Walls are closing in and tumbling down in the Adams administration

  

THE CITY

 

Federal authorities have raided the homes of some of the highest-ranking members of Mayor Eric Adams’ administration, including two deputy mayors and the schools chancellor, and seized the electronic devices of New York City’s police commissioner, sources familiar with the situation told THE CITY.

This extraordinary effort in the last two days to obtain evidence from some of the highest-ranking members of Adams’ team — all of whom have longtime and close ties to the mayor — follows other federal raids and seizures that have swept up the mayor and other top aides in what appears to be a broadening investigation of City Hall.

On Wednesday agents showed up around 5 a.m. at the Hamilton Heights townhouse of Sheena Wright, who also happens to be the fiancé of Chancellor Banks. The chancellor was seen by THE CITY entering and leaving the townhouse twice on Thursday. Asked about the raid, David Banks declined to comment, saying, “Today is the first day of school, and I am thrilled,” he said, jumping into a SUV to head to a scheduled appearance at a school in Queens.

At the same time agents raided Wright’s townhouse, they simultaneously descended upon Deputy Mayor Philip Banks III’s brick and clapboard single family in Hollis, the sources said. A neighbor of Phil Banks’ home told THE CITY they woke up to a disturbance Wednesday morning and about 15 agents were on the street.

Then on Thursday the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office issued search warrants seizing the cell phones of Police Commissioner Edward Caban, a development first reported by Spectrum News NY1. Asked about this, the department’s press office responded, “The Department is aware of an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York involving members of service. The Department is fully cooperating in the investigation.”

A spokesperson for Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams declined to comment.

The New York Times reported that the FBI raided the home of a third Banks brother, Terrence, and seized electronic devices from Tim Pearson, one of another senior advisor to the mayor and one of Adams’ closest associates. In a lawsuit filed recently against Pearson alleging workplace retaliation, the plaintiff stated an FBI agent recently knocked on his door and asked about Pearson.

Adams spoke briefly with reporters as he left City Hall on Thursday afternoon.

“The goal is to follow the law and that is what this administration always stood for and what we’re going to continue to stand for,” he said.

When asked if he thought his staff followed the law, given multiple investigations, Adams said: “I think I answered the question, and that I’m going to continue to say as I’ve lived my entire life and I have confidence in the team, the team here. We’re going to follow the rules and comply with any questions that are asked of us.” 

NY Post 

Federal agents hit NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban and members of the nation’s biggest police force this week — amid a stunning spate of raids on others in Mayor Eric Adams’ inner circle, sources said Thursday.

Agents showed up to the homes of Caban, Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks and the townhouse shared by Schools Chancellor David Banks and First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright with search warrants early Wednesday and seized their electronic devices, according to law-enforcement sources.

Phil and David Banks’ brother, Terence Banks, a former MTA official who has turned to consulting work, was also targeted in the actions, sources said.

Another top Adams aide – retired NYPD inspector Timothy Pearson – had his phones subpoenaed, according to the sources.

It wasn’t clear if the raid on the Harlem home shared by Wright and David Banks targeted one or both of them.

The connections between the raids, subpoenas and other law enforcement sweeps targeting Caban, other NYPD officials and City Hall bigwigs remained murky Thursday.

But sources said the top cop and others in the department were targeted as part of a sweeping corruption probe involving influence peddling.

Caban’s twin brother, James Caban, a former NYPD sergeant, was served a search warrant with a subpoena, sources said. Investigators are looking into his role in the world of nightlife enforcement, according to sources.

Sources confirmed that NYPD Chief of Staff Raul Pintos and two precinct commanders in Manhattan and Queens were asked to turn over their phones.

The feds also are looking into rank-and-file NYPD officers, from precinct commanders on down, who serve in Midtown South and other precincts with a strong nightlife presence, sources said.

None has been accused of any crime.

The probes are being led by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York, which has also been eyeing Adams’ 2021 campaign in another unrelated high-profile investigation, sources said.

Adams broke his daylong silence on the raids Thursday afternoon as he exited City Hall to a throng of reporters.

“As you’ve heard me say over and over again, as a former law enforcement person we will always follow the law and that is what this administration always stood for and will continue to stand for,” he said.

“Whatever information is needed, we will turn over.”

City Hall Chief Counsel Lisa Zornberg, in a statement issued shortly after the raids were publicly revealed, implied city officials weren’t the probe’s ultimate targets.

“Investigators have not indicated to us the mayor or his staff are targets of any investigation,” said Zornberg in a statement.

“As a former member of law enforcement, the mayor has repeatedly made clear that all members of the team need to follow the law.”

