Jurors, on their third day of deliberations, found the consultant, John F. Haggerty Jr., guilty of second-degree grand larceny and second-degree money laundering. Although he was acquitted of the most serious charge, first-degree grand larceny, Mr. Haggerty, 42, still faces up to 15 years in prison when Justice Ronald A. Zweibel of State Supreme Court in Manhattan sentences him on Nov. 4.
Mr. Haggerty did not comment as he left the courthouse after the verdict was read. At a hearing later in the day, he was ordered held in $250,000 bail and led from the courtroom in handcuffs.
Justice Zweibel said he was disturbed by information from prosecutors that Mr. Haggerty may have an Irish passport, that he had lied on his United States passport application and that he had a special travel document that was never turned over to prosecutors.
Mr. Haggerty’s lawyers said that they were trying to post his bail and that they would appeal the verdict.
“We’re disappointed with the outcome, although we’re pleased that the count that required mandatory incarceration — that he was found not guilty on that,” said Dennis C. Vacco, who, along with Raymond R. Castello, represented Mr. Haggerty.
As they left the courthouse, some jurors said that the trial had not altered their opinions of the mayor but that it had exposed the political system’s underbelly.
“There’s so much money being thrown around, but it’s very broad-stroked,” said Stephen Conroy, a juror who works for a Broadway production company. “No one looks at details or digs down, and I found that fascinating.”
Indeed, part of the defense’s strategy was to portray Mr. Bloomberg as a profligate spender who was so determined to win the 2009 election at all costs that Mr. Haggerty could not have stolen money from him.
Mr. Bloomberg’s expenditure of more than $100 million on his campaign for a third term was repeatedly raised in testimony. The mayor testified that he had no recollection of contributions of hundreds of thousands of dollars that he had made to political parties.
Prosecutors accused Mr. Haggerty of stealing $1.1 million from Mr. Bloomberg by tricking his campaign aides into donating that amount to the state’s Independence Party. Mr. Haggerty promised to use the money to set up an Election Day ballot-security operation but spent the money on buying a house, prosecutors said.
The defense argued that, by law, once Mr. Bloomberg contributed the money to the Independence Party, he could not control how it was spent.
He faces up to 15 years in prison. No sentencing date was set.
The verdict capped a three-week trial that saw Bloomberg himself and a host of City Hall power players take the witness stand in state Supreme Court in Manhattan.
Haggerty was accused of taking money from Bloomberg to be used for scrutinizing whether people trying to vote were actually eligible to cast ballots, but instead using the money to buy his late father's house in Queens.
Haggerty's legal defense team tried to show how the money took a circuitous route before it actually got to Haggerty, who had convinced Bloomberg to donate the money to the state Independence Party to fund the project. The defense said no crime against the mayor had been committed, since he willingly gave the funds to the party and no longer had any say in how they were spent.
Several jurors told Reuters it was actually the money trail that caused them to convict, citing two instances in which Haggerty received payments of $83,000 and $50,000 from the Independence Party for alleged Election Day expenses, only to wire the money that same day as payments on the house.
"It's just entirely too obvious," said one juror, Piper Gray, who runs a fashion website. "At least wait a couple of days."
Another juror, Stephen Conroy, the treasurer for a Broadway production company, said the emails from Haggerty to the party and to Bloomberg asking repeatedly for the funds were damning.
"The emails showed intent," he said. "It was obvious when you put the facts out."
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. thanked the jurors, adding, "John Haggerty abused the electoral process to enrich himself."
Haggerty's lawyers said they would appeal.
"We're disappointed with the verdict," defense attorney Dennis Vacco said.
Bloomberg ran as an independent in 2009. Democrats said what Haggerty was hired to do amounted to attempts to suppress the votes of minorities and some other voter groups.
The case spotlighted Bloomberg's campaign spending, a topic the billionaire mayor -- who funds his own campaigns -- is typically reluctant to discuss.
The rare spectacle of a city mayor testifying in open court drew a packed courtroom. Bloomberg, who is notoriously impatient with press questioning, was forced to endure hours of aggressive cross-examination from a defense lawyer intent on making his wealth and power the focus of the case.
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