NYPD rocked by massive corruption probe

[The Bobster]

NYPD rocked by massive corruption probe
By Shawn Cohen
April 5, 2016 | 2:49am

Corrections officers union president Norman Seabrook (far left) and former NYPD Chief of Department Philip Banks (center right) are being investigated over trips paid for by businessman Jeremy Reichberg and Jona Rechnitz (from left, flanking Banks at a charity dinner). Some 20 cops are also being questioned. Photo: Chad Rachman; http://collive.com/ (right)


The FBI is investigating suspected NYPD corruption focusing on the relationship between two politically connected businessmen and a slew of officers throughout the ranks, multiple sources told The Post on Monday.

The feds are grilling about 20 cops — including three deputy chiefs and the head of the Upper East Side’s 19th Precinct — over gifts and foreign trips that the businessmen may have doled out to them in exchange for favors, law enforcement sources said.

A grand jury also has been convened, sources said.

The investigation began with an unrelated deal-gone-awry involving the two kike businessmen — Mayor Bill de Blasio buddies Jona Rechnitz and Jeremy Reichberg, well-placed sources said.

They gave a large sum of money to a third party who was supposed to buy discounted liquor for them to sell at a profit, but investors lost their money and the feds opened a fraud probe, sources said.

Wiretaps on the two businessmen’s phones revealed relationships with several NYPD cops — and the probe soon led the feds to then-NYPD Chief of Department Philip Banks and his close pal, corrections union president Norman Seabrook, sources said.

Reichberg, who lives in Borough Park, is a police buff known for his NYPD connections, while Rechnitz is a deep-pocketed de Blasio donor from the Upper West Side, sources said.

The businessmen became close friends with Banks and Seabrook, with the foursome traveling together to the Caribbean and to Israel in 2014.

Rechnitz picked up both men’s tab for the Caribbean jaunt, sources said. He also paid Seabrook’s airfare and hotel bills in Israel, while Banks paid for the flight but allowed Rechnitz to pick up his lodging tab, sources said.

Although he was on his personal time, Banks wore his NYPD uniform during a visit to the Western Wall in Jerusalem, and when he returned to New York, shared what he had learned with authorities here, sources said.

As a thank-you gift for all Rechnitz had done, Banks and Seabrook bought him a pricey backgammon set made of ancient wood.

“[We] spent $5,000 on the backgammon set — custom-made from Israel — so that nobody could say they bought me the [plane] ticket,’’ Seabrook told The Post Monday.

“There is no quid pro quo. There’s nothing [the FBI] could say Norman did wrong,’’ he added, referring to himself.

Banks could not be reached for comment.

Rechnitz also paid for at least part of other cops’ trips to places such as London, Rome, Las Vegas and the Caribbean, sources said.

Several sources said those being questioned as part of the probe include Deputy Inspector James Grant, head of the Upper East Side’s 19th Precinct; Brooklyn South Deputy Chief Eric Rodriguez; and Deputy Housing Chief Michael Harrington. Harrington worked for Banks before the chief of department retired.

“Most of the bosses questioned are not targets,’’ a law enforcement source claimed.

Captains Endowment Association president Roy Richter said, “A number of my members have been interviewed by federal investigators. All of them fully cooperated and were told they were not the targets or subject of the investigation.’’

One of the officers who has already testified before the grand jury is veteran NYPD Community Affairs Officer Michael Milici, sources said. The detective pleaded the Fifth and was placed on modified duty, sources said.

Rechnitz and Reichberg both served on de Blasio’s “inauguration team’’ that planned his party when he took office in 2014.

“I have done nothing wrong and have not engaged in any inappropriate behavior with anyone connected to the NYPD,’’ Rechnitz told The Post. “Beyond that, I don’t have any comment.’’

Reichberg did not return calls.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/04/06/fbi-probe-finds-nypd-cops-got-super-bowl-tickets-lavish-trips/

FBI probe finds NYPD traded services for Super Bowl tickets, luxe trips
By Shawn Cohen, Jamie Schram and Kate Sheehy
April 6, 2016 | 12:10am

The gifts were lavish — Super Bowl tickets and vacations to China and London.

The favors were troubling — using NYPD cops to provide security for private cash and jewelry deliveries and police escorts for funerals and airport trips to transfer bodies to Israel.

New details emerged Tuesday in the FBI’s corruption investigation into the police department, including how deep-pocketed businessmen who were the original targets of the probe sought out high-ranking members who they knew could “get things done for them,” sources told The Post.

“They don’t go to police officers or detectives. They’re too far down the food chain,’’ a law enforcement source said of the politically connected businessmen.

“They go straight to the top: the [commanding officer], lieutenants and other top officials at the precinct,” the source added. “They get things done for them. All they need to do is make a call.”

The favors ranged from getting police escorts for their own business deliveries, to crowd control during Hasidic weddings, and even receiving special security when Torahs are moved, according to sources.

The feds are looking into whether high-ranking NYPD officers then received gifts as part of an illegal quid pro quo — including jaunts to the Super Bowl, China, London, Brazil and Rome, and golfing trips to the Dominican Republic, sources said.

The suspected corruption surfaced during a separate financial investigation into Mayor Bill de Blasio cronies Jona Rechnitz, an Upper West Side real estate powerhouse, and Jeremy Reichberg, a prominent figure in Borough Park, Brooklyn, the sources said.

Wiretaps on the two men raised red flags because there were so many phone calls to and from cops, sources said.

