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.

 

Made Man makes big donations to Brooklyn Machine

 

 

NY Post

He really is “connected.”

The reputed wiseguy behind Brooklyn’s Plaza Auto Mall has been handing out campaign cash to local Democrats — including the borough’s district attorney and its party boss, The Post has learned.

John Rosatti’s Plaza Motors of Brooklyn donated $2,020 to DA Eric Gonzalez for his winning 2017 campaign and the next year gave $2,000 to Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte, who in January 2020 succeeded longtime leader Frank Seddio as head of the Brooklyn Democratic Party.

The following month, Plaza donated another $10,000 to the party, records show.

John Kaehny of the good-government group “Reinvent Albany” said pols “should be vetting contributions in order to make sure that there’s no attempt to influence them.”

“What did this guy expect for his contribution — that’s the question the campaigns should ask themselves,” he added.

Before amassing a reported $400 million fortune, Rosatti, 77, was identified by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement as an alleged soldier in the Colombo crime family, according to a 1993 decision by the state’s Casino Control Commission.

The ruling, which rejected a bid to bar Rosatti pal and reputed Colombo family member John Staluppi from the state’s casinos, cited testimony that confidential informants claimed Rosatti became a Colombo associate in 1980 and was sworn in as a “made member” in 1994.

Was the Nassau Coliseum deal a play-to-pay transaction?

From the NY Post:

One of Gov. Cuomo’s biggest donors has landed a $1 billion-plus contract to develop the land surrounding Nassau Coliseum — infuriating other bidders whose proposals were solicited, then discarded, by government officials.

“It’s pure pay-to-play,” said one of the developers frozen out of the mega deal who told The Post he wants a federal investigation.

The developer, along with 16 others, submitted proposals this summer at the behest of Nassau County, which was looking to finally transform the sprawling property around the newly renovated stadium, which is now mostly a parking lot.

But the county didn’t follow through with the proposals — making an unexpected announcement in early September that it would instead award the “Nassau Hub” project to a joint venture that included Scott Rechler’s company, RXR Realty Investments. The plan includes two hotels, 500 housing units and office and biotech research facilities, along with 200,000 square feet of retail space.

Rechler is a Cuomo-appointed member of the MTA board, and a former Cuomo pick on the Port Authority board, who — along with his family members and corporations — has donated at least $548,982 to the governor’s campaigns since 2009.

He is also a big donor to Nassau County Executive Laura Curran, and was a member of her transition team before she took office in January 2018. Rechler, his family and company have given $50,000 to Curran’s campaign.

Jackson Heights taxi graveyard is an eyesore

From CBS 2:

If you’re looking for a taxi ride in New York City, you may have to look elsewhere. There are a whole lot of taxis, but none of them parked at the block-long abandoned gas station have license plates or even medallions.

It’s become a makeshift taxi graveyard, and frustrated people who live and work in the area have been unable to get the city to do anything.

Political Reporter Marcia Kramer demanded answers from a number of city agencies. Officials claim many of the taxis were owned by Gene Friedman, a controversial Russian-American businessman once dubbed the “Taxi King.”

In his heyday, Friedman was a major donor to Mayor de Blasio who raised more than $70,000 for hizzoner. He partnered with President Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, who city officials believe may now own some of the abandoned vehicles.

Rory gunning for Queens DA

From the Times Ledger:

Although his candidacy has not yet been declared, City Councilman Rory Lancman (D-Hillcrest) is eying a run for Queens district attorney -- a title that has been held by 86-year-old Richard Brown since 1991.

Lancman, who represents Fresh Meadows, Jamaica and parts of eastern Queens, said his platform in the potential race for DA would be reshaping the criminal justice system.

“We need significant criminal justice reform here in New York City, and that includes Queens,” said Lancman, who is the chairman of the City Council’s Justice System Committee, which has jurisdiction over the city’s five DA offices, the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor and the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice.

Lancman said that as of July 16, he has more than $793,000 combined from three separate campaign finance funds in his coffers.

