Can the Pensions of Corrupt Lawmakers be Seized?

In his testimony to the Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption earlier this week, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara announced that his office intends to go after the pensions of corrupt lawmakers.

Asked about the plan, Gov. Cuomo told NY1 that the issue came up as he and the Legislature were negotiating the 2011 ethics reforms.  That law provides for convicted politicians who were (or are) elected after the law was enacted to lose their pensions in the future, but does not apply to those who took office before the law was passed. (Read more background and analysis of the issue in the Times Union and State of Politics.)

The editorial boards of the Daily News, the NY Post and the Journal News all support the Bharara plan.

His plan is plan intriguing.  As I understand it, he’s not planning to go after ex-lawmaker pensions directly.  Instead, he intends to use his ability to seek civil forfeiture of any offender’s assets to recover court-imposed fines where lawmakers have not paid those fines.