I’ve written previously about the growing scandal involving New York City mayor Bill de Blasio and his fund raising.
Latest, and semi-breaking news: two more people have been arrested and charged with fraud.
One of them is a “hedge-fund financier”.
The other one? Norman Seabrook, also known as the head of the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association. The COBA is the union that represents New York City’s corrections officers (about 9,000 members).
But wait! It gets better! One of the people the feds have targeted is now a cooperating witness!
The charges, brought by prosecutors in the office of Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, involve Mr. Seabrook’s investment of $20 million from his union and its annuity fund in Platinum Partners through Mr. Huberfeld [the hedge-fund guy – DB], and Mr. Huberfeld’s payment of a kickback to the union leader, according to the criminal complaint unsealed on Wednesday morning.
More:
Mr. Rechnitz [the cooperating witness – DB] delivered the payoff to the union leader in an $820 Ferragamo bag bought specifically for that purpose. He laid out the cash, according to the complaint, and was repaid by Platinum through a scheme that disguised the reimbursement as payment for Knicks tickets — two $3,750 seats at eight games.
It amuses me enormously that they had to buy a designer bag specifically for their payoffs. Also, the Knicks tickets must have been a major clue: who’s going to pay $7,500 to watch the hapless Knickerbockers play?
This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 8th, 2016 at 3:17 pm and is filed under Cops, Law, NYPD. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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