“When it’s replayed, it might not sound good,’’ a source said of the wiretaps, explaining that they involve one of the businessmen making requests and the cops saying they’ll take care of it, although it’s unclear if any criminal conduct occurred.

Then-NYPD Chief of Department Philip Banks (in uniform even though it was a personal trip) visits the Western Wall in October 2014 with Manhattan real estate powerhouse Jona Rechnitz (in white shirt), who covered Banks’ hotel bill, and the prominent Borough Park figure Jeremy Reichberg (right).


Up to 20 NYPD members — including Deputy Inspector James Grant, the head of the Upper East Side’s 19th Precinct, and two other deputy inspectors — are being grilled over what they might know, sources said.

Some were questioned during 5 a.m. visits to their homes by the FBI. Staten Island Highway Sgt. Al Bono was questioned by agents at his house last week.

Sources said the you-scratch-my-back-I’ll-scratch-yours arrangement between the department and local leaders has been going on for decades — and that Rechnitz and Reichberg are experts at mining it.

Rechnitz is “always bragging about his relationship with the cops, how he knows everyone,” a former work associate said.

Reichberg “likes to talk about himself and drop names of people he knows. He likes to brag,’’ a law enforcement source said.

“He drops names to the cops that he knows Mayor de Blasio and [former NYPD Chief of Department Philip] Banks. He thinks he’s a big shot because of his so-called connections,” the source added. “I don’t know why these [cops] got friendly with him.’’

Banks and his buddy, corrections officers union chief Norman Seabrook, were the first law enforcement officials to come on the feds’ radar, sources said.

Former NYPD Chief of Department Philip Banks (center) traveled overseas with businessmen Jeremy Reichberg (left) and Jona Rechnitz (right).
Photo: http://www.collive.com


Both took overseas trips with Rechnitz and Reichberg, with Banks’ and Seabrook’s bills at least partly paid for by Rechnitz, according to sources.

Banks also was treated to two golf trips to the Dominican Republic, a government source said, and Reichnitz covered his hotel bill in Israel, where Banks posed in uniform at the Western Wall, even though he was on personal time.

Ben Brafman, Banks’ lawyer, said Tuesday, “It does not appear that Mr. Banks, either while employed by the New York City Police Department or after he retired, was involved in any intentional criminal conduct.”

A source said Seabrook is suspected of using Rechnitz’s JSR Capital LLC to invest union money without board approval.

Seabrook has denied any wrongdoing.

Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said Tuesday that the NYPD will “cooperate fully’’ with the FBI and called probes like this “the nature of the business.”

“We’ll just have to see where the investigation goes, and it’s something that, as you’d expect, we will participate in and kind of cooperate fully with,” the city’s top cop said.

“That’s all I’m able to say at this time,” he said. “On these investigations, we’re not able to comment on them, and that’s an agreement with the bureau.”

Detective Michael Milici was placed on modified duty after pleading the Fifth when questioned by a grand jury during the probe — a disciplinary move that Bratton said was “for the good of the department.”

Neither Rechnitz nor Reichberg responded to requests for comment.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/04/06/top-cop-probed-by-fbi-tells-friends-im-f-d/

Top cop probed by FBI tells friends: ‘I’m f—d’
By Shawn Cohen
April 6, 2016 | 11:40pm

James Grant


The current boss of the Upper East Side’s 19th Precinct accepted diamonds and cash from one of the businessmen at the center of a federal investigation, sources told The Post.

Deputy NYPD Inspector James Grant was at his Staten Island home when he was handed hundreds of dollars by Jeremy Reichberg, a prominent figure in Borough Park, around Christmas, sources said.

Grant soon became aware that the feds had opened a probe into the NYPD, and he told close friends, “I’m f–ked. I can’t go to jail,” a source said.

Investigators also discovered that Grant on multiple occasions had personally escorted Reichberg from the airport after overseas trips to pick up diamonds.

“[Grant] said he would meet him at the airport and get him back to where he had to go,” the source said.

“And as a form of payment, he’d give him one or two really nice cut diamonds to give to his wife.”

Grant has known Reichberg for about eight years, including Grant’ s time as head of Sunset Park’s 72nd Precinct from 2011 to 2014, sources said.

The police boss is still well known in Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish communities — having doled out hundreds of Captains Endowment Association cards that bear his name and read, “Please extend all courtesy to the holder of this card.”

At least one person who received one of the cards doesn’t even live in the five boroughs, another source added.

Reichberg and Jona Rechnitz, an Upper West Side real-estate investor, are both at the center of a federal probe into whether high-ranking members of the NYPD took lavish gifts in exchange for favors.

According to sources, NYPD cops received presents like Super Bowl tickets and vacations to China and Brazil, while giving out favors such as police escorts for business deliveries and extra security to manage crowds at Hasidic weddings.

Up to 20 members of the NYPD — including Grant and two other deputy inspectors — are being grilled about their knowledge of these dealings, sources said.

The NYPD probe began after a separate investigation into a business deal gone awry involving Reichberg and Rechnitz *revealed that they’d spent an *unusual amount of time on the phone talking to cops.

Both men often bragged about their relationships with cops and Mayor de Blasio, for whom Rechnitz has been a major *donor, sources said.

Reichberg has been suspended from his role as a volunteer chaplain with the Westchester County Department of Public Safety, according to a report.

As one of four chaplains since June 2013, he offered support to cops and took part in police events, including police academy graduations and memorials for fallen officers.

Grant’s lawyer, John Meringolo, said Grant “denies any wrongdoing. He’s been an exceptional police officer for his *entire career.”