According to the New York City Finance Board of Campaign Elections, Lancman has $273,768 from the state committee; $354,055 remaining from his 2017 re-election campaign fund; and $165,741 donated from friends.

The lawmaker has been an advocate of pushing for cash bail reform, decriminalizing low-level offenses like smoking marijuana in public, turnstile jumping, and protecting workers’ safety and wages.

Real estate money flows into Cuomo's political pocket

From The Real Deal:

Donors from New York City’s real estate industry contributed more than $733,000 to the re-election campaign of Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the first half of 2018, an analysis of state contributions data by The Real Deal found.

That’s down from the more than $1.2 million property interests gave the governor during the previous six-month reporting period. Gov. Cuomo raised roughly $6 million in total contributions during both periods and now holds more than $31 million in cash for the duration of his re-election campaign.

As for Cuomo’s primary challenger, Cynthia Nixon, The Real Deal was only able to identify one New York City real estate business person among her top donors. Lawrence Benenson of Benenson Capital Partners, which is currently at work on a mostly market-rate rental building in the East Village, donated $10,000.

Ocasio-Cortez beat big real estate money, too

From the Real Deal:

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old socialist who made New York’s affordable housing crisis a focal point of her Democratic primary campaign for the House of Representatives, defeated Rep. Joe Crowley of Queens by a stunning 15 point margin on Tuesday.

During the 2018 election cycle, Crowley, who represents New York’s 14th Congressional District and has long headed the Queens County Democratic machine, raised more money than he ever had before, bringing in $3.4 million, according to election data analyzed by the nonprofit group Open Secrets. The most generous industry was real estate, which accounted for at least $380,000, or more than 10 percent of the total raised.

Other major donors perhaps not represented in that total are also connected to real estate. Executives from Blackstone Group, the investment firm that is one of New York City’s largest landlords, gave $35,000, making it one of Crowley’s biggest corporate donors. This included donations from Jonathan Gray, the company’s current COO and former head of real estate, who gave $5,400. And Votesane PAC, a political action committee that counts many realtors as contributors, was another of Crowley’s largest donors this cycle, with $76,500 donated, records show.

Crowley’s most prominent real estate donors over the last 18 months included Related Companies executives, members of the Rudin real estate family, Rob Speyer, Jed Walentas, William Mack, Joseph Simone, Frederick Elghanayan, Scott Rechler, John Catsimatidis, Jeff Gural, landlord SL Green Realty and Washington lobbying group the Real Estate Roundtable.

Ocasio-Cortez campaigned against the influence of real estate money in New York City politics. “It’s time we stand up to the luxury developer lobby. Every official is too scared to do it – except me,” she tweeted in April. As of June 6, she had raised $301,000 for her campaign from 180 donors, federal elections records show. About a quarter of that came from Democratic candidate-supporting fundraising platform ActBlue.

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.

He must have thought that no one would find out

De Blasio solicited donations in exchange for meetings with major lobbyist’s clients but didn't report it - Daily News

De Blasio wanted donation from NYCLASS as group sought horse carriage ban - Daily News

De Blasio Defends Ethics As Critics Question Why Donors Paid Investigation Settlement Fines - CBS 2

Mayor de Blasio claims he can’t remember secret 2015 meeting with major lobbyist that led to $100G in donations - Daily News

De Blasio to crooked donor: “Do what you’ve got to do.”

From the Daily News:

A major donor to Mayor de Blasio dropped a bombshell Thursday, testifying under oath that when he told Hizzoner he’d have to arrange illegal campaign donations, de Blasio offered a stunning response:

“Do what you’ve got to do.”

Harendra Singh, a former Queens restaurateur who threw free fund-raisers for the mayor and raised thousands of dollars for him, said the mayor twice took a look-the-other-way approach when he broached the subject of illegal contributions.

It’s unclear when the exchanges took place, and whether de Blasio was a mayoral candidate or in office at the time.

Singh, 59, is testifying as a prosecution witness in the trial of a Long Island politician, ex-Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano. Mangano’s wife, Linda, and former Oyster Bay Town Supervisor John Venditto are also on trial.