An NYPD spokesperson confirmed an investigation focused on police officials.

“The Department is aware of an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York involving members of service. The Department is fully cooperating in the investigation,” the spokesperson said in a statement Thursday, referring questions to Manhattan federal prosecutors.

Caban could not be reached for comment. He was appointed to the commissioner role in July 2023 after previous top cop Keechant Sewell’s surprise resignation.

As commissioner, Caban works closely with the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office that now appears to be investigating him, many of his officers and a smorgasbord of his high-ranking city government counterparts.

Representatives for the US Attorney’s office declined to comment.

When The Post tried to reach Chief of Patrol John Chell for comment about the raids and subpoenas, NYPD Deputy Commissioner for Public Information Tarik Sheppard got on the phone and called the reporter a “f—ing scumbag.”

Sources said Terence Banks is being eyed over suspicions that since his retirement, he has acted as an unregistered lobbyist, who has brought businesses to City Hall through connections to his brother in a way that circumvents conflict of interest rules, source said.

Pearson, an Adams confidante who recently made headlines for being the subject of a sexual harassment suit, has long faced scrutiny for his shady role within the administration, which includes overseeing contracts for security at migrant shelters.

Bill de Blasio DEP office staffer currently working under Mayor Adams indicted for bank fraud

 
QNS

A Forest Hills man was arrested by FBI agents on Thursday morning for participating in a multi-million dollar bank fraud scheme while he was a high-ranking official in the administration of former Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Tommy Lin, 41, was charged in a superseding indictment along with two co-defendants for defrauding financial institutions which resulted in the theft of over $10 million while serving as the Director of Constituent Services in the Community Affairs Unit.

Beginning in 2018, Lin participated in a scheme with his co-defendants Zhong Shi Gao and Fei Jiang, and others to steal millions of dollars by causing transfers of funds between accounts they controlled, then falsely and fraudulently reporting that the transfers were unauthorized, which induced the financial institutions to credit them the amount of the transfers, according to the indictment. The scheme was responsible for over $10 million in actual losses to nearly a dozen banks.

“Tommy Lin allegedly participated in a complex bank fraud scheme while also serving as a Director in the New York City Mayor’s Office and Senior Advisor to the NYPD’s Asian Advisory Council,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said. “Leveraging his connections to law enforcement, he allegedly leaked personal identifying information to members of the scheme, ran background checks for them and even arranged for federal immigration authorities to arrest an individual in exchange for $20,000 in cash.”

Lin allegedly accepted that $20,000 bribe in cash in exchange for arranging for a Deportation Officer with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest a disgruntled accountholder who had previously participated in the scheme, according to the indictment.

“To facilitate this conspiracy, Lin allegedly assisted members of the scheme in running background checks and accepted a significant cash bribe to arrange the arrest of a slighted account holder by immigration authorities,” FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge James Smith said. “Those in municipal offices are expected to conduct themselves with rectitude and obedience to the law, not engage in the purposeful manipulation of our economic infrastructure.”

Lin is charged with one count of bank fraud conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison; one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud affecting a financial institution, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison; and one count of aggravated identity theft which carries a mandatory sentence of two years in prison to be served consecutively to any other sentence imposed.

The FBI pinched the mayor of New York City

 

 NY Times

F.B.I. agents seized Mayor Eric Adams’s electronic devices early this week in what appeared to be a dramatic escalation of a criminal inquiry into whether his 2021 campaign conspired with the Turkish government and others to funnel money into its coffers.

The agents approached the mayor after an event in Manhattan on Monday evening and asked his security detail to step away, a person with knowledge of the matter said. They climbed into his S.U.V. with him and, pursuant to a court-authorized warrant, took his devices, the person said.

The devices — at least two cellphones and an iPad — were returned to the mayor within a matter of days, according to that person and another person familiar with the situation. Law enforcement investigators with a search warrant can make copies of the data on devices after they seize them.

A lawyer for Mr. Adams and his campaign said in a statement that the mayor was cooperating with federal authorities, and had already “proactively reported” at least one instance of improper behavior.

“After learning of the federal investigation, it was discovered that an individual had recently acted improperly,” said the lawyer, Boyd Johnson. “In the spirit of transparency and cooperation, this behavior was immediately and proactively reported to investigators.”

Mr. Johnson said that Mr. Adams has not been accused of wrongdoing and had “immediately complied with the F.B.I.’s request and provided them with electronic devices.” Mr. Adams had attended an anniversary celebration for an education initiative at New York University.