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/04/06/nypd-chief-quit-amid-fbis-probe-into-inordinate-amount-of-cash/

NYPD chief quit amid FBI’s probe into ‘inordinate amount of cash’
By Jamie Schram
April 6, 2016 | 11:01pm

Phillip Banks at a press conference in 2014. Photo: Robert Mecea


He was once a rising star in the NYPD — and a finalist to be Mayor de Blasio’s police commissioner.

But Chief of Department Philip Banks stunned city leaders when he resigned in late 2014, rather than take a promotion to the No. 2 spot in the department.

Now, The Post can reveal that Banks was the target of an ongoing federal corruption probe when he walked away from his job as one of the most powerful men on the force.

Investigators found “hundreds of thousands” of dollars in his bank accounts that raised red flags, sources said on Wednesday.

“He did bow out in kind of a strange manner,” said a source involved with the investigation.

The feds discovered the money while looking into his close relationship with two businessmen being probed for giving gifts to high-ranking NYPD members in exchange for favors.

“Banks had collected an inordinate amount of cash,” a source familiar with the case said. “Which begged the question, where is he getting this money? How is he getting it?”

“We were hearing about alleged gifts and all of these trips he was taking,” the source said.

When Banks stepped down in October 2014, he claimed that he was unhappy with his promotion to first deputy commissioner — a role that he felt was purely administrative.

“I felt that the position would take me away from where I could make the greatest contribution: the police work and operations that I love so much,” he said that month, after Police Commissioner Bill Bratton urged him not to quit.

Sources said Banks wasn’t officially informed of the investigation, but likely learned of it through his extensive law enforcement network.

“You know, he was the chief of the department, and he had a lot of hooks in the police department,” the source said.

Sources said the feds and the Internal Affairs Bureau were also tipped off that Banks had several rental properties in the names of relatives, and may have had a side business selling liquor.

As chief of department, Banks, whose wife is a nurse, had a salary of $201,096 in 2013 and 2014, records show.

The investigation into Banks and his businessmen pals began with an IAB probe into an unnamed Bronx cop, sources said.

The NYPD called in the feds on that case, which eventually led to Jona Rechnitz and Jeremy Reichberg — who are suspected of giving gifts to high-ranking cops as part of an illegal quid pro quo, according to sources.

Then-NYPD Chief of Department Philip Banks (in uniform even though it was a personal trip) visits the Western Wall in October 2014 with Manhattan real-estate powerhouse Jona Rechnitz (in white shirt), who covered Banks’ hotel bill, the prominent Borough Park figure Jeremy Reichberg (right).


Banks and correction officers union chief Norman Seabrook took trips with Rechnitz, an Upper West Side real-estate investor, and Reichberg, a leader in Borough Park, Brooklyn, sources said.

At least part of their bills were paid for by Rechnitz, sources said.

Banks also received two golf trips to the Dominican Republic, according to a government source, and got a free hotel stay in Israel, where he visited the Western Wall in Jerusalem with Rechnitz and Reichberg in October 2014.

A source close to Banks said he only became aware of the investigation after he stepped down as chief of the department — and that’s when he hired celebrity lawyer Ben Brafman to represent him.

Brafman said Tuesday: “It does not appear that Mr. Banks, either while employed by the New York City Police Department or after he retired, was involved in any intentional criminal conduct.”

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/04/08/how-f-d-cop-used-judaism-to-curry-favor-with-probed-businessmen/

How ‘f—d’ cop used Judaism to curry favor with probed businessmen
By Danika Fears
April 8, 2016 | 12:51am

James Grant


Disgraced Deputy Inspector James Grant was so cozy with his pals in the Orthodox Jewish community that he kept a mezuzah on his office doorpost — even though he isn’t Jewish, sources told The Post Thursday.

The symbolic gesture — affixing a traditional casing that houses a Hebrew prayer on a parchment to an entrance — was just one of the ways that Grant curried favor with prominent businessmen like Jeremy Reichberg and Jona Rechnitz, who are the focus of a federal probe into police corruption, when he was in charge of Brooklyn’s 72nd Precinct.

Both men were familiar faces in the Sunset Park station house, where Grant allowed them to park in his private spot. He also let Reichberg attend a roll call, the sources said.

At one point, Grant had his office spruced up, along with much needed repairs to the precinct gym.

Cops assigned to the command believe that members of the Orthodox Jewish community footed the bill, even though such work is supposed to be requested through the NYPD’s Building Maintenance unit.

The NYPD didn’t respond to questions about who paid for the work.

Grant and Reichberg also had a “long-standing” friendship outside the precinct.

The two men regularly broke bread and traveled together within the US, the sources said. Reichberg also attended the first communion for Grant’s daughter.

Grant — who told a pal, “I’m *f–ked,’ when he learned of the probe — was caught accepting gifts of diamonds and cash from Reichberg, sources have said, and was placed on modified duty Thursday.

“He’s a good family man,” insisted Grant’s lawyer, John Meringolo. “He’s a great police officer and a great father.”

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/04/08/man-charged-for-ponzi-scheme-linked-to-nypd-corruption-probe/

$12 million Ponzi scheme linked to NYPD corruption probe
By Jamie Schram, Danika Fears and Shawn Cohen
April 8, 2016 | 12:58pm

Hamlet Peralta used to run the Hudson River Café in Harlem. Photo: Rahav Segev/Photopass (main); Mark Von Holden (inset)


A former Upper Manhattan restaurant owner was arrested on charges of operating a $12 million Ponzi scheme in a case that sources said is connected to the corruption probe of the NYPD.

