The bill for defending Mayor Bill de Blasio and other city officials in state and federal criminal investigations into fund-raising practices has grown, with six city contracts for outside law firms now totaling more than $11.6 million.
The contracts, filed with the city comptroller’s office and obtained by The New York Times through a request under the state’s Freedom of Information Law, provide the bare minimum of detail as to their purpose other than representing city employees in possible grand jury hearings related to what the Law Department calls, in its paperwork, the “John Doe Investigation.”
Taken together, the contracts contain a constellation of white-collar criminal defense and trial lawyers from law firms big and small, as well as the maximum they can bill in the city’s defense: Debevoise & Plimpton, $10 million; Carter Ledyard & Millburn, $750,000; Walden Macht & Haran, $350,000; Lankler Siffert & Wohl, $250,000; Cunningham Levy Muse, $200,000; and Paul B. Bergman, P.C., $99,000.
Lawyers from the firms, all of which declined to comment on the contracts, are tasked with preparing witnesses who may be subpoenaed or asked to give testimony to a grand jury. State and federal grand juries have begun hearing evidence from prosecutors, according to people familiar with the matter.
15 comments:
Let him defend himself...why are taxpayers required to defend deSleazio? Let him sell is house and sacrifice his pension!
Crooked ass motherf**ker! I hate this man with a passion. I didn't think I could hate someone more than I hated bloomberg, but he outtops him! He only wanted to be mayor so his son can get into a top school. He is so worthless it's ridiculous. I knew he'd be a trainwreck from the second I seen him campaigning. I didn't vote for him
Didn't Silver and skelos use taxpayer funds to defend themselves?
Why are we paying for this?
If he is found guilty does he reimburse us?
Drain the swamp!
Sigh, let me get my checkbook.
11 million is more than the yearly amount allocated to provide vital fixes and improvements in NYCHA buildings. Which our corrupt mayor and his REBNY overlords need to reminded is the real affordable housing. It's also more than the amount of money allocated to poor people who can't afford legal aid in small court cases, which is zero (I know that was a state decision by Mario's asshole son, but you think De Faustio would had gave a hand to the people he allegedly cares deeply for). And it's also more money than much needed aid for transit customers striving to save with the high cost of living and stagnant salaries, which was also zero.
And please people, stop quoting the President (It's just a suggestion, you the people have every right to). He's not draining the swamp, had no intention to, and has already broken his campaign promise on funding the wall. It's no better than when Obama said you can keep your doctor and when HW Bush promised no new taxes.
He was made a fool of by the President of Mexico yesterday, and that nation's citizens think he's an incompetent asshole.
Apologies for any latent divisiveness and disrespect to the leader of the free world.
Waste of $, waste of life.
$11 million would go a long way to buying school supplies. Why should teachers have to use their own funds to supply their classrooms with basic supplies? How about fixing the numerous potholes around the city, ruining tires and suspension systems? What about repainting the many road lanes where the paint has completely worn away, like on the northbound Van Wyck? It's very dangerous to drive at night there, as you can't see which lane you're in. There are thousands of worthy ways that money could be spent around the city. Defending this oversized pile of steaming excrement is not even remotely on the list. He is a criminal, corrupt through and through. He doesn't care about the city, only carrying out his weird Commie agenda and supporting his buddies Al Sharpton, ghetto thugs, and illegals.
I don't understand how this garbage could possibly bill the city for his legal bills to defend his corruption trials.
The commie in chief and his legal fees.
Harboring illegal aliens, going against federal laws will only make the legal bills bigger.
Wasting tax payer money for troubles he caused. Not the American people. Maybe someone should show how much we the taxpayers pay for such bull shit. Stuff that has nothing to do with us and yet we keep paying for it. Show us what we pay into. Show everyone where our hard earned money goes too. Shall we protest that??
Isn't it wonderful how the crooks get to spend our money to keep from getting arrested for stealing our money?
Very selfish, elitist behavior if you ask me.
Why should is taxpayers have to pay for a crook's defense?
Duh Blaz must go....either out of office or to jail!
Enough with shady politicians! Queens is full of them!
Clean house in our borough. Begin with borough hall. Sweep community boards clean!
That's where all the questionable deals get made.
CB7 is a prime example.
If I get accused of breaking some kind of law while running my business where do I apply for this tax payer funded legal defense? This is one hell of a system we the sheeple have allowed to develope. What the fuck is going on? How did it ever get this way?
It is interesting when the Marxist proletariat leader of the masses turns into a hypocritical bourgeois, illegally wasting all of the proletariat's confiscated, hard earned tax moneys to fight the prosecution of his ill gotten excessive wealth he has suddenly accumulated.
I thought he was going to champion the fight against Greed!
So much for a classless society.
And when will these class structures disappear?
What of the idea: 'from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs'?
Do the ends justify the means?
Ironic, This from a so called Communist...
Post a Comment