The statement did not identify the individual, detail the conduct reported to authorities or make clear whether the reported misconduct was related to the seizure of the mayor’s devices. It was also not immediately clear whether the agents referred to the fund-raising investigation when they took the mayor’s devices.

Mr. Adams, in his own statement, said that “as a former member of law enforcement, I expect all members of my staff to follow the law and fully cooperate with any sort of investigation — and I will continue to do exactly that.” He added that he had “nothing to hide.”

The surprise seizure of Mr. Adams’s devices was an extraordinary development and appeared to be the first direct instance of the campaign contribution investigation touching the mayor. Mr. Adams, a retired police captain, said on Wednesday that he is so strident in urging his staff to “follow the law” that he can be almost “annoying.” He laughed at the notion that he had any potential criminal exposure.

Spokesmen for the F.B.I. and the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York, whose prosecutors are also investigating the matter, declined to comment.

 

Turkey in Mayor Adams latest straw donors scandal

New York Times 

Federal prosecutors and the F.B.I. are conducting a broad public corruption investigation into whether Mayor Eric Adams’s 2021 election campaign conspired with the Turkish government to receive illegal foreign donations, according to a search warrant obtained by The New York Times.

The investigation burst into public view on Thursday when federal agents conducted an early-morning raid at the Brooklyn home of the mayor’s chief fund-raiser, Brianna Suggs. Ms. Suggs is a campaign consultant who is deeply entwined with efforts to advance the mayor’s agenda.

Investigators also sought to learn more about the potential involvement of a Brooklyn construction company with ties to Turkey, as well as a small university in Washington, D.C., that also has ties to the country and to Mr. Adams.

According to the search warrant, investigators were also focused on whether the mayor’s campaign kicked back benefits to the construction company’s officials and employees, and to Turkish officials.

The agents seized three iPhones and two laptop computers, along with papers and other evidence, including something agents identified as “manila folder labeled Eric Adams,” seven “contribution card binders” and other materials, according to the documents.

There was no indication that the investigation was targeting the mayor, and he is not accused of wrongdoing. Yet the raid apparently prompted him to abruptly cancel several meetings scheduled for Thursday morning in Washington, D.C., where he planned to speak with White House officials and members of Congress about the migrant crisis.

Instead, he hurriedly returned to New York “to deal with a matter,” a spokesman for the mayor said.

Appearing at a Día de Muertos celebration at Gracie Mansion on Thursday night, Mr. Adams defended his campaign, saying that he held it “to the highest ethical standards.”

He said he had not been contacted by any law enforcement officials, but pledged to cooperate in any inquiry. Mr. Adams said that he returned from Washington to be “on the ground” to “look at this inquiry” as it unfolded.

The warrant suggested that some of the foreign campaign contributions were made as part of a straw donor scheme, where donations are made in the names of people who did not actually give money. Investigators sought evidence to support potential charges that included the theft of federal funds and conspiracy to steal federal funds, wire fraud and wire fraud conspiracy, as well as campaign contributions by foreign nationals and conspiracy to make such contributions.

Mr. Adams has boasted of his ties to Turkey, most recently during a flag-raising he hosted for the country in Lower Manhattan last week. The mayor said that there were probably no other mayors in New York City history who had visited Turkey as frequently as he has.

“I think I’m on my sixth or seventh visit,” he said. At least one of those visits happened while he was Brooklyn borough president, when the government of Turkey underwrote the excursion, The Daily News reported.

Ms. Suggs, who could not be reached for comment, is an essential cog in Mr. Adams’s fund-raising machine, which has already raised more than $2.5 million for his 2025 re-election campaign.

A person with knowledge of the raid said agents from one of the public corruption squads in the F.B.I.’s New York office questioned Ms. Suggs during the search of her home.

An F.B.I. spokesman confirmed that “we are at that location carrying out law enforcement action,” referring to Ms. Suggs’s home in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn.

The agents also served Ms. Suggs with a subpoena directing her to testify before a federal grand jury hearing evidence in Manhattan.

Nicholas Biase, a spokesman for the federal prosecutor’s office in Manhattan, declined to comment.

The construction company was identified in the warrant, portions of which were obtained by The Times, as KSK Construction Group in Brooklyn. Individuals who listed their employer as KSK donated nearly $14,000 to Mr. Adams’s 2021 campaign, according to campaign finance records. A person who answered the telephone at the company declined to comment.

Charles Kretchmer Lutvak, a spokesman for Mr. Adams, said Ms. Suggs was not an employee of City Hall and referred calls to the mayor’s campaign team.

“The campaign has always held itself to the highest standards,” said Vito Pitta, a lawyer for Mr. Adams’s 2021 and 2025 campaigns. “The campaign will of course comply with any inquiries, as appropriate.”

