http://wcbs880.com/njnews/NJ--ContributorCharge-jn/resources_news_html
Court suspends law license of troubled Democratic contributor
Thursday March 03, 2005
By MATT SMITH
Associated Press Writer
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) A midlevel state appeals court Thursday suspended the New York law license of a major New Jersey Democratic Party contributor who pleaded guilty last year to witness tampering and tax charges.
Charles B. Kushner will be prohibited from practicing law in New York under the decision by the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court. The motion to suspend Kushner's license was made by the state's Committee on Professional Standards.
Kushner is to be sentenced Friday in federal court in New Jersey for using a prostitute to seduce his brother-in-law who was a witness in a federal probe that focused on Kushner's donations and business.
Kushner pleaded guilty in August to the witness tampering charge. In doing so, he also admitted sending a tape of the seduction to the man's wife Kushner's sister.
Kushner pleaded guilty as well to campaign finance violations and 16 counts of filing false tax returns for various partnerships affiliated with his company, avoiding up to $325,000 in taxes.
Since 1997, Kushner gave more than $1 million to Democrats and was the top donor to former New Jersey Gov. James E. McGreevey's successful gubernatorial campaign. The married McGreevey, whose administration was mired in its own scandals, resigned in November after admitting to a homosexual affair.
Kushner also donated funds in the past to New York Democrats, including U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and state Comptroller Alan Hevesi.
Kushner, 50, has been free on $5 million bail pending sentencing. He faces between 18 and 33 months in prison.
Following his guilty plea, Kushner resigned as chairman of The Kushner Companies, a firm valued at more than $1 billion that owns or manages 20,000 apartments in New Jersey and several other states. The company also builds new homes and has commercial properties throughout New York and New Jersey.
A call Kushner's attorney Robert Ray was not immediately returned.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1356228/posts
Corporate Exec Kushner Sentenced To 2 Years (massive bundling scam to DNC, Clintons, Torricelli)
POLITICAL MONEY LINE ^ | 3/4/05
Posted on 03/04/2005 4:37:18 PM EST by Liz
Charles Kushner
Charles Kushner, former chairman of Kushner Companies, a real estate and apartment owning/managing company in northern New Jersey and the Northeast, was sentenced on 3/4 to twenty-four months in prison and fined $40,000. He had been free on $5 million bail.
Kushner, a major fundraiser for Democrats, pleaded guilty in August to giving false statements to the FEC regarding $385,000 in political contributions he made from real estate partnerships without the permission of other partners, falsifying tax forms (16 counts), improperly listing $1 million in charitable contributions as business expenses, and shaving funds several hundred thousand dollars off taxes owed, and retaliating against his sister - a government witness.
Kushner had already paid the FEC a civil penalty of $508,900. The contributions were made in 1997-2000 and came from forty partnerships he controls. The recipients included 13 candidate committees, one party committee and one PAC.
Because federal law prohibits convicted felons from owning any interest in a bank, federal regulators forced the sale of Kushner-owned NorCrown Bank in New Jersey. On Nov. 11, Valley National Bancorp finalized a deal to buy NorCrown for $141 million. The Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp reached a settlement in February with Kushner and a trust fund requiring them to pay $12.5 million for not fully identifying all the persons connected to the family trust that owned the bank.
Kushner may also owe between $200,000 and $320,000 in back taxes.
PoliticalMoneyLine highlighted the Kushner bundles in its May 30, 2001, home page link.
See also DOJ press release on Kushner’s guilty plea (link).
Companies, partnerships & individuals connected to Charles J. Kushner (Kushner Companies) bundled over $1 million to federal candidates and the DNC in 1999-00.