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November 28, 2011
Feds drop case against Kruger ‘crony’
Brooklyn Daily
by Dan MacLeod
Federal prosecutors have dropped charges against a developer they claimed funneled nearly $500,000in bribes to state Sen. Carl Kruger — the second suspect to beat the rap in the government’s pronged attack against the embattle Brighton Beach legislature.
Feds say they will dismiss the charges against Aaron Malinsky, who was arrested on March 10 alongside Kruger (D–Brighton Beach) — as long as he keeps his nose clean for six months, according to the developer’s lawyer, Scott Mollen.
...Prosecutors claim that, in return for the money Malinsky paid to Olympian Strategic Development, Kruger greased the wheels so the developer could build a $65-million shopping center on city-owned land at the corner of Avenue D and Remsen Avenue in Canarsie. The site is home to a BJ’s.
The feds also accused Kruger of:
• Trying to get Forest City Ratner Companies, the lead developer on the proposed Four Sparrows Retail Center on the southern tip of Flatbush Avenue, to give a portion of the project to Malinsky so he could build a department store on the city-owned site.
• Promoted Malinsky’s plans to put a small-scale clothing store at Four Sparrows Retail Center during a scoping session on the project.
Malinsky and Rosen were among five men prosecutors say Kruger accepted bribes from between 2006 and 2011. The remaining three suspects, which include union lobbyist Richard Lipsky, have yet to go to trial.
Posted by eric at November 28, 2011 11:26 AM