What to KnowA former NYC Board of Corrections member Julio Medina, who was additionally CEO of a agency referred to as Exodus, has been indicted for allegedly taking massive bribes to assist two others rip off thousands and thousands from a metropolis’s emergency housing program amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Medina, 64, is accused of “steering approximately $51 million in public funds” to a few businesspeople in change for $2.5 million in alleged kickback, the indictment filed by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn stated.Chistopher Dantzler allegedly ran an unlicensed safety agency acquired $21 million in contracts to supply safety to motels offering housing to inmates launched from Rikers amid the pandemic, prosecutors stated.
A former NYC Board of Corrections member Julio Medina, who was additionally CEO of a agency referred to as Exodus, has been indicted for allegedly taking massive bribes to assist two others rip off thousands and thousands from a metropolis’s emergency housing program amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Medina, 64, is accused of “steering approximately $51 million in public funds” to a few businesspeople in change for $2.5 million in alleged kickback, the indictment filed by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn stated.
Chistopher Dantzler allegedly ran an unlicensed safety agency acquired $21 million in contracts to supply safety to motels offering housing to inmates launched from Rikers amid the pandemic, prosecutors stated.
Dantzler, 49, is accused of hiring paying subcontractors $12 million to carry out safety work and he “retained the remaining $9 million in public funds,” the feds stated.
The FBI and metropolis Division of Investigation stated Weihong Hu owned two motels in Queens that housed inmates and acquired $12 million in public funds. As well as, they stated she ran a corrupt meals catering enterprise that allegedly acquired $17 million.
Hu, 59, allegedly joined Dantzler in paying kickbacks to Medina that included shopping for him two houses price about $2 million, a $107,000 luxurious car, and paying off money owed owed by Medina’s household, in response to the indictment.
“Whereas New York Metropolis was making an attempt to curb the unfold of COVID-19, the defendants exploited a nonprofit group to counterpoint themselves, stated appearing US Legal professional John Durham.
Exodus acquired a no-bid contract from the town first underneath Mayor de Blasio and continued via the Adams administration.
“The City” web site first reported on the issues with Exodus and questions concerning the greater than $122,000 million in public funding it had acquired from 2020-2023.
Investigators stated there are texts and photographs of conferences that assist doc the alleged corruption scheme. The three face expenses that embody bribery, wire fraud and cash laundering.
Hu has raised cash for the previous campaigns for Mayor Invoice de Blasio and Mayor Eric Adams. Makes an attempt to succeed in the defendants attorneys for remark weren’t instantly profitable. The three are anticipated to look in federal courtroom in Brooklyn Thursday afternoon.