Judge won't dismiss Joseph Bruno fraud charges

ALBANY -- A federal judge has refused to dismiss two fraud charges filed against former New York Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno after his original convictions were overturned.

According to the Albany Times Union, Chief U.S. District Court Judge Gary Sharpe was unmoved by arguments made by Bruno's defense team that a superseding indictment of Bruno was "fatally flawed."

Bruno, 83, of Brunswick, was convicted in Sharpe's courtroom in 2009 on two of eight counts of honest services fraud in connection with $280,000 he received from Loudonville businessman Jared E. Abbruzzese between 2004 and 2006. Prosecutors said he used his influence as a legislator to make money through undisclosed consulting on the side.

An appeals court voided the convictions last year, citing a U.S. Supreme Court decision in another case that prosecutors must show direct bribes or kickbacks.

The defense argued that federal prosecutors filed an untimely superseding indictment against their client and that the case should have been tossed due to double-jeopardy because the government "abandoned" its initial theory of prosecution, according to the Times Union.

Sharpe denied the motion entirely, saying Bruno isn't subjected to unconstitutional double jeopardy since his convictions were set aside. But the judge did allow Bruno's lawyers to appeal his decision as it pertained to double-jeopardy.

Trial is scheduled for February.