The AP:
A California businessman implicated in a corruption scandal at New York’s public pension fund secretly pleaded guilty to securities fraud two months ago, authorities revealed yesterday.
Julio Ramirez, a former agent for the Wetherly Capital Group, is the sixth person charged and one of two to plead guilty in a probe of alleged kickbacks and influence peddling at the fund during the tenure of former state Comptroller Alan Hevesi.
It will come to as a great surprise to you that the Julio Ramirez employed by the Wetherly Capital Group was a big-ticket Democrat donor. He gave $2,000 to the DNC, $2,000 to John Kerry, $2,500 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, $2,000 to Ken Salazar, $1,000 to Jane Harman, and smaller amounts to other Democratic candidates.