Hamlet Peralta, who once ran the Hudson River Café in Harlem, was accused in a criminal complaint of obtaining millions of dollars from 12 investors, claiming he’d sink their money into a wholesale liquor business.

“As alleged, Hamlet Peralta solicited investors for his fictitious wholesale liquor business by peddling wholesale lies,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement.

Peralta was arrested on Thursday by FBI agents in Macon, Georgia, and was to appear before a judge there Friday afternoon, officials said.

Instead of using the money for his wholesale liquor business, he spent millions of dollars on clothes, food, spa treatments and other investors he needed to repay, prosecutors said.

The scam started around July 2013, when Peralta told investors that he’d been approved as an exclusive wine distributor for a major national restaurant supply company that was starting a wholesale wine business, according to prosecutors.

Peralta promised investors 4 percent returns, but he actually spent less than $700,000 on wholesale liquor, prosecutors said.

Sources said Jeremy Reichberg and Jona Rechnitz, two businessmen at the center of the FBI’s probe, invested a large sum of money in Peralta’s fake liquor business.

Both men are suspected of doling out lavish gifts to NYPD members in exchange for favors, sources said.

Peralta’s former restaurant used to be a popular hangout for a number of cops, including Deputy Chief David Colon and the former head of the 30th Precinct, Inspector Ruel R. Stephenson — a close friend of Philip Banks, the NYPD’s former chief of department.

Colon is one of four top NYPD commanders to be transferred on Thursday as part of an escalating federal corruption probe.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/04/11/nypd-chief-raked-in-up-to-500k-from-man-at-center-of-corruption-probe/

NYPD chief raked in up to $500K from man at center of corruption probe
By Yoav Gonen
April 11, 2016 | 12:28pm

Philip Banks
Photo: David McGlynn


Former NYPD Chief of Department Philip Banks took in as much as $500,000 in income in a single year from “investments” with the businessman at the heart of a federal probe of the police department and City Hall, city documents show.

The income, listed as a range of $250,000 to $499,999.99 invested in “JSR capitol” [sic], appears on the final financial disclosure form Banks filed after abruptly quitting his post in late 2014.

No investments in JSR Capital are listed in prior disclosure forms by Banks going back to 2009.

The firm is owned by Jona Rechnitz, who, along with Borough Park businessman Jeremy Reichberg, is under the FBI and US attorney’s eyes over his cozy relationship with NYPD top brass and for his donations to the agenda of Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Banks, 53, has insisted he didn’t do anything wrong.

His lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said, “Despite all that has been printed and reported about Phil Banks, I repeat: Not one single dollar earned by Mr. Banks while a member of the PD or subsequent to his retirement, is any way related to illegal or corrupt activities. All of the money invested by him or on deposit in his accounts is derived from lawfully earned income and his wife’s inheritance after her father passed away.”

The wide-ranging probe has already led to the reassignment of four top police officials and has forced de Blasio to return $9,000 in 2013 campaign donations from Rechnitz and his wife.

Sources have said the probe has focused on whether the politically connected businessmen traded cash and trips abroad for favors from the top police brass — including police escorts for funerals or crowd control at Hasidic weddings.

Their donations on behalf of de Blasio — which included $102,000 for the Senate Democrats in 2014 from an LLC belonging to Rechnitz and $50,000 from the same LLC to de Blasio’s progressive non-profit the Campaign for One New York — have prompted a deeper look at the mayor’s fundraising.

The two men served on de Blasio’s 2013 inauguration committee and Reichberg hosted a May 2014 fundraiser for the Campaign for One New York at his Brooklyn home.

The mayor said Sunday he has no knowledge that such a probe is under way.

Banks’ income from JSR Capital was first reported by DNA info.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/04/13/manhattan-north-police-chief-transferred-as-part-of-corruption-probe/

Deputy police chief transferred in widening corruption probe
By Shawn Cohen and Yaron Steinbuch
April 13, 2016 | 10:12am | Updated

Deputy Chief Andrew Capul
Photo: Brigitte Stelzer


A deputy police chief who is the executive officer of Patrol Borough Manhattan North has been transferred as part of a widening federal corruption probe, police said.

Andrew Capul is being reassigned to an administrative position pending further review, according to police.

He is the latest high-ranking police official whose job has been modified or changed as a result of the joint probe by the FBI and the US Justice Department.

Capul was questioned by the feds in connection with a plane trip he took to a Super Bowl, sources told The Post. It was not immediately clear who paid for the trip.

Police Commissioner Bill Bratton last week dropped the hammer on four top commanders targeted in the scandal after The Post revealed that Deputy Inspector James Grant of the 19th Precinct was caught accepting cash and diamonds from a shady businessman.

Grant was placed on modified duty and transferred, along with Deputy Housing Chief Michael Harrington. Brooklyn South Deputy Chief Eric Rodriguez and Deputy Chief David Colon were also transferred.

Grant was caught by the feds getting hundreds of dollars from Jeremy Reichberg, a prominent figure in Borough Park, around Christmas, sources have said.

Grant also allegedly accepted diamonds from the jeweler while driving him home from overseas trips to pick up the gems — and was told they were for his wife.

Reichberg and Jona Rechnitz, a real estate investor, are at the center of the FBI’s probe into whether cops performed favors in exchange for lavish gifts, like trips and Super Bowl tickets.