Singh’s pleaded guilty to bribery charges and stated he raised funds for de Blasio to win favorable treatment from City Hall over a lease dispute involving his restaurant, Water’s Edge.

Prosecutors have said a top de Blasio aide, identified by sources as Emma Wolfe, pressured city managers to treat Singh favorably.

Last March prosecutors announced de Blasio and his minions would not be charged with criminal activity, but they made a point of saying they’d done favors for donors.

Crowley housing plan backed by developers

From Progress Queens:

As U.S. Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-Queens) begins a reelection year, a real estate-backed housing group has expressed political support for his housing proposals. An election year platform put forth by U.S. Rep. Crowley, named, "A Better Deal for Queens and The Bronx," includes a proposal to offer tenants rent relief in the form of a tax credit. U.S. Rep. Crowley has received political support from the real estate-linked group as published reports have revealed that he is relying on real estate developers as sources of donations to three of his political committees.

The group that is backing U.S. Rep. Crowley's housing policies, the New York Housing Conference Inc., is a real estate developer-backed nonprofit group. Its Board of Directors includes Mark Willis, a senior policy fellow at the NYU Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, a political think tank that is funded by real estate developers. Its Advisory Board includes Aaron Koffman from The Hudson Companies Inc. and Ronald Moelis from L+M Development Partners. The Hudson Companies Inc. was briefly the subject of a probe in connection with a reported Federal corruption investigation after the de Blasio administration agreed to sell the Brooklyn Heights Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library to the politically-connected real estate development firm. L+M Development Partners was one of the real estate development firms that invested in a consortium that, in turn, bought, in secret, a portfolio of project-based, Section 8 apartment complexes from a cash-strapped New York City Housing Authority.

The tax credit that U.S. Rep. Crowley is offering tenants, which is the key provision in the Rent Relief Act (H.R. 3670), stops short of regulating residential rents paid for by tenants. Instead, it forces the Government to essentially subsidise the upward spiraling rents paid by tenants by giving tenants a tax credit for rent paid in excess of 30 per cent. of a tenant's income. Separately, U.S. Rep. Crowley has expressed support for the Family Self-Sufficiency Act (H.R. 4258), which would advance the Government's receding commitment to public housing under the New Deal-era law, the Housing Act of 1937 and, instead, place more emphasis on the Section 8 housing voucher program.

Rachel Fee, the executive director of New York Housing Coalition Inc., did not immediately answer advance questions submitted by Progress Queens for this report. Lauren French, a spokesperson for U.S. Rep. Crowley, did not answer a press inquiry.

2 de Blasio donors charged, but not de Blasio himself

From the NY Times:

A major donor to Mayor Bill de Blasio pleaded guilty to using campaign contributions as bribes to buy better treatment at City Hall — and yet the mayor, who took the money and aided the donor, was not charged with a crime.

Another donor pleaded guilty to honest services wire fraud that included making political contributions in exchange of official action — and again, no charges for the mayor.

The outcome has led some, including the WNYC radio host Brian Lehrer, to an obvious question.

“How can someone be guilty of giving you a bribe and you not be guilty of taking it?” Mr. Lehrer asked Mr. de Blasio on Friday.

It’s abundantly clear,” the mayor said. But it wasn’t.

“This man did a lot of bad things in a lot of places,” Mr. de Blasio said of Harendra Singh, a restaurateur who pleaded guilty to bribing the mayor. “I’m someone who never did, never would be involved in such an effort.”

Several factors were in play.

The United States Supreme Court set a much higher bar for public corruption cases with its 2016 ruling that reversed the bribery conviction of the former Virginia governor, Bob McDonnell. In the ruling, the court determined that making introductions or setting up meetings, even in exchange for gifts or financial benefits, did not constitute a crime.

As a consequence, several prominent corruption convictions were set aside, and prosecutors have become more cautious in taking on such cases.

Furthermore, bribery cases against elected officials based on campaign contributions are rare, the legal experts said. That is in part because the Supreme Court has drawn a clear distinction between a legal contribution to a political campaign and other kinds of payments like cash, gifts or other benefits that in effect go into the pocket of a public servant.