Mr. Pitta added: “Mayor Adams has not been contacted as part of this inquiry.”

The search warrant sought financial records for Ms. Suggs and any entity controlled or associated with her; documents related to contributions to the mayor’s 2021 campaign; records of travel to Turkey by any employee, officer or associate of the campaign; and documents related to interactions between the campaign and the government of Turkey, “including persons acting at the behest of the Turkish government.”

Investigators specified documents relating to Bay Atlantic University, a tiny Turkish-owned institution that opened in Washington, D.C., in 2014. The following year, Mr. Adams visited one of the school’s sister universities in Istanbul, where he was given various certificates and was told that a scholarship would be created in his name.

The warrant also sought electronic devices, including cellphones, laptops or tablets used by Ms. Suggs.

THE CITY  

 Internal documents obtained by THE CITY show that city regulators repeatedly asked Eric Adams’ mayoral campaign about a cluster of donations that are now part of a federal probe into one of the mayor’s top fundraisers.

The investigation, which triggered an FBI raid at the home of Adams’ campaign operative Brianna Suggs on Thursday, is examining contributions to the mayor’s 2021 campaign that came from employees of KSK Construction Company, a Brooklyn-based firm whose founders hail from Turkey, according to The New York Times.

The Times reported that the federal government is looking into whether the Adams team worked with the construction company and the Turkish government to inject foreign money into the campaign using straw donors — people listed as having donated but who did not actually contribute or who were reimbursed for their donations. 

Adams, who is not known to be a target of the probe, has said he’s traveled to Turkey at least a half dozen times, including twice over a five-month span in 2015 when he served as Brooklyn Borough President.

The KSK Construction employees donated at a May 7, 2021 fundraiser organized by an owner of the company, Erden Arkan, which was held at the home of Abraham Erdos in Brooklyn. Erdos, who was listed in Adams campaign finance filings as “retired,” had donated $2,000 to Adams’ mayoral campaign a year earlier. 

In total, the event raised $69,720 for Adams’ mayoral campaign from 84 donors, and the campaign used those donations to seek $63,760 in public matching funds, according to campaign documents obtained by THE CITY.

KSK did not respond to requests for comment via phone and email. But when contacted by THE CITY Thursday, multiple people listed in Adams 2021 campaign donation records as KSK employees either said they did not donate to Eric Adams or refused to state whether they had ever donated.

Sertac Varol, a Queens resident whose name appears in campaign records, told THE CITY that he did not recall donating to the Eric Adams campaign, and that he doesn’t believe he has ever donated to a political campaign in his life.

Abigal Nitka, a woman listed as a KSK engineer and lawyer, told THE CITY, “We’re innocent,” after declining to respond to questions.

Reached by phone, KSK employee Murat Mermer responded, “I don’t wanna comment.”

Arkan, an owner of KSK Construction, gave $1,500 to Adams’ campaign at the May 7, 2021, fundraiser, records show. He didn’t respond to a message sent via LinkedIn seeking comment, and an attorney who represented him in a recent real estate lawsuit didn’t respond to an email sent late Thursday.

KSK Construction is described in a construction publication as a 20-year-old spin-off of Kiska Construction, where Arkan and some of his partners previously worked. Kiska has been involved in a number of mammoth building projects across the city, according to the firm’s LinkedIn page, including the replacement of the Third Avenue Bridge over the Harlem River and creating the first section of the High Line park in Manhattan’s Chelsea. 

Records from New York City’s Campaign Finance Board show that board staff asked the Adams’ campaign six times over five months to explain who had connected the Adams campaign with 10 donations from KSK Construction employees totaling $12,700, all made at the May 2021 event weeks before Adams’ victory in the mayoral Democratic primary.

Campaigns are obligated to respond to such CFB inquiries within 30 days and explain their sources of funds, according to a Campaign Finance Board webinar. But in each instance, the Adams campaign failed to respond.

In a text message to THE CITY, Evan Thies, Adams’ 2021 campaign spokesperson, defended his team’s conduct. “As we have discussed extensively, contributors to campaign-sponsored events do not have intermediaries,” said Thies.  

He added, regarding the board’s inquiries: “None of those inquiries were flagged as possible straw donors. The inquiries were about possible unreported intermediaries, of which there were none required to be reported. The campaign appropriately responded to each and every flag made by the CFB as required.”

NY Post

The fundraiser whose Brooklyn home was raided as part of a federal probe into possible illegal contributions to Mayor Eric Adams’ campaign is a 25-year-old recent grad on a meteoric rise in New York City’s Democratic politics.

