No corporate filing found in Bruno business

Associated Press - November 3, 2009 6:45 PM ET

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Court documents show former state Senate leader Joseph Bruno received thousands of dollars for steering business to a stock brokerage that paid him with checks written to Business Consultants Inc., a company that didn't file incorporation papers.

Federal prosecutors allege Bruno, 80, a Rensselaer County Republican, schemed to conceal influence-peddling earnings behind two "shell" companies. They submitted a 2009 Department of State document showing no incorporation certification.

In testimony Tuesday, Bruno's former Senate counsel, Court of Claims Judge Francis Collins, says he filed a 1992 form with the Rensselaer County Clerk showing Bruno starting to work on the side as Business Consultants.

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