Get him

 

AMNY 

Federal investigators hit Mayor Eric Adams, City Hall and his 2021 campaign with a fresh round of subpoenas in connection with the federal corruption probe into his campaign, according to published reports Thursday evening.

The three subpoenas, which were served in July, requested materials including text messages, other forms of communication and documents, reported New York Times, which broke the story along with the New York Post.

Fabien Levy, deputy mayor for communications, did not confirm the reports, instead referring an amNewYork Metro reporter to Boyd Johnson and Brendan McGuire, Adams’ legal counsel in the investigation.

McGuire, in a statement that a spokesperson provided, indicated that the Adams campaign is cooperating with the federal probe after conducting “our own investigation of the areas we understand the U.S. Attorney’s Office has been reviewing.”

“Our investigation has included an evaluation of campaign documents, an analysis of tens of thousands of electronic communications, and witness interviews,” McGuire said. “To be clear, we have not identified any evidence of illegal conduct by the Mayor. To the contrary, we have identified extensive evidence undermining the reported theories of federal prosecution as to the Mayor, which we have voluntarily shared with the US Attorney. We continue to cooperate with the investigation and are in the process of responding to the recently issued subpoenas.”

Levy, in a statement, reiterated that the mayor is cooperating with federal investigators.

“As a former member of law enforcement, the mayor has been clear over the last nine months that he will cooperate with any investigation underway. Nothing has changed. He expects everyone to cooperate to swiftly bring this investigation to a close.”

The federal probe into Adams’ 2021 campaign first bursted into public view nine months ago when FBI agents raided the home of his former chief fundraiser: Brianna Suggs.

Stringer subpoenas NYCHA

From CBS 2:

New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer is putting NYCHA’s feet to the fire, alleging the city housing agency is stonewalling efforts to investigate why so many residents have been left without heat or hot water.

Stringer’s office announced that a second subpoena was issued to NYCHA on Friday, demanding they turn over information about multiple outages last winter. On Saturday, the comptroller said the city housing authority had “purposely done everything they can” to delay a year-long audit into the embattled agency.

Feds looking at Cuomo donors

From the Daily News:

A health care company that got big state grants after its execs and doctors gave to Gov. Cuomo's campaign is being probed by a Manhattan federal grand jury, according to a report Monday.

Crystal Run Healthcare — one of the Hudson Valley's biggest employers — got $25.4 million in taxpayer money after some of its executives, doctors and their spouses gave $400,000 to Cuomo's campaign, the Albany Times Union reported. The paper also reported that grand jury subpoenas seek testimony from "multiple" company employees.

The state gave the money to Crystal Run in 2016 to fund two facilities, the Times Union said.

Crystal Run's founder and CEO, Hal Teitelbaum, gave $50,000 to Cuomo's campaign in 2015 and $20,000 in 2017, records show. His wife, Jennifer, gave $25,000 in 2013.

Judge orders de Blasio to comply with ethics probe

From the NY Times:

A judge in Albany has ordered Mayor Bill de Blasio’s political nonprofit to comply with a subpoena from a state ethics panel, putting a damper on the mayor’s widening effort to prevent the disclosure of certain communications that he deems privileged.

The decision by Justice Denise A. Hartman of State Supreme Court involved an investigation by the Joint Commission on Public Ethics into whether the nonprofit, the Campaign for One New York, violated state regulations by failing to register in 2015 as a lobbyist.

The two parties argued their positions in court in July, the first public court battle to emerge from various state and federal investigations into the mayor’s fund-raising and political activities.

The ruling, issued last week but not received by the parties until Monday, comes as Mr. de Blasio is also fighting in State Supreme Court in Manhattan to keep emails and text messages between City Hall and a small number of outside advisers — some of whom played central roles in the political nonprofit before it closed down this year — from being disclosed to reporters.

Bharara investigating de Blasio link to sale of closed hospital

From the Daily News:

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara is looking into Mayor de Blasio’s involvement in the sale of Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn, the Daily News has learned.

Bharara's office recently issued a subpoena to the State University of New York, which had owned the hospital, seeking all communications between the university system and City Hall regarding the sale of LICH dating to Jan. 2, 2014, when de Blasio took office, said two sources familiar with the matter.