Brianna Suggs — who graduated from Brooklyn College with a Bachelor of Science in biology in 2020 — has close ties to the mayor’s inner circle, including to Ingrid Lewis-Martin, the so-called Lioness of City Hall who acts as Adams’ chief advisor and gatekeeper.

One source even described her as Lewis-Martin’s political “goddaughter.”

Suggs been touted as a key campaign consultant and fundraiser for Adams — but sources said the young operative’s lack of experience raised eyebrows during the 2021 mayoral race, with some attributing her apparently elevated status to her political connections.

“It was pretty clear she was there because of who she knew,” another source said, adding Suggs’ position was part of the “incestuous” Brooklyn political clubhouse.

“The guy was running for mayor so you’d think he would have some marquee fundraiser,” the source added.

Suggs was brought on as an intern at Brooklyn Borough Hall in 2017 when Adams was Borough President and Lewis-Martin was his deputy.

She was elevated to the post of special liaison the following year and worked on women’s health for the next three years, according to her LinkedIn.

The young political consultant then moved on to Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign, where she boasted of raising $18.4 million. His campaign spent a total of $18.5 million, according to campaign records.

She made more than $150,000 from the 2021 mayoral campaign and Adams’ 2025 re-election campaign, records show.

“She’s a close person [to Adams and Lewis-Martin] who might not be qualified for the job, that was the vibe,” the second source said.

“In the early days of Eric’s campaign as things got more serious they bought on some other folks,” the source said. “It was sorta odd some people would raise money through her and others with other folks. To have two people was weird and a little bit redundant.”

Man shoots 10 commuters on a subway train during rush hour in Sunest Park

Remote pedo working

Queens Post

A Forest Hills man has been arrested for repeatedly trafficking a 13-year-old boy to Queens and sexually assaulting him after they met online.

Manuel Moretti, 39, was indicted in Brooklyn federal court Thursday on sex-trafficking charges after he allegedly lured the boy across state lines to his apartment on at least four occasions early last year for sex, according to the criminal complaint.

Moretti, an IT professional who works from home, is also accused of giving the boy a fake adult ID and continuing to contact him for sex after the defendant was interviewed by the FBI in December, prosecutors said.

Following the FBI interview, Moretti also allegedly told the victim to use a blocked telephone number to communicate with him in an apparent attempt to dodge law enforcement, prosecutors said.

“These allegations serve as a reminder of the dangers to our children from online predators and the importance of being aware of whom our children are communicating with online,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said.

“Our office is deeply committed to protecting vulnerable victims from sexual exploitation and will vigorously prosecute offenders like Moretti, who allegedly prey on children.”

Moretti met the boy on a social networking site in January 2021 and then arranged for the victim to travel to his Forest Hills apartment for sex on four separate occasions between January 2021 and April 2021, prosecutors said.

During the FBI interview in December, Moretti admitted to meeting the boy and engaging in sexual acts with him, prosecutors said.

Moretti described the boy as “young-looking” to the FBI but denied knowing the victim was 13-years-old, prosecutors said.

The defendant said he knew the victim was attending school and lived at home with his parents. Moretti also said he gave the boy an adult state identification document so that the victim could gain entry to his apartment.

Knowing the boy was 13, Moretti contacted the boy via Snapchat last month following the FBI interview in order to arrange another meet-up with him, prosecutors said

Dun Dun

 

Times Union

The FBI and the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn have launched an investigation that is examining, at least in part, the actions of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's coronavirus task force in its handling of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities during the pandemic, the Times Union has learned.

The probe by the U.S. attorney's office in the Eastern District of New York is apparently in its early stages and is focusing on the work of some of the senior members of the governor's task force, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter who is not authorized to comment publicly.

Last March, as the virus began spreading in New York, Cuomo issued a news release listing the 13 initial members of his coronavirus task force, which has been headed by Linda Lacewell, an attorney and former chief of staff for Cuomo. Lacewell is the superintendent of the state Department of Financial Services. Other task force members include state health Commissioner Howard Zucker, Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa and Beth Garvey, counsel to the governor.

"As we publicly said, DOJ (Department of Justice) has been looking into this for months," said Richard Azzopardi, a spokesman for the governor. "We have been cooperating with them and we will continue to."

Azzopardi did not disclose whether any members of the administration have been interviewed or if they have been served with any subpoenas.

John Marzulli, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn, on Wednesday afternoon said he could not "confirm or deny" whether the office has initiated an investigation

Feds come for militia minded internet troll in Middle Village for posting ideas on social media

Patch 

  A reputed Proud Boys member was arrested Tuesday night in Queens after federal authorities tied him to a series of online posts threatening to send an armed caravan to Washington D.C., according to news reports.

