Ex-Giuliani Aide Arrested on Porn Charges
By ERIN McCLAM
.c The Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) - A former city housing director was accused Monday of owning child pornography and using public money to pay for personal items - including a car, ``The Sopranos'' DVDs and a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon.
Russell Harding, who was housing director in the administration of Rudolph Giuliani, was arrested as federal prosecutors unsealed a six-count indictment charging him with conspiracy, fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, receiving child pornography and possessing child pornography. The indictment said he had a child porn movie and 10 child porn computer images.
Harding was due in federal court later in the day, and U.S. Attorney James Comey planned a news conference to discuss the charges. Harding's attorney, Gerald Shargel, did not immediately answer a call for comment.
From 1998 to 2002, Harding was director of the city's Housing Development Corp. under Giuliani, overseeing federal grants to build and oversee housing projects.
Harding's father, former longtime state Liberal Party boss Raymond Harding, is a close friend of Giuliani's.
The indictment accuses Russell Harding of using his HDC Diners Club card to pay for expenses on personal trips to Hong Kong, San Diego, Vancouver, B.C., and Portland, Ore., and of using an HDC check to buy a $38,664 car intended for a friend.
Among the items he bought, the indictment said, werePalm Pilots, Cirque du Soleil tickets, DVDs of HBO's ``The Sopranos'' and ``Sex and the City,'' and a subscription to Vanity Fair magazine.
Published reports have said that a federal probe has also examined whether Giuliani chief of staff Anthony Carbonetti accompanied Harding on the trips at taxpayer expense. The indictment makes no mention of Carbonetti. It says another HDC employee accompanied Harding on the trips to Vancouver and Hong Kong.
A Giuliani spokeswoman did not immediately return a call for comment.
03/17/03 12:34 EST |
