The FBI has assembled a potential case against Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno using a federal law that is the Justice Department's preferred weapon in public corruption cases, according to sources briefed on the investigation.
That law makes it a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison, to deprive the public of the "honest services" of its government.
The sources, who are involved in the case but spoke on the condition they not be identified, said agents in the FBI's white-collar crime unit in Albany believe they have compiled enough evidence to propose criminal charges to the U.S. Attorney's office. The sources declined to provide details.
A federal grand jury in Albany has been reviewing the matter for more than a year. A decision on whether the panel will consider an indictment of Bruno, the state's most powerful Republican, would ultimately be made by U.S. Attorney Glenn T. Suddaby, the top federal prosecutor in New York's Northern District and an appointee of President Bush.
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A source briefed on the investigation said the FBI is homing in on the so-called "honest-services" law, a one-sentence amendment Congress inserted into federal statutes 20 years ago to close a loophole in its laws defining mail fraud and wire fraud.
The broadly written law prohibits anyone from depriving the public of an inherent "right to honest services." The law has given the Justice Department wider discretion in the prosecution of public corruption, experts said, and has led to numerous convictions even in cases where there was no clear-cut bribe or theft.
"You don't have to establish the clear quid pro quo that you need for a bribery conviction," said Henning, a former federal prosecutor.
In recent years, the honest services law was used to convict Abramoff, former Illinois Gov. George Ryan, former Connecticut Gov. John Rowland and former U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham of California.
