Zaccaro Weighs Guilty Plea, His Attorney Says

John A. Zaccaro, husband of Geraldine A. Ferraro, former Democratic vice presidential candidate, is considering pleading guilty to unspecified charges stemming from an investigation into some of his business dealings, his lawyer said Saturday.

Zaccaro, whose financial affairs became an issue during his wife’s unsuccessful 1984 campaign with Walter F. Mondale, is “looking at all of his options and considering pleading guilty is one of them,” attorney John B. Koegel told the Associated Press.

The New York Times reported in today’s editions that, after a three-month investigation by Manhattan prosecutors, a grand jury last week voted sealed indictments against Zaccaro and three others in connection with two separate cases.

Denies Plea Report

But Koegel denied that the possible plea by Zaccaro involves the falsification of a sales contract for five apartment buildings, as the newspaper reported.

“That’s completely wrong,” Koegel said. “It’s on another matter,” he added, refusing to give further details.

A spokeswoman for the Manhattan district attorney’s office, Mary deBourbon, would not verify accounts that the husband of the three-term Queens congresswoman may be pondering a guilty plea, or detail possible charges.

“We wouldn’t confirm or deny anything,” deBourbon said.

Zaccaro refused to comment Saturday when a reporter asked him about possible indictments.

One involved the alleged falsified sales contract, the other, a loan from the credit union of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the New York Times said.

The latter case involves a $550,000 loan by the credit union in 1983 to John DeLorenzo, a real estate investor who is not a credit union member and, therefore, ineligible to borrow money from it, according to federal auditors. DeLorenzo reportedly got the money to buy a building in a sale that Zaccaro co-brokered with the credit union’s lawyer.

DeLorenzo used the funds to purchase an apartment building that he later hired Zaccaro’s company to manage. After a federal examiner ruled the loan illegal, DeLorenzo repaid it, the newspaper said.

The sales contract involves five apartment buildings in Queens that court papers show DeLorenzo wanted to buy for $11.9 million to resell as condominiums.

The transaction collapsed, however, and a lawsuit was filed.

Zaccaro and two associates--Harold W. Farrell and Robert Wolk--had sought financing for the sale of the buildings. In that effort, Zaccaro put down and lost an $80,000 down payment that a court investigation later found he had improperly borrowed from a woman’s estate which he was overseeing as guardian.

According to court papers on the sale, an application for financing was submitted to Prudential-Bache Securities. However, the contract listed the purchase price as $15.5 million, rather than the actual figure of $11.9 million.

A higher figure could have been used to justify a larger loan than otherwise could have been secured. When questioned through his attorney last fall, Zaccaro acknowledged knowing of the falsification but denied having anything to do with it, the New York Times said.

One of Zaccaro’s former associates in the deal told the newspaper that he had been informed by his lawyer that he and Zaccaro were indicted by the grand jury.

Jerome Blitzer, counsel to the Port Authority credit union, told the New York Times that the plea under consideration involved conspiracy to commit fraud, a misdemeanor.