Rudy Giuliani

Associates' Troubles Raise Questions about Giuliani's Judgment


 * Timothy Shawn "Tim" Durham is an American lawyer and financier convicted in 2012 of the largest white collar crime in Indiana history. Durham headed state fundraising for Rudolph Giuliani's 2008 Presidential campaign.


 * In 2004, President Bush, at Mr. Giuliani's urging, nominated Mr. Kerik to head the Department of Homeland Security. At the time, Mr. Kerik was a name partner in the private security-consulting company Mr. Giuliani set up after leaving office as mayor of New York City. Marc Mukasey's task to keep an eye on Kerik's criminal investigation shows Giuliani's concern with how the legal fate of his former NYPD and correction commissioner could affect his presidential campaign, sources said.


 * Msgr. Alan Placa, a childhood friend of Mr. Giuliani who is now a consultant to Giuliani Partners LLC, the candidate's consulting firm, went on administrative leave from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre, N.Y., in 2003 after allegations surfaced that he had conspired to protect priests accused of improper sexual contact with boys. Msgr. Placa has acknowledged he is the person described as "Priest F" in a 2003 Suffolk Country, N.Y., grand jury report. The grand jury alleged that "Priest F" tried to grope teenage boys three decades ago and, in the 1990s, used hardball legal tactics to keep allegations of sexual misconduct against other priests out of public view. Mr. Giuliani has said he stands by his friend. "I know him really well, and I have confidence in him."


 * Another close friend of Mr. Giuliani, Ken Caruso, a partner in the candidate's law firm, Bracewell & Giuliani LLP, is accused in a lawsuit pending in a New York state court of professional misconduct toward a client. J. Virgil Waggoner, a wealthy Texan who lost $10 million in the 1990s investing with a now-defunct offshore bank that a Senate investigative report identified as fraudulent, described Mr. Caruso in the suit as being in league with the people who defrauded him. Mr. Waggoner accused Mr. Caruso of helping the people who defrauded him escape liability, even as he charged Mr. Waggoner for legal advice that went against his interests. Also named in the suit is the Bracewell & Giuliani law firm, where Mr. Caruso is a partner in the New York office headed by Mr. Giuliani. Mr. Caruso worked with Mr. Giuliani in the Justice Department in Washington in the 1980s and helped on his campaigns for mayor. Mr. Giuliani appointed him to two New York City commissions. In his memoir, Mr. Giuliani said Mr. Caruso is the one who persuaded him to give up his 2000 Senate bid against Hillary Clinton to focus on beating prostate cancer.


 * Charles Hughes, a major union supporter of Mr. Giuliani, went to prison after pleading guilty in 2000 to stealing $2 million from union members.


 * Russell Harding, the son of a lobbyist and close political adviser to Mr. Giuliani, went to prison in 2005 for embezzling $400,000 from the New York City Housing Development Corp., where he was president. Mr. Giuliani had appointed him to the post.


 * One of Giuliani's closest allies in New York politics, State Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, was convicted of two counts of mail and wire fraud on December 7, 2009. His convictions were subsequently overturned on appeal.


 * The chairman of Giuliani's South Carolina campaign, Thomas Ravenel, On Friday, March 14, 2008, Thomas Ravenel was sentenced to 10 months in federal prison for possession with intent to distribute cocaine.


 * Linda Lay, widow of Enron's Ken Lay, who was represented civilly by Bracewell Giuliani. Mukasey has represented her in mediation disputes over Ken Lay's estate and the Justice Department is suing her to collect money for Enron victims.


 * In 1993, Mukasey served as a secret adviser to Giuliani's mayoral campaign while he was on the federal bench in Manhattan, according to sources who were involved at the time. Mukasey was one of the close Giuliani friends who gathered at a house that the mayoral candidate rented for the summer in Oyster Bay, Long Island. That's what two people present at the house for these weekend sessions in the middle of the '93 campaign vividly recall. Asked about Mukasey's attendance at these sessions and any advisory role he might have played in other Giuliani campaigns, White House press aide Tony Fratto limited his response to the summer get-togethers. "Judge Mukasey has never attended any campaign-strategy meetings for Mayor Giuliani in Oyster Bay," he said.

But the people who were at the gatherings say they were not "meetings" per se. Mukasey was there, according to these sources.


 * Mukasey's stepson Marc Saroff (he has since changed his name to Mukasey) is listed on the 1989 campaign filings as a "staff assistant," and Mukasey's wife Susan also worked at the campaign headquarters in 1989 and 1993. The judge himself was seen around the headquarters in 1993, and joined Giuliani in his election-night suite in 1989, swapping stories with him about Al D'Amato, the then U.S. senator who was viewed with great hostility by Giuliani partisans.