Disgraced NY Comptroller Gets Prison In Pension Probe

Disgraced ex-state Comptroller Alan Hevesi was sentenced to prison Friday for influence-peddling at the state’s massive pension fund.

He was sentenced to one to four years behind bars.�

Appearing in Manhattan Supreme Court, Hevesi, 71, admitted that he abused the taxpayers’ trust.

“I have publicly disgraced myself,” he said. “I have only myself to blame. I will live with this for the rest of my life.”

After Judge Michael Obus imposed the sentence, Hevesi was hauled away in handcuffs.

Hevesi pleaded guilty in October to a corruption charge. Once the state’s chief financial officer, he was the highest-ranking official in a pay-to-play scandal that has brought guilty pleas and civil settlements from a roster of politicians, financiers and firms.

Hevesi resigned in 2006 after pleading guilty to a felony for using state workers to chauffeur his wife. The pension case emerged after he left office.

At $141 billion, New York’s retirement pool is one of the world’s largest government pension funds and a rich source of investment dollars.

(Source: NBC New York)