It may also have been that it was simply easier for prosecutors to bring charges against the person buying access, because the men admitted guilt, in the face of abundant evidence, as part of plea deals in which they agreed to cooperate with the government against other defendants. Mr. Singh is a witness in corruption trials on Long Island; Mr. Rechnitz testified against a labor official who was accused of steering millions of dollars of officers’ retirement funds into a hedge fund in exchange for promised kickbacks.

BDB accused of engaging in retaliation

From the NY Times:

In 2016, as federal investigators dug into allegations that Mayor Bill de Blasio traded favors for political donations, a senior official at a city agency at the center of the probe was demoted and given a sharp pay cut.

That official, Geneith Turnbull, has filed a lawsuit against the city, alleging that her demotion was motivated by discrimination, and was meant to punish her for standing up to her supervisors.

Ms. Turnbull was a deputy commissioner at the Department of Citywide Administrative Services until she was demoted in February 2017, in what City Hall said was a reorganization of the agency. The lawsuit, filed this month in Federal District Court in Manhattan, accused the city of demoting Ms. Turnbull in retaliation for repeatedly voicing concerns about a pay raise given to one of her subordinates, who she believed had in some way helped to protect Mr. de Blasio during the federal investigation.

The lawsuit also alleges that her demotion was part of a pattern of discrimination against older, minority employees at the agency. Ms. Turnbull is black.

Ms. Turnbull was demoted on the same day that Ricardo Morales, another senior employee at the administrative services agency, was fired. Mr. Morales has filed a notice of claim with the city in preparation for a wrongful-dismissal lawsuit; Mr. Morales had resisted pressure from City Hall over negotiations between his agency and Harendra Singh, a mayoral donor who did business with the city.

Corey Johnson has friends in the real estate industry

From Crains:

Several high-powered real estate firms invested heavily in the political fortunes of Greenwich Village Democrat Corey Johnson, who emerged Wednesday as the apparent next speaker of the City Council.

Officials of the Related Cos., DDG Partners, the Property Markets Group and others gave generously to Johnson's campaign. (Corporate entities cannot contribute directly to candidates.) Johnson secured the support of the majority of his peers by courting the Democratic Party bosses of Queens and the Bronx, and by winning the endorsement of the powerful Hotel Trades Council. The city's legislature wields vast influence over zoning and land-use decisions, and the speaker controls the body's affairs.

To win the necessary backing to lead the council, Johnson donated heavily to his colleagues' campaigns and to the coffers of Bronx and Queens power brokers, and for that purpose he amassed $505,818 this election cycle. Crain's found that more than $63,000 came from real estate interests. Additional funds flowed in from figures in the construction and hotel industry.

Nicole wants to dump the dope

From CBS:

Republican mayoral candidate Nicole Malliotakis called on prosecutors to reopen a probe of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration Sunday – a mere two days ahead of the mayoral election.

As CBS2’s Hazel Sanchez reported, the state Assemblywoman and Republican mayoral candidate blasted de Blasio with more allegations of running a corrupt City Hall.

“People have a choice on Tuesday,” Malliotakis said. “Do they want to pay millions more in their tax dollars to defend a pay-to-play mayor, or do they want to join me in taking our city in a different direction?”

Cy stops taking money from de Blasio's lawyers

From the Daily News:

By the time Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. met with the lawyer representing Mayor de Blasio in his year-old campaign finance probe of Hizzoner, the attorney’s firm and its partners had donated $70,000 to the top prosecutor.

But unlike Vance’s decision to return the donation of a lawyer representing Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. to avoid a conflict of interest, the DA kept the contributions from Kramer Levin Naftalis, the firm representing the mayor.

These donations by a law firm handling one of the DA’s most high-profile cases are yet another example of potential conflicts of interest that have dogged the DA in the last two weeks — scrutiny that prompted Vance to announce Sunday that he was suspending fund-raising.

Questioning Cy's judgment

From NPR:

"If we could have prosecuted Harvey Weinstein for the conduct that occurred in 2015, we would have," said Karen Friedman Agnifilo, chief assistant district attorney.

