Consultant convicted of stealing from mayor Bloomberg

John Haggerty, the Republican consultant charged with stealing more than $1 million of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's money during the 2009 campaign, is seen talking to lawyers at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York October 4, 2011.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A jury on Friday convicted political consultant John Haggerty of stealing almost $1 million from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg during his 2009 re-election campaign.

In its third day of deliberations, the jury found Haggerty guilty of second-degree grand larceny and second-degree money laundering but cleared him of first-degree grand larceny.

He faces up to 15 years in prison. No sentencing date was set.

The verdict capped a three-week trial that saw Bloomberg himself and a host of City Hall power players take the witness stand in state Supreme Court in Manhattan.

Haggerty was accused of taking money from Bloomberg to be used for scrutinizing whether people trying to vote were actually eligible to cast ballots, but instead using the money to buy his late father's house in Queens.

Haggerty's legal defense team tried to show how the money took a circuitous route before it actually got to Haggerty, who had convinced Bloomberg to donate the money to the state Independence Party to fund the project. The defense said no crime against the mayor had been committed, since he willingly gave the funds to the party and no longer had any say in how they were spent.

Several jurors told Reuters it was actually the money trail that caused them to convict, citing two instances in which Haggerty received payments of $83,000 and $50,000 from the Independence Party for alleged Election Day expenses, only to wire the money that same day as payments on the house.

"It's just entirely too obvious," said one juror, Piper Gray, who runs a fashion website. "At least wait a couple of days."

Another juror, Stephen Conroy, the treasurer for a Broadway production company, said the emails from Haggerty to the party and to Bloomberg asking repeatedly for the funds were damning.

"The emails showed intent," he said. "It was obvious when you put the facts out."

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. thanked the jurors, adding, "John Haggerty abused the electoral process to enrich himself."

Haggerty's lawyers said they would appeal.

"We're disappointed with the verdict," defense attorney Dennis Vacco said.

Bloomberg ran as an independent in 2009. Democrats said what Haggerty was hired to do amounted to attempts to suppress the votes of minorities and some other voter groups.

The case spotlighted Bloomberg's campaign spending, a topic the billionaire mayor -- who funds his own campaigns -- is typically reluctant to discuss.

The rare spectacle of a city mayor testifying in open court drew a packed courtroom. Bloomberg, who is notoriously impatient with press questioning, was forced to endure hours of aggressive cross-examination from a defense lawyer intent on making his wealth and power the focus of the case.

(Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Greg McCune)