ALBANY – Donald Trump paid a private investigating firm more than $61,000 to probe a top aide to Gov. Pataki, records made public yesterday showed.
State Lobbying Commission records reveal that Trump – target of an extensive commission probe of his lobbying efforts against an Indian-owned Catskills casino – paid Washington-based Global Options LLC $61,175 in May to probe Pataki’s economic development czar and major fund-raiser, Charles Gargano, who once owned stock in a gambling-connected company.
An Indian-owned Catskills casino – subject of a hot controversy in the Legislature earlier this year – posed a threat to Trump’s Atlantic City casino operations.
The newly disclosed records include an invoice from Global Options listing money paid to “confidential sources” identified only as “A” through “E.”
The invoice – from a firm specializing in “investigations,” “intelligence” and “security consulting” – says the money was paid “regarding: Gargano.”
Trump defended the investigation as “research to determine where a lot of people stood on the gaming issue.
“Charlie is a friend of mine, and he’s a good guy,” Trump said.
“I wanted to see where people stood on issues and I don’t know if ‘investigation’ is the proper word,” Trump insisted.
But Roger Stone, a Trump adviser who helped direct the effort to block Indian gaming, said he initiated the probe because of Gargano’s past investments in a casino-connected company.
No information was ever made public by Trump or Stone, suggesting that Gargano had not done anything improper.
Meanwhile, Pataki – who has received campaign contributions from Trump – refused to comment on Trump’s probe of Gargano.
Pataki did, however, condemn Trump’s anti-gambling lobbying campaign.
“Obviously, I think that what they did was wrong,” said Pataki.
“It was in violation of the lobbying law, and it was grossly inappropriate.”
Gargano was on vacation, but his spokeswoman, Maura Gallucci, said Trump had engaged “in a desperate attempt to protect his interests.
“He [Gargano] doesn’t believe that this was the right thing to do,” Gallucci continued.
Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts, Stone and another associate were fined a record $250,000 as a result of the Lobbying Commission investigation into allegedly illegal lobbying efforts by Trump and his supporters.
The investigation, first disclosed by The Post, found that Trump spent nearly $1.5 million on efforts to block an Indian casino in the Catskills.