Hospital Exec Accused of Bribery Hires Lawyer Connected to the Prosecution

When you have to get off charges of being too close to politicians, you might as well get close to the people who are charging you.

That seems to be the thinking of Dr. Robert Aquino, the former owner of Parkway Hospital in Queens, who has hired a lawyer married to a prosecutor in the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office, which is currently charging him with bribing former Brooklyn state Sen. Carl Kruger, according to the New York Post.

Aquino's lawyer, Alixandra Smith, said in court that she is applying to work with her husband, Daniel Richenthal, in the same office, which would create an even more awkward connection.

In Queens and Brooklyn politics, nothing shocks anymore, and this is just one more day for these people, as Aquino said he has no issue with the arrangement, according to the Post.