Here’s a look at the life of former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, who served time in prison for tax fraud and lying to officials.
Personal:
Birth date: September 4, 1955
Birth place: Newark, New Jersey
Birth name: Bernard Bailey Kerik
Father: Donald Kerik, a machinist
Mother: Patricia (Bailey) Kerik
Marriages: Hala (Matli) Kerik (1998-present); Jacqueline Llerena (1983-1992, divorced); Linda Hales (1978-1983, divorced)
Children: with Hala Kerik: Celine, Angelina; with Jacqueline Llerena: Joseph Michael; with Yi Yun Cha: Yi Sa (Lisa)
Education: Empire State College, State University of New York, B.S., 2002
Military service: US Army, 1974-1977
Other Facts:
His mother abandoned the family when Kerik was a child. Years later, Kerik found out she was a prostitute who may have been murdered.
Served as a security chief in a Saudi royal hospital.
Has a black belt in karate.
Timeline:
1986 – Joins the New York Police Department (NYPD).
1993 – Serves as driver and bodyguard to Rudy Giuliani during Giuliani’s 1993 mayoral campaign.
1994 – Joins the New York City Department of Corrections.
1998-2000 – Commissioner of the New York City Department of Corrections.
August 21, 2000-December 31, 2001 – Serves as police commissioner of New York City.
2002-2005 – Member of the board of directors for Taser International, Inc.
2003 – At the request of President George W. Bush, travels to Iraq to help train the new Iraqi police force.
December 3, 2004 – President George W. Bush nominates Kerik to be the Homeland Security secretary.
December 10, 2004 – Withdraws his nomination due to potential tax violations and a former household employee’s questionable immigration status.
December 22, 2004 – Announces his resignation as senior vice president at Giuliani Partners, the firm headed by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
2005 – Creates The Kerik Group LLC, a crisis and risk management consulting company.
June 30, 2006 – Pleads guilty to charges that while head of the NYC Corrections Department, he received $165,000 in gifts from a New Jersey construction firm Interstate Industrial Corp., a company alleged to have ties to organized crime. He also failed to report a $28,000 loan from a real estate developer and is ordered to pay $221,000 in fines.
November 9, 2007 – Kerik’s arraignment on federal corruption charges takes place. He pleads not guilty to 16 counts including corruption, conspiracy and tax evasion. He is released on $500,000 bail and surrenders his passport and firearm.
December 29, 2008 – Pleads not guilty in federal court to a revised indictment charging him in the corruption and tax evasion case. The revised indictment includes two new counts of aiding the filing of false returns and a charge involving making false statements while applying for a housing loan.
March 23, 2009 – The judge in the Bernard Kerik corruption and tax evasion case rules that charges must be divided into two trials.
May 26, 2009 – Kerik is indicted on charges of making false statements to White House officials vetting him for a secretary position at the Department of Homeland Security in 2004.
June 4, 2009 – Pleads not guilty to charges of lying to the White House.
October 20, 2009 – Kerik is jailed after being found in contempt for leaking confidential evidence in the corruption case.
November 5, 2009 – Pleads guilty to eight felony charges, including corruption, tax fraud and lying to White House officials vetting his nomination as homeland security secretary in 2004.
November 10, 2009 – Is released on bail under conditions that include home confinement and wearing a monitoring cuff.
February 18, 2010 – Is sentenced to 48 months in prison after pleading guilty to tax fraud, lying under oath, and other charges. Begins serving his sentence on May 17.
March 31, 2011 – The Second US Circuit Court of Appeals rejects Kerik’s claim of bias and upholds the 48 month prison sentence.
October 2012 – Testifies in the perjury trial of Frank and Peter DiTommaso, contractors accused of lying during a 2006 grand jury investigation regarding renovation work done on Kerik’s apartment. Frank DiTommaso is later found not guilty while his brother, Peter DiTommaso, is found guilty of two counts of perjury.
May 28, 2013 – Is released from federal prison on good behavior, after serving three years for charges including tax fraud and lying to officials. He remains under home confinement until October 15, and then is on supervised release for the next three years.
January 23, 2014 – Files a malpractice lawsuit against his former attorney Joseph Tacopina.
March 2015 – Kerik’s memoir, “From Jailer to Jailed: My Journey from Correction and Police Commissioner to Inmate #84888-054,” is released.