The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested Middle Village resident Eduard Florea, 40, after searching his home on 76th Street near Elliot Avenue, the New York Daily News and NBC4 New York reported.

Florea was charged with being a convicted felon in possession of ammunition, a law enforcement source told Patch.

He is expected to appear in Brooklyn federal court Wednesday.

Florea is not believed to have joined the deadly siege on the U.S. Capitol last week by pro-Trump extremists, law enforcement sources told NBC4 New York.

 But he has purported ties to the Proud Boys, a far-right group that reportedly helped lead the attempted insurrection on Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol, according to ABC7 New York.

Florea has previously been arrested on weapons and domestic abuse charges.

 When a Proud Boy got taken, I didn't say anything because I'm not a Proud Boy...

When a Progressive got taken....

Update: The suspect is quite the influencer

Vice

The Proud Boys typically move around public demonstrations like a small army, flooding entire blocks in their trademark black and yellow colors. But on this day, their strategy was to avoid detection. Their self-styled “chairman,” Enrique Tarrio, had ordered the Proud Boys to go “incognito” and dress in plain clothes, so while they were central to the planning, inciting, and execution of the insurrection that led to five deaths, their role was not immediately obvious from the video disseminated from the scene.

In a stream from before the rally, Joe Biggs, a former InfoWars staffer who led the Proud Boys in Tarrio’s absence, reiterated the plan for the group not to wear their traditional colors. 

“We will not be attending D.C. in colors. We will be blending in as one of you. You won't see us. You'll even think we are you,” Biggs said. “We are going to smell like you, move like you, and look like you. The only thing we'll do that's us is think like us! Jan 6th is gonna be epic.”

Partly because of this, the group has mostly evaded scrutiny for the violence at the Capitol—which came as lawmakers were scheduled to convene and certify the results of the 2020 election, affirming Joe Biden as the winner and Donald Trump the loser. 

Tarrio himself was not present: He was arrested on his way into D.C. earlier in the week and charged for a misdemeanor for his alleged role tearing down Black Live Matter signs from a Black church in December. During the arrest, police discovered two high-capacity magazines, emblazoned with Proud Boy insignia, and charged him with an additional felony. Upon his release, a judge ordered him to stay away from D.C.

 

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High school teacher and dean fired from Maspeth High School that is under investigation by the feds

NY Post

A Maspeth High School math teacher and dean who students say gave them answers on Regents exams and texted with them has been removed, The Post has learned.

Danny Sepulveda was escorted out of the Queens school in late December “due to an ongoing investigation,” the city Department of Education confirmed.

DOE officials said the investigation was “unrelated to academic fraud.”

But Sepulveda, 30, is one of several teachers who gave kids answers during Regents exams, according to statements given to investigators.

One student wrote last year that Sepulveda re-read the questions at the end of the exam: “But while he was reading it he was only saying the right answer choice, and this made me uncomfortable because it showed he didn’t believe in me to pass the exam.”

Another student wrote that during a math Regents exam in June 2018, Sepulveda and math teacher Chris Grunert “helped me and other kids in my room with answers.”

Grunert and others accused of academic misconduct have not been removed from the school.

NY Post

The feds have started looking into allegations of widespread academic fraud in New York City schools, a Queens lawmaker says.

City Councilman Robert Holden met this month with officials in the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York after his call for a federal probe of “deep-rooted fraud” in the city Department of Education.

“I’m encouraged by my meeting with the US Attorney. His team is taking this seriously,” Holden told The Post.

FBI agents have already contacted several whistle-blowing teachers whose names he provided, Holden added.

A spokesman for US Attorney Richard Donoghue declined comment.

Holden sent a letter in November to Donoghue in Brooklyn and US Attorney Geoffrey Berman in Manhattan, saying “an apparent pattern of conspiracy to cover up” grade-fixing, cheating and other wrongdoing might warrant an investigation under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), which covers criminal enterprises.

In Atlanta, eight educators were convicted under a RICO statute of manipulating student test scores and sentenced to prison in 2015.

Holden turned over records compiled by former and current faculty members at Maspeth High School in Queens, where teachers say administrators encouraged cheating on exams, enforced a “no-fail policy,” and retaliated against staffers who didn’t play ball.

De Blasio gets a concession from Preet

From the NY Times:

Mayor Bill de Blasio will probably be on familiar ground when he is questioned by federal prosecutors and F.B.I. agents in New York as part of a sweeping criminal investigation into his campaign fund-raising.

