MILLER DENIES TRYING TO HIDE EVIDENCE OF FEE.(Local)

Byline: Ronald Powers Associated Press

State Assembly Speaker Mel Miller, defending himself for a second day against federal fraud charges, denied Wednesday that he shuffled documents to hide from clients the large fee he took in the sale of a group of apartments.

Sparring with the chief prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew E. Fishbein, Miller acknowledged that he had earned an unexpectedly large sum on a deal involving 114 apartments, but said it was consistent with the contract he had with the investors.

"The fee was extremely large," Miller told the jury in Brooklyn federal court. "Much larger than I contemplated."

In a mid-1980s …