One source close to SUNY confirmed the subpoena and said “the clear target seems to be de Blasio.” But the specifics of what Bharara is looking into were unclear.

The subpoena specifically seeks emails and other communication from de Blasio and top aides Tony Shorris, Emma Wolfe, Dominic Williams, Avi Fink and Henry Berger, the two sources said.

It also seeks all communication regarding the hospital dating to 2013 between SUNY and de Blasio’s campaign and his fundraiser Ross Offinger, as well as various groups tied to the mayor such as the Campaign For One New York, UPKNYC, and United for Affordable NYC, the sources said.

The subpoena demands emails and other communication between SUNY and de Blasio from 2013, when he was the city’s public advocate, they said.

JCOPE goes to court to force de Blasio to cooperate

From the Daily News:

The state’s top ethics enforcement agency went to court Monday to force Mayor de Blasio’s now-defunct Committee for One New York to cooperate with its probe, the Daily News has learned.

Attorneys for the Joint Commission on Public Ethics filed a motion in state Supreme Court in Albany seeking to have the nonprofit created to push de Blasio’s agenda comply with a “lawfully issued subpoena” seeking information about the group’s lobbying activities, a source with knowledge of the motion said. A JCOPE spokesman declined to comment.

The motion comes after an attorney for the nonprofit, Laurence Laufer, sent a scathing letter to JCOPE last week declaring that it would no longer cooperate with the investigation, calling it a “blatantly political exercise.”

Keep the subpoenas coming!

From the Wall Street Journal:

Some of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s closest political allies have received subpoenas as part of coordinated federal and state investigations into his fundraising activities, people familiar with the matter said.

City Hall has also been subpoenaed and will cooperate fully, but Mr. de Blasio “has not been personally served,” Maya Wiley, counsel to the mayor, said Wednesday night.

The allies who received subpoenas include Emma Wolfe, the mayor’s director of intergovernmental affairs and his chief political aide; Ross Offinger, his top fundraiser; and BerlinRosen, a consulting firm that works on the mayor’s political campaigns and was co-founded by Jonathan Rosen, a top adviser to Mr. de Blasio.

Other political consultants and firms close to the mayor have also gotten subpoenas, the people said.

Neither the mayor nor his allies have been accused of any wrongdoing. A spokeswoman for the mayor’s office said Ms. Wolfe’s integrity shouldn’t be questioned and that she had followed all laws. Mr. Offinger declined to comment through a spokesman.

Mr. Rosen said, “We have acted appropriately and in accordance with the law at all times.”

The subpoenas are seeking documents related to the mayor’s unsuccessful effort in 2014 to bring the state Senate under Democratic control and fundraising for the Campaign for One New York, a nonprofit set up by Mr. de Blasio’s allies to advance the mayor’s agenda, the people said.

CB7 agrees to hand over records to Feds

From the Queens Courier:

“A subpoena was issued requesting meeting records and committee reports,” according to a CB 7 statement on Monday. “In discussions with the city Law Department and the U.S. Attorney, we made it clear we would disclose the issuance of the subpoena to the full board membership.”

The U.S. Attorney’s office subsequently agreed to rescind the subpoena in exchange for full compliance from CB 7 regarding the matter. The documents provided to the grand jury are all available to the public.

CB 7 insisted that the investigation related to the rescinded subpoena does not center on the board or any of its members.

FBI SUBPOENAS CB7's FILES

From the Queens Tribune:

A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of New York has issued a subpoena for records to Queens Community Board 7 regarding land use decisions and procedures.

CB 7, which covers Flushing, College Point, Whitestone and other Northern Queens neighborhoods, has had many land use applications come before them as the area has undergone a development boom over the years. Construction in the past decade adds up to some billions of dollars, a number that will continue to grow as more and more developers set their eyes on Northern Queens.

Documents obtained by the Queens Tribune show the court issued an order on May 29 for records for the period of January 2005 to present. Records requested include minutes from board and board Land Use sub-committee meetings; letters, memos, recommendations and other communications from the board Land Use committee to CB 7, the district manager or others; documentation of any and all recusals or notification of potential conflict of any board members for matters that came before CB 7; and attendance and voting records.