It was unclear when exactly the interview would take place, but it was expected to be conducted in a conference room at offices of Mr. de Blasio’s lawyer’s firm in Midtown Manhattan, people with knowledge of the matter have said, not in the offices of Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan. It was expected that the interview would last about four hours, the people said.

The parameters of the session took shape after extensive negotiations between prosecutors and the mayor’s lawyer, Barry H. Berke, the people said, and it was possible that some details could change.

It is unusual for federal prosecutors to question a subject of a criminal investigation in the offices of the subject’s lawyer. Such sessions, which can become contentious, are almost always conducted in the prosecutor’s offices. It was unclear why the federal prosecutors agreed to hold the meeting at the Kramer Levin offices.

Let's hope it's because the case against him is so good that it doesn't matter where the inquiry is held. In the meantime, Emma Wolfe is absent and a lot of people at City Hall are shitting a brick.

Chinese spy headed to prison

From Metro:

A former FBI employee in New York was sentenced to two years in prison on Friday after admitting that he illegally acted at the direction of a Chinese official to gather sensitive information.

Kun Shan Chun, also known as Joey Chun, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero in Manhattan to pay $10,000 after pleading guilty in August to having illegally acted as an agent of a foreign government.

"I'm so sorry," a tearful Chun said in court. "I take full responsibility."

Chun, a U.S. citizen who was born in China, was arrested in March in connection with what prosecutors called a duplicitous betrayal of the FBI, which had employed him in its New York field office since 1997.

Prosecutors said that beginning in 2005, Chinese individuals claiming to be affiliated with a China-based printer products manufacturer called Zhuhai Kolion Technology Company Ltd solicited an investment from one of Chun's parents.

Chun, 47, first met purported Kolion associates during a 2005 trip, and met them abroad at several other times, eventually meeting a Chinese official who asked him about the FBI and surveillance practices and targets, prosecutors said.

In turn, Chun provided the official an FBI organizational chart and photographs related to surveillance technologies, prosecutors said.

In exchange, Chun's associates paid for him to go on international trips, and they sometimes also paid for prostitutes for him while he was abroad, prosecutors said.

Maspeth shelter owner has admitted history of bribery

From the Daily News:

The way developer Harshad Patel recalls it, Brooklyn Sen. Carl Kruger offered to help him get a zoning change to turn his Sheepshead Bay hot-sheet hotel into apartments.

But it would cost him.

Patel, 58, told the Daily News that Kruger instructed him to write checks to Olympian Strategic Development, a company controlled by Kruger's "intimate associate," Michael Turano.

Each month for nine months in 2007, Patel said, he paid Olympian $3,000, hoping Kruger could win approval to transform his Golden Gate Motor Inn into four apartment buildings.

In the end, he said, nothing came of the zoning change, despite Kruger's involvement, and he sold the hotel.

"I wasted a lot of time and money on that," he said.

Patel is part of a growing parade of locals the FBI believes bribed Kruger to win his political largesse, newly released court papers show.

And the city is doing business with this individual because?

All lawyered up!

From the Daily News:

Mayor de Blasio has lawyered up — at the same time that a new report says the feds are looking into whether he used “straw donors” during his 2013 run.

And, in more trouble for the mayor, he’ll have to hire someone else to help spin the bad news.

His press secretary Karen Hinton is leaving the administration after less than a year on the job, City Hall announced late Thursday.

Her sudden resignation — after rampant rumors of inner turmoil in his press shop — was announced hours after Hizzoner issued a news release saying he’d hired lawyer Barry Berke to represent him in the ongoing federal and state probe into his fund-raising.

Berke, of the high-powered firm Kramer Levin, had been representing de Blasio’s 2013 campaign and will now handle that along with the mayor personally.

No city dollars will be used to defend de Blasio.

De Blasio’s campaign will pick up the tab, a move allowed under the state election law.

Malcolm Smith probe may not yet be over

From Lohud:

The FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office used an Orthodox Jewish radio program in an elaborate sting operation that helped the government convict Malcolm Smith and other New York politicians in a corruption scandal, a four-month investigation by The Journal News/lohud revealed.

It is unclear whether there are other targets, including New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who appeared on the show as a state senator prior to the 2010 election with Moses Stern, later revealed to be an FBI cooperator. Stern appeared twice on the show prior to election day using aliases, posing as both a political analyst and a resident from Brooklyn. He urged listeners to vote for Schneiderman.

