News

NEW YORK, NY May 18, 2008 —A memo obtained by WNYC says city council members are being offered free legal representation in the ongoing federal probe into the council's bookkeeping. WNYC's Bob Hennelly reports:

REPORTER: The memo from the office of the legislative body's general counsel advises city council members that in order to qualify for the free legal representation they must have been contacted by federal prosecutors and must fully cooperate with the council's own internal investigation. The advisory warns members that they will not be eligible for the help if they broke any laws or have been less than forthcoming with investigators.

Already the city council has retained outside lawyers to help with meeting prosecutors requests for documents and Speaker Christine Quinn has her own defense counsel. After last month's indicment of two former council staffers for allegedly embezzeling thousands from a council funded non-profit, it was learned that at least a dozen of the Council's 51 members had disclosed they had a conflict of interest with a non-profit they had funded.

For WNYC, I'm Bob Hennelly.