Capul also was transferred in May 2010 from his position as commander of the 34th Precinct after he was forced to apologize to a woman whose sexual assault in an upper Manhattan park was downgraded from a felony to a misdemeanor, the Village Voice reported at the time.

The incident was reclassified and upgraded to a felony only after the victim, journalist Debbie Nathan, protested and the Manhattan district attorney interviewed cops, the paper reported.

Capul also made headlines in December 2014 when a Bloods gang member sucker-punched him during a Harlem rally.

Jonathan Allen slugged Capul in the face as the then-deputy inspector talked to protesters near West 125th Street at the Adam Clayton Powell State Office Building.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/04/14/bratton-admits-nypd-corruption-scandal-is-historically-bad/

Bratton admits NYPD corruption scandal is historically bad
By Shawn Cohen and Bruce Golding
April 14, 2016 | 3:12am

Top cop Bill Bratton admitted on Wednesday that the corruption scandal roiling his department is historically bad — saying the NYPD hasn’t been through a darker period since the early 1970s.

“You’d have to probably go back to the Knapp Commission days to find one that has that focus on the senior leadership of the department,” Bratton told The Post’s Editorial Board.

“Back in the Knapp days, it was so pervasive throughout the department.”

That investigation exposed rampant bribe-taking at all ranks of the department, led to criminal charges against dozens of crooked cops and derailed the presidential ambitions of then-Mayor John Lindsay.

Bratton’s comments came as a fifth NYPD commander — the head of Manhattan North Patrol Borough — was demoted amid the widening probe into police bosses trading favors for gifts.

Sources then revealed that the commander’s counterpart in Manhattan South had also been questioned by the feds.

Bratton credited his Internal Affairs Bureau for initiating the investigation in late 2013, and insisted he remained plugged in even after the FBI swooped in a few months later.

“I get constant updates, including one [Tuesday] for several hours,” he said.

Bratton warned there might be more rogue cops.

“We’re at that stage of the investigation where witnesses are now being interviewed in person. And each interview has the potential to yield new information. We will evaluate that literally on a daily basis,” Bratton said.

He refused to say when he learned about allegations involving ex-NYPD Chief of Department Philip Banks, who abruptly quit in October 2014 rather than accept a promotion to first deputy commissioner, the No. 2 job.

Banks’ bloated financial statements raised red flags, and he is suspected of accepting gifts and travel from two businessmen at the heart of the scandal.

“We really can’t, at this point, since the investigation is ongoing and we’re still interviewing witnesses, we can’t talk about what was known about each and every [subject] over the last two years,” Bratton said.

“That will come later, if the US Attorney’s Office decides to file charges against anyone.”

Bratton also said it was “coincidental” that he transferred four commanders — including 19th Precinct Deputy Inspector James Grant — just hours after The Post reported that Grant was suspected of accepting diamonds and cash for escorting Brooklyn businessman Jeremy Reichberg from the airport following diamond-buying trips overseas.

“It had nothing to do with [it], quite frankly, none of it,” Bratton said. “This has been ongoing for over two years. At each stage of the investigation, we learn more information. As we said last week, we were acting on the information we had accumulated to date.”

Bratton touched on an array of other topics during his hour-plus visit with The Post — including fading police morale.

“Cops have been complaining about morale since police forces were created. I used to complain about it a lot when I was a young cop,” he said.

“A lot of the morale problems, at this particular point in time, I’m being hard pressed to understand whether it has to do with things I control . . . The one thing I don’t control is pay.”

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/04/15/center-of-nypd-probe-steered-union-cash-to-hedge-fund-report/

Center of NYPD probe steered union cash to hedge fund: report
By Bruce Golding
April 15, 2016 | 2:43am

A businessman at the heart of the NYPD corruption scandal steered the president of the city correction-officers union — who is also under federal investigation — to a hedge fund where he invested $10 million in membership money, according to a report Thursday.

Jona Rechnitz helped Norman Seabrook, head of the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association, put the union’s cash into the Platinum Partners hedge fund, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Seabrook was among the first law-enforcement officials scrutinized by the FBI in the suspected gifts-for-favors scheme involving Rechnitz, Jeremy Reichberg and top NYPD brass, sources have told The Post.

Rechnitz has ties to the Platinum Partners hedge fund through one of its initial investors, Murray Huberfeld.

Huberfeld has a shady past that includes pleading guilty to a misdemeanor in 1992 for having a stand-in take his brokerage-licensing exam and, with a business partner, getting fined $4.7 million by the Securities and Exchange Commission in 1998 for illegally selling restricted stock.

Rechnitz isn’t listed as an official marketer for Platinum and it was unclear whether he got a referral fee over the union’s investment, the Journal reported.

According to its Web site, Platinum manages more than $1.3 billion spread across “multiple funds.” It claims to be generating steady profits, but last year blocked clients from withdrawing money from one of its funds, sources told the Journal.

Seabrook declined to comment.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/04/17/next-up-in-nycs-corruption-probe-carl-heastie/

Next up in NYC’s corruption probe: Carl Heastie
By Isabel Vincent and Melissa Klein
April 17, 2016 | 12:31am

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie
Photo: AP


Federal prosecutors are probing Democratic Party records related to Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, The Post has learned.

A former Bronx Democratic Party official was subpoenaed last week to appear before a grand jury with all of the books and records of the party pertaining to Heastie, a law-enforcement source told The Post.

The stunning revelation that one of the three most powerful men in Albany is caught up in yet another federal probe comes months after the corruption convictions of the state Assembly and Senate leaders, Sheldon Silver and Dean Skelos.

