Bruno friend draws scrutiny from FBI; Senate majority leader, business associate have tangled relationship.(Main)

Byline: JAMES M. ODATO - Capitol bureau

ALBANY - Sherrie and Jared Abbruzzese might seem to have it made.

A mansion in Loudonville. Country club memberships. His and hers Cadillacs and Mercedeses in their fleet of eight high-end cars. Jets. A 27-foot boat. Horses.

People still talk about the 50th-birthday party thrown a couple years ago for "Jerry," as he is called, at the couple's 9,600-square-foot home, estimating it cost at least $100,000. He is known to toss down $100 tips at the prestigious Schuyler Meadows Club, where he is an enthusiastic if average golfer.

But now Abbruzzese, 52, is being scrutinized in an FBI probe that has found he paid Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting fees. Interviews and a review of court documents reveal that his business dealings have included accusations of fraud and deceit, and even a multimillion-dollar judgment that threatened to take his home until that ruling was reversed.

In recent years the entrepreneur has been dogged by complaints of deceiving stockholders and fleecing investors. None of those complaints has ever been sustained in court.

Abbruzzese and his local lawyers have refused repeated interview requests, and there was no response when reporters attempted to reach him at his home.

Flashy and outspoken, the businessman is described by associates as a "close friend" and business associate of Bruno, the state's most powerful Republican politician. But beyond friendship, their relationship is a tangled web of public money and private enterprise that has now drawn the …