Council crony $

Bx. pol hires att’y tied to decades of sketchy deals

A MAINSTAY in Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s administration who once gave a sweetheart contract to his pal and suspended the license of a cabbie who got into a dispute with his lover is back on the city payroll — even though he claimed to be disabled for a decade.

Christopher Lynn was hired by his longtime friend Councilman Ruben Diaz Sr. in January to act as his counsel. The City Council is paying Lynn, 67, a $50,000 salary for the part-time job, records show.

Six years ago, insurance company AXA Equitable accused Lynn (photo) of fraudulently claiming he was totally disabled to collect on a $3,000-a-month policy, according to court records.

Lynn had been getting payments from the policy since October 2001, when he said a back injury left him “totally disabled” and unable to work as the director of the Mayor’s Election Task Force Commission.

In 2012, the insurer yanked the policy and demanded Lynn pay back $33,000 after it learned that he had hid his work as Diaz’s parttime counsel in the state Senate in 2009.

AXA Equitable also learned that Lynn had been working on legal cases as a private practice attorney, including pro bono work for Diaz (D-Bronx) in a 2004 lawsuit. The insurer said Lynn never reported any of the work to it.

Before claiming disability, Lynn held many high-ranking city positions during Giuliani’s two terms as mayor. Throughout his time in Giuliani’s inner circle, Lynn was dogged by accusations of improper behavior.

Just last year, the city paid more than a $1 million to settle a longrunning lawsuit that a whistleblower brought over Lynn’s actions from 20 years ago.

Transportation Department employee John Tipaldo had sued the city, saying he was demoted in 1997 for blowing the whistle on Lynn — then the agency’s commissioner — for giving a pal a contract to manufacture 100 “Don’t Honk” signs for the Queensboro Bridge.

The Department of Investigation substantiated Tipaldo’s claim that Lynn gave the contract to a friend and tried to cover it up.

Lynn also served as the chairman of the Taxi & Limousine Commission. In that role, he suspended a hack’s license in 1996 after the cabbie told Lynn’s companion to take another taxi because his was broken down.

The cabbie sued the city over the incident and was awarded $24,000 in lost wages and legal fees.

After AXA Equitable terminated his policy, Lynn sued the insurer, saying that his disability barred him from holding a job as a top-level city official who had to be on-call 24 hours a day. He said he was still entitled to do part-time work.

Lynn also said that his $50,000 part-time job for Diaz in 2009 was not really work.

In a deposition, he said his job required 17.5 hours of work each week.

His main duties entailed taking a few phone calls and attending a monthly meeting for the Senate’s Committee on Aging. His work time included his six-hour commutes each way from his Long Island City, Queens, apartment to Albany, he said.

During the deposition, he also said he started getting Social Security disability in 2010. The case was settled in 2014.

Lynn told The News he could not discuss the settlement. He declined to say if he is still disabled.

Diaz said he and Lynn are “good friends” and have known one another since 1993.

“I am so honored to have him because he is tremendous,” said Diaz, who chairs the Council’s Committee on For-Hire Vehicles.