended up with $900,000 -- $100,000 under the limit for conviction under the higher charge, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Prosecutors said Haggerty, a volunteer on Bloomberg's 2009 mayoral campaign, arranged for the billionaire candidate to shift $1.2 million to New York's Independence Party. They said the mayor intended $1.1 million of that money to be spent on Election Day poll watching ballot security, but Haggerty pocketed most of it to buy a Forest Hills house that belonged to his late father.
Haggerty faces a maximum of 15 years in prison on the larceny charge and has been free on his own recognizance, but prosecutors have asked Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Ronald Zweibel he be detained pending sentencing due to his risk of flight, the New York Post said.
Prosecutors allege Haggerty once sent an e-mail claiming to be in possession of an Irish passport.
"We have been unable to make that determination," lead rackets prosecutor Eric Seidel argued in asking for bail.
"If the issue is the Irish passport, he doesn't have one," Defense lawyer Dennis Vacco said.
