New York Pol’s Daughter Got $165,000 No-Show Job, AG Says
The daughter of former New York Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno defrauded taxpayers of $165,000 she got for a no-show job, the New York attorney general claims in court.
The state sued John J. O’Connor, former president of the Research Foundation of the State University of New York, and Susan Bruno, his former special assistant, in Albany County Supreme Court.
Bruno was paid “at least $164,952 in state funds for services that she did not perform,” Attorney General Eric Schneiderman says in the complaint. He seeks treble damages.
The state claims that Bruno and her boss, O’Connor, “conspired to commit violations” of New York’s False Claims Act by knowingly presenting false claims for payment.
Bruno’s father Joseph was at one time a powerful Republican in New York. A longtime state legislator from suburban Rensselaer County, he became Senate majority leader in an intraparty coup in 1994 and remained in the post for 14 years. He resigned in 2008 in the face of an FBI probe that led to his indictment on federal corruption charges.
More: Courthouse News Service