Bernard Kerik Contradicts Guilty Plea In Testimony In Friend's Perjury Trial
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Former NYPD commissioner Bernard Kerik took the stand to testify against his friends in their perjury trial.
But in his testimony, Kerik flat-out contradicted his guilty plea which sent him to prison for four years, according to WCBS 880's Irene Cornell.
WCBS 880's Irene Cornell reports
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Kerik is currently serving a four-year prison term after pleading guilty to accepting a renovation job on his Bronx apartment worth more than $250,000 from construction company owners Frank and Peter DiTomasso.
The former top cop had admitted in federal court in his trial that the construction company paid $255,000 to renovate his apartment in exchange for help get the DiTomasso brothers out from under investigations into suspected mob ties, which was keeping them from getting multi-million dollar city contracts.
But in court Monday, Kerik said it was not the construction company but instead a contractor who paid for the work.
Kerik also testified that when the work was done, the renovations were much nicer than he'd expected and said he never asked for the marble Jacuzzi that was installed.
The prosecutor said that if Kerik told the truth when he pled guilty, he couldn't possibly be telling the truth now.
Kerik was led into the Bronx courthouse, shackled, by federal marshals and was allowed to change out of his prison jumpsuit and into a business suit before taking the stand.
The DiTomassos are on trial for lying to a grand jury about the construction work for Kerik in order to protect him.
Kerik also testified that he had shaky finances at the time and that he was surprised by the lavish renovations.
Kerik pled guilty to the fraud charges in late 2009.
The former police commissioner was also in the running to lead the cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security.
In the 2009 plea, Kerik admitted to charges that included tax fraud, making a false statement on a loan application and lying to the White House while he was being vetted for the Homeland Security post in 2004.
He began serving his sentence in May 2010.
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