A political operative accused of scamming Mayor Michael Bloomberg out of $1.1 million has been convicted of second-degree grand larceny and two counts of money laundering.
The jury on Friday found John Haggerty not guilty of the top charge, first-degree grand larceny, and guilty of the lesser charges.
Prosecutors said Haggerty convinced the mayor to finance a $1.1 million poll-watching effort for his 2009 re-election campaign, but then pocketed the cash that had been funneled through the Independence Party.
Haggerty's lawyers argued that once Bloomberg donated the money to the Independence Party he no longer owned it, and so he couldn't be a victim of grand larceny. They say Bloomberg and his staff financed the ballot security effort through the party to distance his campaign from a practice that some Democrats have criticized as a cover for voter suppression, often in precincts with large minority populations.
Bloomberg testified the effort was meant to ensure that voters didn't encounter problems at the polls, and paying for it through the party was simply standard procedure.
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