State Senator Carl Kruger and seven other defendants pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to corruption charges in what federal prosecutors described as a "broad-based bribery racket."
The defendants remained largely silent during the 20-minute hearing in Federal District Court in Manhattan, as their lawyers entered pleas on their behalf. Some of them told Judge Jed S. Rakoff that they were considering asking for separate trials for their clients.
One lawyer has already filed papers asking that his client receive a speedy trial. But Mr. Kruger's lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, asked the judge for extra time to prepare for the case, saying that discovery materials were expected to include 100,000 pages of documents and recordings of 30,000 intercepted conversations.
After the hearing, Mr. Kruger declined to comment, but Mr. Brafman denied that his client had ever accepted bribes or abused his position.
In early March, federal prosecutors charged Mr. Kruger, a Democrat from Brooklyn, and the seven others with participating in a scheme in which Mr. Kruger accepted bribes in return for favors. Last week, the United States attorney's office in Manhattan filed a superseding indictment that expanded on the original charges. Some of the new charges were derived from assertions by prosecutors that the defendants had used interstate phone calls, e-mails and money transfers while engaging in bribery, but they offered few new details about the case.
It really looks like the feds have him pretty well nailed and you just know the thought of spending the next decade or three in prison has got to be weighing rather heavily on his bald, fleshy head...