But criminal attorney Matthew Galluzzo, who once worked in the DA's sex crimes unit, told The Associated Press he believed the audiotape, in which Weinstein acknowledges touching Gutierrez on the breast, could have been used to pursue a case.

"She can testify about what happened, and you've got him acknowledging he did something wrong," Galluzzo said.

Before this week, questions were also being raised about Vance's handling of a fraud investigation involving the Trump SoHo, a condo hotel built by the Bayrock Group. Some early buyers of units at the hotel sued Bayrock, arguing that they had been misled about the hotel's sales records.

The Manhattan DA's office had considered pursuing fraud charges against Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr., who played a big role in promoting the hotel. An investigation by The New Yorker, WNYC and ProPublica said prosecutors wanted to pursue a criminal case, but Vance said evidence to do so was lacking.

The report also noted that Vance had received a $32,000 campaign contribution from one of Trump's lawyers shortly after dropping the case. Vance had also received an earlier donation, which he had returned.

"It was improper for him to accept it in the first place. He responded by returning those donations and then apparently accepted them again after the fact," noted Jim Cohen, a professor at Fordham University School of Law.

DeBlasio needs matching funds to stay humble

From DNA Info:

Mayor Bill de Blasio stood by his decision to take on more than $2.5 million in matching funds from taxpayers — saying he'd be forced to turn to big donors instead of everyday New Yorkers to fund his reelection, despite having raised millions more than his nearest competitor.

Speaking on WNYC's the Brain Lehrer show Friday morning, de Blasio, who had raised $4.78 million in private funds according to city records, said he didn't take the upcoming 2018 election for granted and said he relied on the city's matching funds program to focus fundraising efforts on small donations.

"You cannot assume the outcome. People who do that are sorely disappointed," he said.

"We focused on house parties and we focused on reaching out to every day New Yorkers," he said. "Now if you had said...you’re not going to have access to a serious amount of matching funds than that would encourage me or any other candidate to go try and find larger donations and that's not the world I think we should be creating."

The city's campaign finance board approved $2,579,427 in public funds to go towards de Blasio's reelection campaign on Thursday.

He'd be forced to turn to big donors? I guess all the developers and unions are small potatoes?

NYCHA builder is big de Blasio donor

From the Daily News:

The developer who got a sweet deal from the city to build a half-market-rate, half-affordable Upper East Side apartment tower is a big donor to Mayor de Blasio, records show.

Since 2011, Harold Fetner and his family have written eight checks totaling $39,150 for de Blasio, including seven donations to his 2013 and 2017 election campaigns and one to the mayor’s transition committee.

Months after arriving at City Hall, de Blasio appointed Fetner to the nonprofit Mayor’s Fund for the Advancement of New York, a plum assignment the mayor has doled out to multiple deep-pocketed donors.

NYCHA announced on Wednesday it had picked Fetner’s company, Fetner Properties, over three other bidders to build a 47-story tower on what is now NYCHA land in the Holmes Towers development on E. 91st St.

Under the deal, Fetner gets a 99-year lease and will build and manage a 344-unit tower. He will also qualify for $13 million in taxpayer subsidies and will pay no property taxes because the building will sit on NYCHA land.

DeBlasio: Noise near schools is A-OK

From the Daily News:

Mayor de Blasio is moving to gut a bill that would quiet down construction noise next to schools — a bill drafted in response to a building project supported by one of his big donors.

The bill is being pushed by parents at Public School 163 on the Upper West Side who are fighting a 20-story nursing home set to be built right next to their kids’ school.

The huge nursing home is backed by SEIU Local 1199, the health care workers union that has long supported de Blasio and wrote two $250,000 checks to his now defunct nonprofit Campaign for One New York.

Half of that money arrived shortly before de Blasio began siding with the nursing home builder against the interests of the parents, records show.

Those donations were part of a year-long investigation by the Manhattan U.S. attorney that was closed last month. Prosecutors decided not to bring charges, but made a point of saying they were able to establish that de Blasio had solicited funds from entities doing business with City Hall and in some cases intervened on their behalf.