According to the subpoena the Federal Bureau of Investigation, acting on behalf of a federal grand jury, requested the documents.

Some past projects that have gone before CB 7 were controversial, including relatively recent proposals for Flushing Commons, Willets Point and the RKO Keith Flushing Theater. No specific projects or proposals were mentioned in the subpoena.

Councilman Paul Vallone (D-Bayside), who found out about the subpoena on Wednesday, expressed shock at the probe.

“We are surprised at this week’s unexpected news regarding the investigation into Community Board 7,” the statement read.”This is the first we’ve heard of it and we will be watching the situation closely.”

You may recall this post from 2008:


The proposed Willets Point development undergoes land use review at Queens Community Board 7 during 2008. 
Recording © 2008. Originally published by Willets Point Industry and Realty Association.

AirBnB hosts sue to stop records release

From The Real Deal:

More than two dozen New York Airbnb hosts filed a lawsuit early this morning to block the disclosure of their personal information as stipulated in an agreement between the New York attorney general and the online rental service.

The group of 25 anonymous hosts are fighting to keep their information private following a deal hammered out in May between Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office and Airbnb.

The suit, filed this morning in New York State Supreme Court, is seeking an injunction blocking the turnover of information including names, addresses and social security numbers, Adam Leitman Bailey, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, told The Real Deal. He was citing the U.S. Stored Communications Act, which he said precludes Airbnb from turning over the information without a warrant or court order.

The suit also says the disclosure would be a violation of the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment against illegal searches and seizures, as well as violations of the Fifth and 14th Amendments, the suit claims.

In addition, he added that prevailing law prohibits the turnover.

“Under federal law, you are not allowed to release that information,” Bailey said. “Last month, we followed our normal procedures and notified a small number of hosts that their data had been requested by the New York Attorney General under a subpoena,” Airbnb said in a statement. “We will not take action with data from hosts who have previously filed suit until the court makes a decision and we will respect the court’s decision.”

About a quarter of the hosts are unemployed, and at least one is a single mother, Bailey said. Most of his clients had more than one unit, but Bailey would not disclose how many the largest had.

NY Times exposes how ethically challenged Cuomo is

From the NY Times:

With Albany rocked by a seemingly endless barrage of scandals and arrests, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo set up a high-powered commission last summer to root out corruption in state politics. It was barely two months old when its investigators, hunting for violations of campaign-finance laws, issued a subpoena to a media-buying firm that had placed millions of dollars’ worth of advertisements for the New York State Democratic Party.

The investigators did not realize that the firm, Buying Time, also counted Mr. Cuomo among its clients, having bought the airtime for his campaign when he ran for governor in 2010.

Word that the subpoena had been served quickly reached Mr. Cuomo’s most senior aide, Lawrence S. Schwartz. He called one of the commission’s three co-chairs, William J. Fitzpatrick, the district attorney in Syracuse.

“This is wrong,” Mr. Schwartz said, according to Mr. Fitzpatrick, whose account was corroborated by three other people told about the call at the time. He said the firm worked for the governor, and issued a simple directive:

“Pull it back.”

The subpoena was swiftly withdrawn. The panel’s chief investigator explained why in an email to the two other co-chairs later that afternoon.

“They apparently produced ads for the governor,” she wrote.

The pulled-back subpoena was the most flagrant example of how the commission, established with great ceremony by Mr. Cuomo in July 2013, was hobbled almost from the outset by demands from the governor’s office.

While the governor now maintains he had every right to monitor and direct the work of a commission he had created, many commissioners and investigators saw the demands as politically motivated interference that hamstrung an undertaking that the governor had publicly vowed would be independent.

The commission developed a list of promising targets, including a lawmaker suspected of using campaign funds to support a girlfriend in another state and pay tanning-salon bills. The panel also highlighted activities that it saw as politically odious but perfectly legal, like exploiting a loophole to bundle enormous campaign contributions.

But a three-month examination by The New York Times found that the governor’s office deeply compromised the panel’s work, objecting whenever the commission focused on groups with ties to Mr. Cuomo or on issues that might reflect poorly on him.

