His name is Harendra Singh, a former restauranteur who says he greased the palms of many New York politicos.
According to Singh's testimony, that bribery extended to Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Singh is testifying that in seeking favorable treatment for a Long Island City event space, he gave the mayor's political campaign tens of thousands of dollars. He said de Blasio brushed off Singh's concerns that he was skirting campaign finance laws.
"'Listen: I don't want to know. Just do what you've got to do,'" Singh testified last week that de Blasio told him.
That's after Singh said he'd have to resort to an illegal process of reimbursing so-called straw donors.
After de Blasio won the mayor's race in 2013, Singh said he went to Gracie Mansion a couple of times a month. There, they discussed the lease for the facility — which is on city land — and donations.
De Blasio hasn't been charged, and he denies wrongdoing.
The main defendants in the case are former Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano, his wife, and John Venditto, the former supervisor of the town of Oyster Bay.
Venditto's attorney, Marc Agnifilo, said that he may ask de Blasio to be subpoenaed:
Robin: Does he have to comply with the subpoena?
Agnifilo: If the judge signs it, I think he'll appear.
De Blasio said Monday night in his weekly interview with NY1 that he is not concerned that he will be brought into the trial as a witness, and said prosecutors have not contacted him.
"I'm not a lawyer. Look: Again, everything we did was legal and appropriate. Anyone who knows me knows I would never say something like that. I did not say something like that. That is not me," de Blasio said during the interview.
All three defendants pleaded not guilty.
Singh is testifying he bribed both officials, gave Mangano's wife a no-show job — all the while dishing favors for a who's-who of Nassau County political and government officials, including former state Republican Chairman Joe Mondello, giving him a cut-rate price for his daughter's wedding.
Mondello is now President Trump's nominee to be U.S. ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago.
In a statement, Mondello said his daughter selected Singh's venue, not him.
He said, in part, "I never asked for or or received or expected a discount for my daughter's wedding."
As for de Blasio, the case echoes that of Jona Rechnitz. That donor recently pleaded guilty to charges relating to bribing de Blasio.
Singh said he didn't gave de Blasio personal gifts.
Meanwhile, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has also figured into the trial. Singh testified that during a breakfast meeting Cuomo had at one of his properties, he eyed putting in a good word for his lawyer, who was considering a run for Nassau County district attorney. Cuomo was not implicated.
The case in Suffolk County is expected to last at least a few more days.