In addition to his post with the Rockland Democratic Party,Adler was a partner in the commercial brokerage firm Kunis &Adler, which merged with Prudential Rand Realty in Jan. 1996,according to court documents. The charges against Adler includeallegations that he accepted bribes from a developer in exchangefor his political influence on a local planning board; hid hisfinancial relationship with the developer of the Palisades CenterMall during its approval process; and having a hidden interest in aland flip deal.

Federal court documents note that in 1996 Adler and a partnersold two contiguous tracts of land to a "middleman" developer. Thesame day the middleman firm sold the property to the town ofClarkstown for approximately $1 million more than it paid for itearlier in the day. Adler and his partner allegedly split about onehalf of the profits from the land flip, according to Federalprosecutors. It was also alleged that Adler and his partner nevertold the original seller of the land about Clarkstown's interest inthe property, which it had earmarked for a public golf course.

The case against Adler was first disclosed in September when theUS district attorney charged him with multiple counts of bribery,extortion and mail fraud in a criminal complaint filed in the USDistrict Court for the Southern District here.