Ultimately, Mr. Cuomo abruptly disbanded the commission halfway through what he had indicated would be an 18-month life. And now, as the Democratic governor seeks a second term in November, federal prosecutors are investigating the roles of Mr. Cuomo and his aides in the panel’s shutdown and are pursuing its unfinished business.

Before its demise, Mr. Cuomo’s aides repeatedly pressured the commission, many of whose members and staff thought they had been given a once-in-a-career chance at cleaning up Albany. As a result, the panel’s brief existence — and the writing and editing of its sole creation, a report of its preliminary findings — was marred by infighting, arguments and accusations. Things got so bad that investigators believed a Cuomo appointee was monitoring their communications without their knowledge. Resignations further crippled the commission. In the end, the governor got the Legislature to agree to a package of ethics reforms far less ambitious than those the commission had recommended — a result Mr. Cuomo hailed as proof of the panel’s success.

While some reports of tension between the governor’s office and the commission surfaced in the news media at the time, the examination by The Times provides the first full accounting of how extensively the governor’s aides involved themselves in the commission’s work and the level of disruption that this caused.

Read the whole thing. You'll fall off your chair.

AirBnB to hand user data over to AG

From the Huffington Post:

Airbnb has announced it will turn over user data -- anonymized, for now -- to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

But if Schneiderman suspects an Airbnb host of illegal activity, the company will turn over detailed user information from name to social media accounts to Tax ID number and more, Gawker reports.

The decision comes as part of a joint agreement reached Wednesday between Airbnb and the state, which have engaged in a highly publicized battle over the legality of the popular home rental company. Schneiderman says Airbnb users routinely violate laws prohibiting residents from renting out their apartments for less than 30 days, leaving New York out of millions of dollars in hotel taxes.

Schneiderman's office issued a subpoena for the records back in October, but Airbnb officials had fought to keep them private. As part of the agreement, user data will initially be substituted with individual codes.

Schneiderman going after AirBnB

From the Daily News:

The state’s top cop is throwing the guest book at AirBnB — demanding host data from the 225,000 New Yorkers on the Web's biggest apartment sharing site.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman subpoenaed the data as part of an investigation into the website stemming from a 2010 law that makes it illegal to use such sites to rent out your own apartment.
AirBnB has until Monday to turn over the data.

The site has 225,000 users in the city, but only data from those who rent out their place is being sought, according to sources. That would affect only about 15,000 of New Yorkers.

The legal strike comes just days after AirBnB CEO Brian Chesky tried to appease state lawmakers by agreeing that its users should collect the normal hotel occupancy tax and promising to work with pols to root out bad hosts.

Brown's been served

From the Village Voice:

Lawyers for whistleblower cop Adrian Schoolcraft today served Queens District Attorney Richard Brown with a subpoena demanding that he give a videotaped deposition and turn over all documents related to Brown's finding that there was no criminal conduct when Schoolcraft was forcibly removed from his home by police commanders in October, 2009, the Voice has learned.

As the Voice's NYPD Tapes series reported, Schoolcraft was dragged out of his home by police on the orders of Deputy Chief Michael Marino on Oct. 31, 2009 and held against his will in the Jamaica Hospital psychiatric ward for six days. This took place three weeks after he reported corruption in Bed-Stuy's 81st Precinct to investigators.

Those allegations were later proven true in a report kept secret by the NYPD for nearly two years before it was disclosed in the Voice last March. Schoolcraft's lawsuit alleges he was forced into the psych ward as retaliation for talking to investigators.

It's fairly rare for a sitting district attorney to be hit with a subpoena in connection with a case he oversaw. But then, the Schoolcraft story is anything but routine. It may be the most embarrassing episode of Police Commissioner Ray Kelly's long tenure. And the list of unanswered questions about Schoolcraft's treatment could fill a book.

Brown's statement clearing police and hospital officials of criminal wrongdoing in the incident was released in mid-December. In the statement, Brown said the investigation took "three years" and was "comprehensive." "After thoroughly reviewing all of the available evidence and considering all applicable provisions of law we have concluded that there is no credible evidence to support the filing of criminal charges in this matter," he wrote.

