No jail time for Ray Harding in scandal

ALBANY -- A Manhattan judge yesterday sentenced the former and once-influential boss of New York's Liberal Party to a conditional discharge for his role in an influence-peddling scandal involving the state pension fund.

Raymond Harding, who has had a role in New York politics for 30 years, will avoid prison if he stays out of trouble for a year. Prosecutors had accused Harding of collecting $800,000 in the scheme. He's allowed to keep that money, Bloomberg News reports.

Harding told the court he is "profoundly sorry" for his role in the scandal involving politically connected figures who gained investments from the state's massive pension fund under former Democratic Comptroller Alan Hevesi.

Harding pleaded guilty in October to felony securities fraud, a charge dismissed Wednesday as part of his plea deal. He admitted to accepting kickbacks from investment companies doing business with the pension fund as rewards for political favors to Hevesi.

Hevesi had already pleaded guilty to official misconduct, a felony, in the wide-ranging scandal investigated by then-Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo that led to charges against longtime Democratic politicians and operatives.

At the October sentencing of Hevesi to 1 to 4 years in prison, state Inspector General Ellen Biben said of the former assemblyman and city comptroller: "He abused his power to pad his pockets and the pockets of his friends." -- AP