The Times Union’s Capitol Confidential blog reports that Joint Commission on Public Ethics Executive Director Ellen Biben is stepping down, the second major departure from the ethics watchdog in as many weeks. . . .

Biben’s exit follows that of Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore, who announced on April 22 that she would step down as JCOPE’s chair to focus on her re-election.

The New York Times is reporting that Xing Wu Pan, a Liu fund-raiser, has been found guilty of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and attempted wire fraud.  Ms. Jia Hou, a former Liu campaign treasurer, was acquitted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, but was convicted of lying to federal agents and failing to fully respond to a grand jury subpoena that sought e-mails and other documents in what prosecutors said was an effort to cover-up her role in the scheme.

The charges stemmed from evidence that the two had relied on so-called straw donors — people whose contributions are reimbursed by others — to raise money and use some of it to obtain city matching funds.

www.cbslocal.com is reporting that federal prosecutors have leveled new charges against Malcolm Smith:

Tabone is the central figure in another new charge — Smith allegedly scheming to get his help to win the endorsement of an unidentified “prominent person.”

According to the indictment, Smith was counting on Savino and Tabone to come through for him or else they would lose his support for judicial appointments.

Smith allegedly said, “… Let’s just say they screwed you and me and said, you know, I’m not doing anything… This world is too small… Imagine you came to me and said, Malcolm, they screwed me… I got them already asking me about judgeships, because you know judgeships now come through here, it comes through the governor.”

JCOPE’s completed its investigative report on Vito Lopez a while back, but hasn’t issued it yet pending the Legislative Ethics Committee’s (an oxymoron, indeed) determination on possible sanctions against Lopez.

Staten Island District Attorney, Dan Donovan, has requested a postponement of the report’s publication pending his independent criminal investigation.  The Daily News is reporting that JCOPE and the Legislative Ethics Committee have now officially denied that request and will release the report on May 21.

We can’t wait!

What price for lying to the FBI?

Well, it looks like it’ll run you about 1 year probation.

That’s according to the NY Daily News, which is reporting that:

Christiana Fisher, Lopez’s former campaign treasurer, pleaded guilty to doctoring documents that justified her $446,000 pay hike as the executive director of the Ridgewood-Bushwick Senior Citizens Council, which was founded by Lopez.