The timing of the statement was odd. Even people intimately familiar with the Schoolcraft affair didn't know any investigation was taking place. Schoolcraft himself was only interviewed once by prosecutors in Brown's office for just 90 minutes. He wasn't even notified before Brown's office released the statement. And the announcement also came at a time when Schoolcraft was between lawyers, and therefore, more vulnerable.

"One would think that the Queens DA's office would first consult with the complainant before sending out the press release," says Peter Gleason, Schoolcraft's lawyer. "DA Brown's so-called comprehensive investigation creates more questions than answers. I'm hopeful a review of his file will lend some clarity to what I characterize as the kidnapping of Adrian Schoolcraft."

Silver testifies about Lopez deal

From the Daily News:

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver testified recently before state ethics commission investigators about his role in the Vito Lopez sexual harassment scandal, the Daily News has learned.

Silver was subpoenaed to discuss how he signed off on a $103,000 taxpayer-funded settlement with two former Lopez staffers who accused the Brooklyn Assemblyman of sexual harassment, a source close to the Speaker said.

A Silver spokesman refused to say whether the powerful Manhattan Democrat testified, saying only: “We’re cooperating fully.”

Silver is the highest ranking official to testify in the ongoing investigation, and one of at least seven people on the Assembly payroll to do so. Others include Silver’s chief counsel Jim Yates and Assembly lawyer William Collins, both of whom spearheaded the secret settlement talks.

Officials in the offices of state Controller Thomas DiNapoli and Attorney General Eric Schneiderman reviewed versions of the settlement agreement, but the two principals are not believed to have testified before the commission, though some of their staffers have, sources said.

Silver has insisted he approved the confidential payout to protect the victims’ privacy, and to save taxpayers from a potential $1.2 million lawsuit. Word of the settlement leaked after Silver announced in late August that he was stripping Lopez of his seniority and leadership positions after the Assembly Ethics Committee found to be credible allegations from two different Lopez staffers who said the lawmaker had sexually harassed them as well.

Silver now admits he should have notified the Assembly Ethics Committee of the two complaints that led to the hush-hush settlement. The Speaker also has said he expects the state ethics commission will ultimately knock his handling of the matter but not find that he committed criminal or ethical violations.

Johnny going crazy?

From the NY Times:

In recent weeks, agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation have delivered subpoenas seeking a broad range of records and other information to a growing circle of Mr. Liu’s more generous donors, said the people knowledgeable about the matter, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity. The supporters who have now been subpoenaed include at least one who acknowledged to The New York Times that he had served as bundler, or someone who helped Mr. Liu raise money from others; and another went to a donor who worked at a company headed by a bundler.

Mr. Liu’s campaign has failed to disclose the names of its bundlers, as required by law.

The investigation of Mr. Liu’s campaign finances, which led to the arrest of one of his fund-raisers in November on attempted wire fraud and conspiracy charges, has been an embarrassment for Mr. Liu, the city’s top fiscal watchdog and an auditor by training. The situation has also cast a pall over his mayoral prospects; according to a poll released on Thursday, his approval ratings have plummeted.

Mr. Liu’s criminal defense lawyer, Paul L. Shechtman, and a spokesman for his campaign, George Arzt, declined to comment on Thursday about the new subpoenas.

And from the Daily News:

THE BELEAGUERED city controller has a stern message for his staff
— Liu-oose lips sink ships.

John Liu, beset by bad press over an ongoing federal probe into his mayoral race fund-raising, did some remodelling in his office last week: cubicle walls were torn down in two divisions, creating an open, bullpen-style space.

The motive — making it harder for staffers to dish to reporters.

“They are afraid that people inside are giving information out,” a Liu employee said of the persistent whispers among the staff that one in their number is giving up valuable intel.

A spokesman for the controller fervently denied that Liu is on a paranoia-fueled snitch hunt, as the source described.

Here come the Feds!

From the NY Times:

Federal authorities are investigating the fund-raising operation of the New York City comptroller, John C. Liu, seeking records from his campaign and from a city contractor whose employees were listed as having contributed thousands of dollars to his campaign, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Grand jury subpoenas issued last week in the inquiry followed a report in The New York Times last month detailing a number of fund-raising improprieties, including questions about the sources of Mr. Liu’s donations, whether people listed as contributors had actually given their own money and whether some donors listed even existed.

