A former state senator set to be sentenced for conspiracy has named, in a court document, several other lawmakers whom she secretly recorded at the urging of the FBI and federal prosecutors.
Former State Sen. Shirley Huntley, a Democrat from Queens, pleaded guilty in January to mail fraud conspiracy, and filed papers this month -- that were made public Wednesday -- naming nine people she recorded. The papers were filed in a bid for leniency during sentencing.
The papers say that after Huntley's arrest, she met with FBI agents and prosecutors and "advised them that she had knowledge of what she believed to be corruption involving public officials."
The papers say that government officials asked her last summer to invite "certain individuals into her home and record conversations" for the FBI.
She did that, and the individuals were named in the papers made public Wednesday.
Those people include:
- State Sen. Eric Adams
- State Sen. Ruth Hassel-Thompson
- State Sen. Jose Peralta
- State Sen. Malcolm Smith
- City Councilman Ruben Wils
- State Sen. Velmanette Montgomery
- State Sen. John Sampson
Smith and Sampson have both recently pleaded not guilty in their own corruption cases.
Adams said he has not been contacted by authorities, but said he was "more than willing to help with any investigation."
"I believe deeply in transparency and the pursuit of justice -- and that is why I committed 20 years of my life to law enforcement," he told NBC 4 New York.
Peralta said he was confident authorities would find that he engaged in "no wrongdoing whatsoever."
Wils said federal law enforcement authorities told his attorney that the councilman is not the "target of any investigation arising from proceedings involving Shirley Huntley." He also said law enforcement officials have not contacted him personally and that he looks forward to continuing his political work.
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Hassel-Thompson and Montgomery did not return calls for comment.
