MAYOR TOLD ME TO BREAK LAW
‘Do what you’ve got to do,’ Blaz said of illegal campaign cash scheme: crooked donor
Mayor de Blasio gave go-ahead for illegal campaign donations, according to testimony Thursday by former fund-raiser Harendra Singh, seen with him in photo introduced as court exhibit.
A MAJOR DONOR to Mayor de Blasio dropped a bombshell Thursday, testifying under oath that when he told Hizzoner he’d have to arrange illegal campaign donations, de Blasio offered a stunning response: “Do what you’ve got to do.” Harendra Singh, a former Queens restaurateur who threw free fund-raisers for the mayor and raised thousands of dollars for him, said the mayor twice took a look-the-other-way approach when he broached the subject of illegal contributions.
It’s unclear when the exchanges took place, and whether de Blasio was a mayoral candidate or in office at the time.
Singh, 59, is testifying as a prosecution witness in the trial of a Long Island politician, ex-Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano. Mangano’s wife, Linda, and former Oyster Bay Town Supervisor John Venditto are also on trial.
Singh has pleaded guilty to bribery charges and stated he raised funds for de Blasio to win favorable treatment from City Hall over a lease dispute involving his restaurant, Water’s Edge.
Prosecutors have said a top de Blasio aide, identified by sources as Emma Wolfe, pressured city managers to treat Singh favorably.
Last March, prosecutors announced de Blasio and his minions would not be charged with criminal activity, but they made a point of saying they’d done favors for donors.
Under questioning by Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine Mirabile on Thursday, Singh provided what is perhaps the most damning narrative in this longrunning saga of pay-to-play.
He said the first time he and de Blasio met, the then-public advocate gave him his personal cell phone number and personal email.
“Anytime you need anything, you know, just call me,” Singh quoted de Blasio as saying.
Over time, Singh testified he and de Blasio “developed a very close relationship.”
Singh — with his gravelly voice
and grave demeanor — said he twice warned the mayor that, to meet his demands for hefty contributions, he’d have to reimburse donors.
That type of pass-through — or straw donor — scheme is illegal.
Singh described one conversation with de Blasio at Water’s Edge in which de Blasio asked him if he could raise funds for the congressional campaign of Yvette Clark.
Singh testified he warned the mayor that he’d have to reimburse donors. He said the mayor replied, “Listen, I don’t know, I don’t want to know. Just do whatever you got to do.”He then recalled a second conversation in the office of Kramer Levin, the lobbyist law firm that represents de Blasio. A Kramer Levin partner, Barry Berke, was for a time de Blasio’s campaign treasurer.
This time, Singh testified, de Blasio was pressing for a contribution to an unspecified New York state Senate campaign. Again, Singh said, he made clear to the mayor that to raise large amounts, he’d have to reimburse the donors.
“He said, again, you know, ‘Do whatever you got to do, but I don’t want to know.’ ”
Singh also stated in court that he’d arranged two free fund-raisers for the mayor and had to generate bills for the events years later after questions were raised.
The Daily News revealed last year that Singh concocted bills for the two events at Water’s Edge — one in 2011, one in 2013 — during a city Campaign Finance Board audit of the de Blasio campaign.
In court Thursday, Singh said when he produced the backdated bills to the de Blasio campaign, the campaign officials complained about the amounts.
In response, he said he lowered the bills.
At one point, he was asked by prosecutor Mirabile, “Did you give these campaign contributions as bribes?”
“Yes,” Singh said, adding, “in exchange of help, you know, at Water’s Edge, getting the lease extended and getting the pier issue resolved.”
Questioned by Mirabile, Singh said he went on to reimburse donors after the conversation about the Senate.
The city Department of Investigation said in a report last year that Singh also gave to the mayor’s now-defunct nonprofit, Campaign for One New York, although no donation appears under his name in publicly available records.
Singh estimated he raised between $50,000 and $80,000 for de Blasio between 2011 and 2014. Records show at least $24,000 in checks directly connected to Singh and his family or employees.
Singh is expected to be back on the witness stand on Monday.
Asked to comment on allegations from Singh, a onetime Gracie Mansion guest, de Blasio press secretary Eric Phillips said, “This administration acted appropriately at all times, as we’ve said several thousand times.”
The testimony continues the fallout from de Blasio’s now notorious fund-raising tactics.
Singh is the second donor to spill about those tactics on the witness stand.
Brooklyn developer Jona Rechnitz testified in a different case last fall about writing big checks for de Blasio and getting favorable treatment and unusual direct access to the mayor.
De Blasio denied any wrongdoing in both cases.
His spokesman Phillips has previously dismissed Singh as “a convicted felon trying to save his own skin.”