Thursday, August 23, 2018

Grace's tangled real estate web

From Crains:

A rising power in city politics for years reported owning a piece of her parents' home, but now says she was wrong about that.

That's just one of the oddities Crain's found upon examining personal-finance, campaign and property records of Rep. Grace Meng, who is perhaps positioning herself to become head of the Queens Democratic organization.

Reports have suggested that Meng could take over the vaunted party machine from Rep. Joseph Crowley, who lost the Democratic primary for his seat in June to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

The nexus of the Meng clan's holdings is the house where the congresswoman's parents apparently reside, at 211-18 34th Avenue. From the first time she ran for her Flushing-based seat in 2012, Meng listed this property—then valued at $500,000 to $1 million—among her assets in personal financial disclosures to the House clerk's office. But on August 14 of this year, Meng filed multiple amendments with the overseer requesting to remove the Bayside home from her official list of possessions, despite having claimed it for the five previous years.

Meng's spokesman said the congresswoman recently confirmed by consulting with her accountant that she never had any ownership stake in the home.

City property records show no change in deedholder for 211-18 34th Avenue since 2002. But they do show an elaborate and idiosyncratic ownership structure, and a network of real estate limited-liability companies involving the congresswoman, her mother Shiao Mei Meng and her father Jimmy Meng.

Jimmy Meng made his fortune as a lumberyard owner and became prominent in his community as president of the Flushing Chinese Business Association. New York politicos remember him as an ex-state assemblyman who resigned amid a voter fraud scandal in 2006 and pleaded guilty in 2012 to soliciting bribes. His daughter served as his campaign manager and later succeeded him in the state Legislature before winning election to Washington with Crowley's support.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

"I am shocked-shocked-to find that financial finagling is going on in here!
- Apologies to Captain Renault of "Casablanca".

JQ LLC said...

"Jimmy Meng made his fortune as a lumberyard owner and became prominent in his community as president of the Flushing Chinese Business Association. New York politicos remember him as an ex-state assemblyman who resigned amid a voter fraud scandal in 2006 and pleaded guilty in 2012 to soliciting bribes.

"𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐖𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐂𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐲'𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭"

This is all you need to know what a fiend this woman is. She was absolutely complicit in her father's criminal behavior by having a top position in his campaign that she clearly got by nepotism. And how her taking Crowley's place is a natural progression of the crony Democrat Machine and a regression in ethical and moral leadership in political office.

Anonymous said...

She needs to work on stopping the disturbing level of racisim in her district.

Anonymous said...

She ain't gonna last long on the top. First in a line of wannabe bosses.

With the internet the entire 'Boss' thing is falling apart. Right now its only sustained by 3rd stringers looking for jobs, fresh off the boats, and old ladies living in the 50s.

Problem is they make buggy whips in an age of cyberspace.

Anonymous said...

I dunno... Not a Meng fan, but I really don't see any wrongdoing here. She thought she had the asset, but really didn't. Did she gain anything from it? Was any gain through obvious deliberate fraud or misrepresentation?

And while I don't look highly on people getting jobs through nepotism or name recognition, it isn't anything illegal.

She's dead-weight in Congress, voting on party lines, and passing some legislation of varying importance. Find something better to pin on her, please.

Anonymous said...

In NYC the money can always be found in the following industries: Politics, Real estate and Wall Street. Dont hate on Grace because shes making money moves.

Anonymous said...

In 2008 there were huge posters of Mao for sale in the lobby of th ebuilding housing her office

Anonymous said...

Shes just as corrupt as the rest of her family.

Anonymous said...

Confucius once said, "Apple doesn't fall very far from tree!" There's no Grace in Grace.

TommyR said...

Didn't our beloved Dorito in Chief say not paying his taxes "makes me smart"? Hmm. This is obviously wrong, but unsurprising...politicians believe they can operate according to their own standards..

That didn’t happen.

And if it did, it wasn’t that bad.

And if it was, that’s not a big deal.

And if it is, that’s not my fault.

And if it was, I didn’t mean it.

And if I did…

You deserved it.

Anonymous said...

How is this person a congresswoman? Her father is a felon and she is an absentee representative of our district. She couldn't get a job at Macys if she tried. Its a sad state when our politicians are mindless cronies that just get elected because of political favors/appointments.

Anonymous said...

Only in Queens would you read that the daughter of a corrupt (and convicted) elected official wins her own elections. SHEEPLE you should be ashamed of yourselves!

Anonymous said...

She beats Lancman for the primary nomination for congress. Does anyone think that he would have been a better congressman?

Anonymous said...

She has sat idley by while Chinese sex trafficking has turned most of NE Queens into a red light district for prostitution. Just drive down Northern blvd. At least 50 store fronts operating in open daylight. Pathetic.

Anonymous said...

Lock her up she is a criminal just like her Mafia daddy!!


SHAME ON YOU GRACE MENG!!

Anonymous said...

They have no soul.

Anonymous said...

Meng is not too bright and wants to get young kids to vote for her.
Meng wants to lower the voting age to 16 !
I can't imagine any 16 year old kid would knowing anything about politics.

http://www.qchron.com/editions/queenswide/meng-wants-to-lower-the-voting-age-to/article_da93db9c-f724-5628-9820-be1ee090ea19.html

Anonymous said...

>I can't imagine any 16 year old kid would knowing anything about politics.

You'd be surprised, thanks to Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, a surprising number of kids are energized and paying attention to politics.

Anonymous said...

See https://sites.google.com/site/rtdlies/