Ischia Bravo, a former executive director of the Bronx Democratic County Committee, would neither confirm nor deny that she had received the subpoena issued by an Albany grand jury.

But she suggested she had been contacted by authorities.

“I think they were just unaware that I was not there anymore so I no longer have records or have retained records,” Bravo said.

She left the party job last year and is now running for the Assembly herself, challenging incumbent Democrat José Rivera.

Heastie, 48, was the Bronx party chairman from 2008 until shortly after taking the speaker position in February 2015 to replace the indicted Silver.

County committees choose and fund candidates, aid campaigns and can pay for political expenses like travel. They must document their finances to the state Board of Elections. The board is based in Albany, the jurisdiction of the US attorney for the Northern District of New York, where the subpoena was issued.

The Bronx committee had $80,000 in its coffers as of July 2015, state records show.

“This is an old story,” said Anthony Perez, executive director of the committee, apparently referring to a Post report last year on a federal probe of the Bronx Democratic machine. “We have nothing to add.”

A spokeswoman for the US Attorney’s Office in Albany declined to comment.

Michael Whyland, a spokesman for Heastie, said, “We haven’t been advised of any investigation, so there is nothing to comment on.”

Heastie has not been indicted and has not faced any charges related to political corruption.

But questions have long swirled around his campaign finances. His campaign committee paid for thousands of dollars in repairs on his personal car and for entertainment at nightclubs and bars, public records showed.

The state’s Moreland Commission on Public Corruption, disbanded in 2014, had targeted his spending. His campaign bank-account records were reportedly subpoenaed by Moreland probers.

The commission’s files were turned over to Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara.

The Post reported last year that Heastie paid his former girlfriend and baby mama, Alvita “Lan” Robertson, $2,500 in campaign money to design a Web site. His campaign made two payments of $1,250 to her in 2011. Robertson, a model, subcontracted the work to someone else and still got paid.

Heastie’s latest financial disclosures show that in 2014, he owed up to $50,000 on one credit card and up to $20,000 on another. He also owed up to $20,000 to Lending Club for debt consolidation.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/04/18/nypd-debauchery-with-prostitute-on-private-jet-exposed/

Top cops joined Mile High Club with hooker on private jet to Vegas
By Shawn Cohen
April 18, 2016 | 3:28am

Jona Rechnitz (top right) and Jeremy Reichberg (bottom right) -- subjects of the probe -- accompanied the cops during at least one getaway to Las Vegas. Photo: Getty Images ; Baruch Ezagui ; Gregory P. Mango


NYPD officials had sex with a prostitute dressed as a flight attendant during at least one trip on a private plane paid for by a businessman at the heart of a federal probe into police corruption, The Post has learned.

Police brass joined the “Mile High Club” with the woman after departing from New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport en route to Las Vegas in 2014, sources said.

The call girl repeated her “Coffee, tea or me?” routine when the cops flew back from Vegas, sources said.

“It was first-class plus, with full service,” said a source close to the case.

“They weren’t on commercial airlines. The entertainment was quite good on board.”

Jona Rechnitz, who is under investigation in a suspected gifts-for-favors scheme, provided the high-priced transportation, the sources said.

It was unclear who paid for the prostitute’s services and how many trips took place.

But both Rechnitz and Jeremy Reichberg, another subject of the joint FBI-NYPD probe, accompanied the cops during one getaway to Sin City, a source said.

Deputy Inspector James Grant and Detective Michael Milici were both identified by the sources as having been on board during at least one wild cross-country trip.

Grant, formerly commanding officer of the Upper East Side’s 19th Precinct, was stripped of his badge and transferred earlier this month, hours after The Post revealed that he was suspected of accepting cash and diamonds from Reichberg.

He was sent to the NYPD’s Medical Division in Queens.

Milici, a longtime community affairs officer in Borough Park, Brooklyn, was also placed on modified duty after invoking the Fifth Amendment in front of a federal grand jury, sources have said.

He has been assigned to the Courthouse Division.

Lawyers for Grant and Milici each said they “deny the allegations” about their married clients. Rechnitz declined to comment.

Reichberg’s lawyer said, “Jeremy Reichberg is a good man who has helped many in his community. He has not committed any crime and does not deserve the constant false attacks to which he has been subjected in the press.”

Last week, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton told The Post that the unfolding corruption scandal was the worst he had seen since the rampant, top-to-bottom bribery exposed by the Knapp Commission in the early 1970s.

In addition to the allegations involving top NYPD officials, sources have said that the feds are investigating Mayor Bill de Blasio’s campaign finances and the actions of his former fundraiser Ross Offinger.

Rechnitz was a top “bundler” of campaign contributions to de Blasio, and Reichberg hosted a fundraiser for Hizzoner’s Campaign for One New York.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/04/18/orthodox-community-tangled-in-nypd-corruption-scandal/

Orthodox community tangled in NYPD corruption scandal
By Shawn Cohen and Jamie Schram
April 18, 2016 | 2:00am

James Grant is allegedly one of many high-ranking officers who have been giving Orthodox community members special treatment.


NYPD officials acted like personal concierges to members of the Orthodox Jewish community — doing favors from providing free parking at weddings to letting wife beaters off the hook, sources told The Post.

“I don’t give a s–t, you’re giving him DAT [desk appearance ticket] and that’s it,” one high-ranking deputy inspector raged after learning that a member of a powerful Hasidic group had been arrested on charges of third-degree assault for attacking his wife, according to a source.

