Cuomo Investigating Carrozza Residency Claims

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has opened an investigation into whether Ann Margaret Carrozza is violating state law by living in one district while representing another district and that she may have negotiated a far better mortgage interest rate than otherwise available:

Carrozza took out the mortgage when she bought the mansion for $1.8 million in June 2008, some five months before she was reelected in her Bayside, Queens, district.

State law requires a legislator to live within his or her district for a year prior to the general election and to maintain a residence in the district while in office.

Cuomo's investigators - armed with statements Carrozza has made to The News - are focusing on whether she filed a false business document when she took out the $1 million mortgage, the sources said.

Carrozza, who has vowed to run for reelection next year, said she welcomes Cuomo's probe.

"I am confident he will find that at all times I have maintained my primary residence right here in Bayside," she said. That claim contradicts her mortgage pledge and statements she previously made to The News.

The mortgage papers Carrozza signed state the posh Gold Coast digs would be her "principal residence within 60 days" and "for at least one year" thereafter.

Cuomo's probers are examining whether Carrozza, 42, was able to obtain a more favorable interest rate with that assertion, the sources said.

When The News confronted Carrozza about her residency on June 25, she said she's lived in the manse with her hubby and two kids since February.

"My primary residence is in Bayside - and we're temporarily renting that out," she said, referring to a Bayside home she owns.

While Cuomo is at it, he ought to take a closer look at a couple of fellow politicians in the state Assembly, including Pedro Espada, Jr., who apparently lives outside the district he claims to represent.