Prosecutors disclosed little about the New York Jewish Communications Channel to defense lawyers for two people convicted in the sting operation. The show was hosted by longtime Orthodox radio personality Zev Brenner, who owns Talkline Communications Network, and registered with the state by Joseph Markowitz, whose name was linked to thousands in campaign donations to Schneiderman, who has not been accused of wrongdoing, and an illegal donation to Halloran. After the Smith arrests, Schneiderman pledged to donate the contributions from Markowitz and Markowitz's wife to charity.

Feds probing Sanders

From the NY Post:

A couple who run a small urban farm said powerful Queens lawmaker James Sanders offered them $1.7 million in taxpayer money to fund their operation — then demanded a $250,000 kickback.

Marion Moses and Malisa Rivera said they refused Sanders, then a city councilman, during a 2012 sit-down. Sanders, now a state senator running for Congress, became irate, and the couple believe their charity has been blacklisted by government officials ever since, they told The Post.

Three weeks ago, Moses filed a civilian crime report with the office of Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara. Sources said the feds were already investigating Sanders for steering City Council discretionary funds to other nonprofits.

Mike Duvalle, a former Sanders staffer, told The Post that he met with the FBI last month in connection with that probe.

Meeks occupies mansion illegally

From the Daily News:

Rep. Gregory Meeks has been living in his 6,000-square-foot Queens mansion for nearly a decade — without city authorization.

He never got a required certificate of occupancy for the custom-built Hollis home, finished in late 2006.

A temporary certificate of occupancy, which he needed to get his mortgage, expired Jan. 4, 2007, and was never renewed, city records show.

The home has created controversy for Meeks.

He borrowed $624,000 to buy the $830,000 property and took out a $78,000 line of credit.

Then, in 2007, Meeks got a $40,000 “loan” from businessman Edul Ahmad that he said went to furnishing and other household needs. He made no payments on it and claimed to have lost the loan paperwork.

It was paid only in 2010 after the FBI began probing Ahmad, later indicted in a mortgage-fraud scheme.

The House Ethics Committee opened a probe after Meeks failed to report the loan. It dropped the matter after Ahmad refused to help.

To repay Ahmad, Meeks borrowed $60,000, taking out a mortgage with a company belonging to Democratic donor Dennis Mehiel.

Feds bust Water's Edge owner

Metropolitan Report

From the Queens Courier:

Federal agents collared the owner of a prestigious Long Island City restaurant and other fine dining establishments on Wednesday morning for an alleged kickback scheme involving officials in Nassau County.

Harendra Singh, 56, was taken into custody at his Syosset home by the FBI and later arraigned on charges including honest services wire fraud, federal program bribery, disaster relief fraud, tampering with evidence and obstruction of justice.

Singh operates Singh Hospitality Group, which owns The Water’s Edge restaurant in Long Island City and six other establishments in Nassau and Suffolk counties.

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.

Library audit very revealing

From The Forum:

With the audit and investigative report he released on Wednesday, City Comptroller Scott Stringer has painted a vivid picture of a disingenuous and reckless Queens Library under ousted President and CEO Thomas Galante.

Galante and other Library executives spent more than $300,000 on prohibited items such as extravagant meals, alcohol, Apple TVs, smokeless ashtrays, airline upgrades, and tickets to a Maroon 5 concert and Disneyland, all while claiming that the Library was running a deficit, according to the audit and report.

The results of the investigation have been referred to the Internal Revenue Service and law enforcement authorities.

During Galante’s tenure, the Library charged nearly all of its operating expenses to its internal “City Fund” account, which was subject to oversight by the comptroller’s office. As a result, Stringer said, from Fiscal Year 2008 to FY 2013 the Library appeared to run deficits that ranged from $5.7 million to $6.9 million, enabling Galante to go before the City Council and plead for more funds.

In reality, the Library had anywhere from $17 to $27 million in unrestricted funds in its fines and fees, state and board designated funds over the same period. Stringer said that Library executives could have drawn upon these so-called hidden funds. Instead, they used the money in part to pay for a wide range of inappropriate expenses.

At the same time they were improperly spending public funds, the Library was eliminating services to the reading public, cutting branch operating hours by an average of four hours per week. During that same time period, Library executives’ salaries increased, with compensation growing by nearly 7 percent—even as they cut services staff and their salaries by 2.8 percent.

Additionally, the audit and investigative report found that from July 2007 to December 2013, Galante made $670,000 in credit card charges that were never approved by the Library’s Board or Chief Financial Officer. And from FY 2012-2014, Galante and then-Chief Operating Officer Bridget Quinn-Carey incurred more than $310,000 in expenses that violated the Library’s Credit Card, Travel, and/or Purchasing Policy (roughly $260,000 of which were incurred by Galante.)

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.