A California venture capitalist pleaded guilty Thursday to charges that he helped his company land a quarter-billion dollar deal with New York’s giant public pension fund by making nearly $1 million in illegal gifts to state officials.
Markstone Capital Partners chairman Elliott Broidy entered the plea in a Manhattan courtroom Thursday morning. He admitted to a felony charge of rewarding official misconduct.
Markstone said Broidy has resigned from the company.
Broidy is the latest in a string of private equity executives and investment advisers charged in connection with New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s investigation of a pay-to-play scandal in the office of former state comptroller Alan Hevesi.
Cuomo, though, said Broidy’s case expands the probe in a different direction.
Four high-level officials in the comptroller’s office, he said, accepted gifts or other lucrative benefits from Broidy.
“This is an old fashioned payoff of state officials,” Cuomo said. “This is effectively bribery of state officials, and not just one, but a number of state officials in the comptroller’s office.”
Only one has already been charged in the case, the pension fund’s former chief financial officer, David Loglisci.
Cuomo declined to name the three others, saying the investigation was not yet complete. (AP)
