In a situation reminiscent of the Nannygate matter of 1993, Kerik had failed to pay taxes for the worker, who may have been an illegal immigrant to the United States.

However, on December 10, after a week of press scrutiny, Kerik withdrew acceptance of the nomination citing personal reasons and a potential controversy over the immigation status of a nanny and housekeeper he had employed.

A grand jury of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York issued a 16-count indictment against Kerik on November 8, 2007, alleging conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, and lying to the Internal Revenue Service.

Kerik was sentenced to four years in federal prison on February 18, 2010.

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani appointed Kerik the 40th New York City Police Commissioner on August 21, 2000.

As Police Commissioner, Kerik served on the Terrorism Committee with the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the Criminal Justice Advisory Board for St. John's University.

Kerik served 16 months as Commissioner, leaving office at the end of Giuliani's term on December 31, 2001.

Kerik also established the New York Metropolitan Committee on Counter Terrorism, responsible for reviewing existing security measures, technology, information exchange protocols, and levels of cooperation among the participating agencies and developing recommendations for improving, facilitating, and expediting the same throughout the current national crisis.

But on December 10, after a week of press scrutiny, Kerik withdrew acceptance of the nomination.

Kerik's father, Donald Raymond Kerik, Sr. died on February 24, 2006, from cancer.

On November 8, 2007, in White Plains, New York, Kerik was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiracy, tax fraud and making false statements.

If convicted on all 16 counts in the indictment, Kerik could have faced a maximum sentence of 142 years in prison and $ 4. 7 million in fines.

Other controversies which may have contributed to Kerik's declining the nomination included an alleged outstanding arrest warrant from 1998 stemming from unpaid bills on the maintenance of a condominium ( documents regarding this warrant were faxed to the White House less than three hours before Kerik submitted his withdrawal of acceptance to the President ) and questions regarding Kerik's sale of stock in Taser International shortly before the release of an Amnesty International report critical of the company's stun-gun product.

These were offenses considered minor by many ( Giuliani later allowed subsequent Commissioner Bernard Kerik to be let off with a slap on the wrist after nearly identical offenses ).

Kerik once chaired the NY Police Officer Michael J. Buczek Foundation's annual fund-raiser that honors law enforcement across the nation.

* Bernard Kerik ( born 1955 ), former New York City Police Commissioner.

In February 2011, The New York Times reported that documents filed in a lawsuit state that Ailes urged former employee and current publisher Judith Regan to lie to federal investigators regarding her affair with New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik, nominated for Department of Homeland Security Secretary.

* Bernard Kerik, New York City Police Commissioner

* Bernard Kerik ( born 1955 ), former New York City Police Commissioner.

Bernard Bailey " Bernie " Kerik ( born September 4, 1955 ) is a former New York City Police Commissioner, Secretary of Homeland Security nominee.

Kerik was New York City Police Commissioner from 2000 to 2001, under Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Kerik was born in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Patricia Joann ( née Bailey ) and Donald Raymond Kerik, Sr. His mother was Irish American and his father was Russian American.

Kerik was raised Catholic and grew up in Paterson, New Jersey.

From December 1981 to October 1982 and then July 1984 to July 1986, Kerik worked at the Passaic County sheriff's office, in New Jersey.

In July 1986, Kerik joined the New York City Police Department and was assigned to uniformed and plain clothes duty in the 14th Division in Brooklyn and in the Midtown South Precinct ( Times Square ).

In May 1994, Kerik was appointed to the New York City Department of Correction as the Director of the Investigations Division and was later transferred to the Commissioner's office as Executive Assistant to the Commissioner and in January 1995, he was appointed by Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani as the First Deputy Commissioner of the Department.

In January 1998, Kerik become commissioner of the New York City Department of Correction.

According to the New York Daily News, Kerik, along with his first deputy commissioner, the chief of department, and other top police officials were all in close proximity to the burning towers, and dodged rubble and debris as the structures fell.

On September 18, 2001, Kerik attended a ceremony in which Governor George Pataki signed legislation into law adding five new sections to the New York State Penal Law and one to the New York State Criminal Procedure Law to address terrorist-related activity.

On May 18, 2004, Kerik testified before the 9 / 11 Commission in New York City.

In 2001, Kerik published a memoir, The Lost Son: A Life in Pursuit of Justice, a New York Times best seller.

In 2009, Kerik was seen in the season finale of the Bravo reality show Real Housewives of New Jersey.

Kerik has been a resident of Franklin Lakes, New Jersey.

Prosecutors say Kerik received about $ 255, 000 in renovations to his Riverdale, Bronx, apartment from a company seeking to do business with the city of New York and concealed the income from the Internal Revenue Service.

* Bernard Kerik, former police commissioner of New York City

* President George W. Bush nominates former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik to replace outgoing Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge in the Cabinet position.

Kerik was honorably discharged from the Army in July 1977 and worked briefly for the Interstate Revenue Research Center, Indianapolis, Indiana, as an investigator before joining the Morrison Knudson Saudi Arabia Consortium ( MKSAC ) in April 1978, where he was employed as a security officer at the King Khalid Military City in Hafar Al-Batin, Saudi Arabia, for nearly two and a half years.

In a United Nations UNODC Fact Finding Mission Report dated May 18, 2003, Kerik was cited as leading a small " International Policing Team ", to restructure and rebuild the Iraqi Police and Ministry of Interior.

Kerik worked from 1982 to 1984 as chief of investigations for the security division of the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

" Known in the department as the " beat-cop commissioner ," Kerik frequently cruised the city at night with a security detail composed of cops who have been in shootouts, dangled from rooftops, been hit by bullets, raced into burning buildings and seen their partners die.

Kerik was in his office when the first attack occurred and arrived at the base of Tower I about three minutes before United Airlines Flight 175 hit Tower II, showering him and his staff with debris from the burning building and plane.

Upon his return from Iraq, Kerik was politically active, campaigning for Republican candidates for political offices at all levels, including speaking at the 2004 Republican National Convention, where he endorsed George W. Bush for re-election.

Kerik resigned from these positions in December, 2004.

Kerik received a U. S. Presidential Letter of Commendation from President Ronald Reagan for heroism and was appointed Honorary Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire ( CBE ) by Queen Elizabeth II.

While angrily revoking Kerik's $ 500, 000 bail during the trial, Federal Judge Stephen C. Robinson delivering what the NY Times termed " a withering criticism of Mr. Kerik from the bench, describing him as a ' toxic combination of self-minded focus and arrogance.