In that case, the charges were downgraded to a desk appearance ticket, allowing the man to avoid arraignment court and more serious penalties, the source said.

“I still remember that as clear as day,” the source said. “That’s against protocol.”

Shady dealings such as these are now at the center of a gifts-for-favors corruption scandal, in which two businessmen are suspected of giving out lavish presents to high-ranking officers.

Jeremy Reichberg, a prominent Borough Park figure, and Jona Rechnitz, a real estate investor, were familiar faces around Brooklyn’s 72nd Precinct, where disgraced Deputy Inspector James Grant, who was placed on modified duty last week, would let them park in his private spot, according to sources.

Reichberg was even allowed to attend a roll call at the precinct, where he may have footed the bill for repairs, sources said.

Sources said Grant is hardly the only high-ranking officer who has been giving Orthodox community members special treatment.

Commanding officers often assign cops to Orthodox wedding receptions, including ones at the Rose Castle in Williamsburg and the Ateres Chaya Hall in Borough Park, according to sources.

“It’s ridiculous,” a police source said of the practice. “They’ll say you have to assign X amount of cops for this reason.”

One community member said that two blocks were closed off around Ateres Chaya in January, when Reichberg’s daughter got married there.

So far, five high-ranking officers have been transferred or had their jobs modified as a result of the federal investigation.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/04/18/shomrim-leader-busted-amid-nypd-corruption-probe/

Orthodox Jewish leader allegedly bribed NYPD cops for pistol permits
By Larry Celona, Lia Eustachwich and Bruce Golding
April 18, 2016 | 1:33pm | Updated

A leader of the Boro Park Shomrim private safety patrol boasted that he paid NYPD cops nearly $1 million in bribes to score pistol permits for 150 members of the Orthodox Jewish community — including one with a history of domestic violence who once threatened to kill someone, according to court papers unsealed Monday.

The stunning allegations against Alex “Shaya” Lichtenstein came as the NYPD announced it was cleaning house at its License Division, where a cop allegedly admitted that Lichtenstein gave him and a supervisor “lunch money” to process applications for him.

The division’s commanding officer, Deputy Inspector Michael Endall, “is being re-assigned to an administrative position pending further review,” Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said in a statement.

Sgt. David Villanueva and Officer Richard Ochetal were stripped of their badges and guns and also transferred, Bratton said.

The moves brought to nine the number of cops who’ve been publicly demoted since The Post revealed earlier this month that the FBI was investigating a gifts-for-favors scheme involving two Orthodox Jewish businessmen and top NYPD brass.

The widening, joint probe with the NYPD has also enveloped Mayor de Blasio’s 2013 campaign-finance operation, and Bratton last week told The Post that it was the worst corruption scandal he’s seen since the Knapp Commission revelations of widespread police graft during the early 1970s.

“As we have previously stated, this investigation will continue to go where the leads take us,” Bratton said in a statement Monday.

Lichtenstein, 44, was charged with bribery and conspiracy for allegedly running a three-year scam in which he charged unnamed “various individuals” $18,000 a pop to arrange expedited approval of pistol permits that otherwise could take more than a year to review.

As part of the scheme, he passed along $6,000 per application to the cops who greased the wheels on the process, court papers allege.

Lichtenstein, a married father of three, was arrested by the FBI at his Pomona, N.Y., home on Sunday morning.

Wearing a gray golf shirt, black pants and a black yarmulke, he appeared scrawny and pale as he sniffled loudly and wiped away tears after being hauled into Manhattan federal court late Monday afternoon.

Prosecutor Kan Nawaday asked to have him held without bail as a “danger to the community.”

“He was no less than an arms dealer for the community in New York City,” Nawaday said.

“Our case is very strong. Just last week, this defendant was recorded trying to bribe an NYPD officer to obtain a permit for his clients.”

Nawaday also said that the feds seized two handguns during Lichtenstein’s arrest, and that he also had a shotgun stashed in his home.

US Magistrate Judge Henry Pitman rejected the government’s request and set bond at $500,000, which Lichenstein was expected to post later Monday.

“I don’t think dangerousness has been shown here. I think the government’s characterization of him as an arms dealer is somewhat hyperbolic,” Pitman said.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/04/19/nypd-b...of-getting-violent-man-full-carry-gun-permit/

NYPD bribery suspect accused of getting ‘violent man’ full-carry gun permit
By Jamie Schram and Bruce Golding
April 19, 2016 | 1:57am

Shaya Lichtenstein (center) leaves Federal Court. Photo: Matt McDermott


Bribery suspect Alex “Shaya” Lichtenstein helped score a full-carry gun permit for a man with a history of domestic violence who once threatened to kill a loved one, the feds alleged Monday.

The man, identified only as “License Holder-1,” has been the subject of at least four domestic-violence complaints — one of which involved the death threat — and was once arrested for forgery, court papers said.

He has also been in four car crashes and has gotten slapped with three vehicle-related summonses and about 10 moving violations.

Even with that record, the NYPD’s License Division awarded him an unrestricted “full carry” pistol permit in 2013 — and it “remains active,” FBI Agent Joseph Downs wrote.

A receipt in the man’s License Division file shows Lichtenstein used a credit card to pay his application fee, which currently costs $340, plus $89.75 for an FBI fingerprint check.

A whistleblower complained to the NYPD in October 2013 that Lichtenstein had used “his connections” to get the license.

