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70th and final punishment in cleanliness new york A city corruption investigation was cleared Tuesday, bringing to a close a decade-long bribery scheme in which public housing workers assigned jobs to contractors in exchange for kickbacks.
The arrests in February 2024 were the largest one-day bribery bust in U.S. Justice Department history, prosecutors said, and targeted current and former New York City Housing Authority employees, many of whom were former supervisors.
“All 70 charged defendants have now been convicted,” U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said in a release, “for attempting to criminally take advantage of the contracting process for work for affordable housing for New Yorkers to line their pockets.”
According to the release, defendants typically demand between 10% and 20% of the value of the contract, which is typically between $500 and $2,000.
Jocelyn E. Strauber, commissioner of the city’s Department of Investigation, said Housing Authority employees earned more than $2.1 million from bribes paid by companies that received $15 million in no-bid contracts.
The city’s vast and aging public housing system is the largest in the country, home to one in 17 New Yorkers in 335 developments across the city. tenants There have been complaints for decades about dangerous or unsanitary conditions, including rodents, mold, and lack of heat and hot water.
Of the 70 individuals charged in the bribery case, three defendants were convicted at trial, 56 pleaded guilty to felony charges and 11 pleaded guilty to misdemeanors, prosecutors said. The charges included bribery, fraud and extortion.
The housing authority known as NYCHA receives more than $1.5 billion in federal funding each year.