It is unclear whether the current inquiry is related to an investigation begun by Manhattan federal prosecutors and the Federal Bureau of Investigation in late 2009. That investigation, which had not previously been made public, focused on whether foreign money flowed into Mr. Liu’s 2009 campaign for comptroller, two people with knowledge of the inquiry said.

Huntley records subpoenaed by Feds

From the NY Post:

Federal probers are focusing on a Queens senator under investigation for steering hundreds of thousands of public dollars to not-for-profit groups with ties to her family and friends.

Sen. Shirley Huntley, a Democrat, received a federal subpoena seeking records and documents related to her obtaining more than $400,000 for the nonprofits through the Legislature's notorious "member item" system of government earmarks, a source familiar with the situation told The Post.

The federal subpoena came on top of a probe that included the issuance of state subpoenas by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, first reported by The Post in March, of possible violations involving the Huntley-connected nonprofits.

State government insiders and law-enforcement sources said the Manhattan and Brooklyn district US attorneys' offices have broad probes of Senate members including Huntley under way.

Homeless illegal alien teen fights subpoena

From the NY Times:

In his short life, Ousmane Coulibaly, a 19-year-old high school senior in Manhattan, has seen plenty of adversity. He grew up poor in Mali, was estranged from his family at 13 and has lived on the street there and in New York. An illegal immigrant, he is staying in a homeless shelter while he tries to graduate and obtain a special immigration status reserved for young people who have been abandoned or abused.

But now he is facing a different kind of challenge: an investigation by immigration authorities who have subpoenaed his school records, without explaining why.

The subpoena, which New York City school officials say is highly unusual here, has raised alarm among some immigration lawyers and civil libertarians who say they fear that the federal government is opening a new front in immigration enforcement, in a city where officials have staunchly defended immigrant rights.

Mr. Coulibaly’s lawyers, who have sued to quash the request, contend that the City Department of Education was prepared to release the files without resistance, even though the subpoena did not have the backing of a court order and could have been challenged.

Mr. Coulibaly arrived at Kennedy International Airport speaking little English and knowing nobody. A West African cabdriver took pity on him, he said, and drove him to an apartment in Harlem shared by several immigrants, where he was given a bed. A neighbor helped him enroll in ninth grade at Liberty High School Academy for Newcomers, a public school in Manhattan that caters to immigrants.

Mr. Coulibaly joined the varsity basketball team and became the starting center. He ended his sophomore season as the third-highest rebounder and the 19th-highest scorer in the city’s Public School Athletic League. He was benched for much of the season his junior year while he improved his grades.

Meanwhile, he tried to support himself with work at a car wash and, later, as a pizza deliveryman. He had to leave his $150-per-month bed in the Harlem apartment early this year after he fell behind on the rent. Since then, he said, he has moved from shelter to shelter.

Before the subpoena appeared, his lawyer, Ms. Burke, had been helping him prepare an application for the special immigration status for young people who are in the United States without their parents’ support. She and Mr. Coulibaly are pushing forward with that case as they battle the subpoena.

Attorney subpoenaed in Haggerty probe

From the NY Times:

A Manhattan judge on Friday ordered the lawyer for the state’s Independence Party to testify before a grand jury after prosecutors argued that the party was not cooperating with an investigation of a Republican political operative who has worked for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.

In court filings and during a hearing on Friday morning, prosecutors said that they had issued three subpoenas seeking documents from the party, but that the party had produced only a “handful” of what was sought. Because party officials who testified before the grand jury could not shed more light on the documents, prosecutors said, they had no choice but to call the lawyer, Vincent J. Messina Jr., to testify because he played a central role in providing the documents.

The subpoenas are part of an investigation by the office of the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., into John F. Haggerty Jr., who has been a close ally of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. The mayor provided more than $1 million to the Independence Party last year, and the party gave $750,000 of that money to Mr. Haggerty for Election Day operations. Prosecutors are now investigating what became of that money.

In the election, the Independence line provided 36,364 of Mr. Bloomberg’s 162,933 votes in Queens.

The conflict over the subpoena is the first public indication of tension between Manhattan prosecutors and the Independence Party, which had previously said it was cooperating with the investigation.