Former New York Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik is set to be sentenced today for lying during his vetting to be secretary of homeland security, and for tax fraud related to renovations on his apartment paid for by a company seeking a city license.
It’s one of those moments where you find out who your true friends are. But while supporters have written letters to the judge to advocate for a light sentence, one prominent figure is staying silent: Rudy Giuliani, once Kerik’s most powerful patron.
Prosecutors are seeking a sentence of 27 to 33 months. The defense “supplied letters of support from [Kerik’s] son, fellow police officers, a priest and a man who lost two sons on Sept. 11,” the AP notes. But, “there was no letter from Giuliani.”
Kerik once served as Giuliani’s personal bodyguard, eventually winning a series of appointments in Rudy’s mayoral administration. His run in city government culminated in a stint as police commissioner that overlapped with Sept. 11. Giuliani was responsible for getting Kerik the Homeland Security nod that ended in embarrassment — he withdrew amid ethics questions — and, ultimately, criminal charges for lying to the White House.
Kerik was later a business partner with Giuliani in his consulting firm.
But in the past several years, the man who Giuliani once lavishly praised as “always doing better than even I thought he would do” has largely played the role of political irritant. Kerik’s indictment in 2007 became a problem for Giuliani during the presidential primary that year.
A spokesperson for Bracewell & Giuliani did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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