U.S. Attorney: ‘Insufficent Evidence To Prove A Federal Crime’ After Closing

The shuttering of the Moreland Commission may have been “premature”, but there’s not proof it was a federal crime, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement this afternoon. “We continue to have active investigations related to substantive inquiries that were being conducted by the Moreland Commission at the time of its closure”, said Bahara.

Attorney Elkan Abramowitz, representing the governor’s office, thanked Bharara for clarifying the public record. In investigating the panel, Bharara’s office took custody of its files, and of the Blackberry phones commissioners had been instructed to use for secret communications with the governor’s office. Bharara had used the phrase in 2014 when he complained about the powerful political triumvirate he saw in Cuomo’s dealings with then New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos.

Cuomo in recent weeks has insisted the commission was always meant to provide a wedge that would force the Legislature to pass new anti-corruption measures.

Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino expressed his disappointment in Bharara’s statement and reiterated his call for an independent prosecutor to investigate whether state laws were broken. Bharara officially acknowledged the existence of a criminal probe into the commission’s closing Monday but said the search came up empty.

Allegations of tampering by Cuomo aides followed by Coumo’s abrupt disbanding of the commission were thought to show federal charges could brought against member so Cuomo’s staff and, perhaps, Cuomo himself. The fact that insufficient evidence of federal crimes was available to indict Mr. Cuomo of obstruction of justice is not the same as finding him innocent.

For Cuomo, set to deliver his State of the State address Wednesday, the statement from Bharara removes not only the possibility of prosecution but also resolves lingering questions that had threatened to undermine Cuomo’s administration.