An NYPD source familiar with the granting of pistol permits said the man’s record should have made it “virtually impossible” for him to obtain a license.

“You would be fighting an uphill battle to get a gun permit legally through the process just based on the domestic violence charge alone,” the source said.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/04/20/i-paid-fixer-12500-for-gun-license-and-wound-up-with-nothing/

I paid fixer $12,500 for gun license and wound up with nothing
By Philip Messing
April 20, 2016 | 3:11am

Alex "Shaya" Lichtenstein (left) helped acquire a gun license as seen in the record (right). Photo: Matthew McDermott (left)


So what if he greased some palms to get a gun license? That’s not stopping a Brooklyn landlord from fighting for his right to bear arms.

The building owner is complaining that the FBI blocked his bid last year to get a carry permit from the NYPD — after he paid more than $10,000 to a fixer who was busted this week for allegedly bribing cops.

The 72-year-old man, who asked to be identified at “Jay,” told The Post that he’s appealing to the FBI to overturn the denial with the help of Manhattan gun-licensing attorney John Chambers.

He said he needs a firearm because he collects cash rents from a Queens building he owns.

He also explained to The Post how he went about obtaining the license. He said he first had to meet bribery suspect Alex “Shaya” Lichtenstein at Lichtenstein’s Brooklyn home, on East Fifth Street near Ocean Parkway in Midwood.

“I said to him, ‘I heard you can . . . get me a gun license.’ And he said, ‘Yes I can,’ and I asked him how much and he gave me an amount.”

The owner said he agreed to Lichtenstein’s $10,000 service “fee.”

“He was very efficient,” said the owner.

As part of the process, Jay admitted to Lichtenstein he had a criminal record — a conviction for felony bribery 15 years ago.

“I told him I had a few speeding tickets and I told him I got into trouble once 15 years ago. He told me, ‘I have to know everything to help you,’ so I told him everything.”

The handgun license “Jay” acquired


Two or three weeks later, Jay says, he met Lichtenstein at One Police Plaza, where he was led into the Licensing Bureau.

“Everybody there knew him,” Jay recalled. “It was like he owned the place. They were saying, ‘Hi, Shaya! Hi, Shaya!’ ”

A sergeant emerged from a back office and took the unusual step of personally fingerprinting Jay for his license — a duty normally performed by a civilian. That sergeant was David Villanueva, who was transferred from the unit on Monday amid news of Lichtenstein’s arrest, a source said.

A few weeks later, Jay was shown his license by Lichtenstein, who made a last-minute demand for an additional $2,500 in cash, which Jay reluctantly paid.

Jay then went to buy a handgun at a Brooklyn gun shop and discovered his application was flagged by the FBI.

Lichtenstein was busted Sunday by the FBI. He was secretly recorded boasting how he had secured 150 gun licenses from his police contacts.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/04/20/city-f...ety-patrol-linked-to-nypd-corruption-scandal/

City freezes funds for civilian safety patrol linked to NYPD scandal
By Yoav Gonen, Shawn Cohen and Bruce Golding
April 20, 2016 | 7:51pm

The city is withholding $35,000 in taxpayer funding from the group Boro Park Shomrim following the arrest of one of its leaders in a nearly $1 million bribery scheme involving NYPD pistol permits.

Two grants were earmarked for the civilian safety patrol last year by Brooklyn Councilmen David Greenfield and Chaim Deutsch, but the money was frozen after federal charges were unsealed Monday against Alex “Shaya” Lichtenstein.

A spokeswoman for Mayor de Blasio said Wednesday the cash wouldn’t be handed over until City Hall was confident that Shomrim was “a responsible vendor.”

The group, incorporated as a non-profit under the name “Shmira Civilian Volunteer Patrol of Boro Park,” has raked in $256,500 in pork-barrel funding from city pols since fiscal 2009, records show.

That largesse included two grants totaling $20,000 from de Blasio when he was a councilman from Brooklyn.

The Shomrim group also scored $455,708 in city contracts — almost all from the Department of Youth and Community Development — between fiscal 2007 and 2014, records show.

The contracts included nearly $200,000 from the Department of Design and Construction to purchase vehicles over a five-year period ending in November 2014.

City Hall wouldn’t say how many of the contracts had been funded by member items.

Shomrim President Jacob Daskal didn’t return a call for comment.

The freezing of the group’s unpaid grants was first reported by Capital New York.

Meanwhile, sources told The Post that NYPD Deputy Inspector James Grant was the unidentified “commanding officer” who the feds say introduced Lichtenstein to a sergeant in the License Division, which handles pistol-permit applications.

Lichtenstein was caught on a hidden camera trying to bribe a cop as a replacement for License Division “connections” who previously helped him score 150 permits, according to court papers.

Grant was stripped of his badge and gun and ousted as commander of Manhattan’s 19th Precinct on April 7. Eight other cops, mostly high-ranking brass, have also been suspended and/or demoted as part of a widening corruption scandal first reported by The Post.

Also Wednesday, City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito said the council would hold a May public hearing on the city’s sale of a former Lower East Side nursing home that generated $72 million in profit for The Allure Group of Brooklyn when it flipped the property.

That deal is under investigation by the feds, a source has told The Post.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/04/25/detective-at-center-of-nypd-probe-suspended-after-trying-to-retire/

Detective at center of NYPD probe suspended after trying to retire
By Shawn Cohen
April 25, 2016 | 7:31pm

Detective Michael Milici leaves his house on April 18. Photo: Gabriella Bass


An NYPD community affairs officer who was stripped of his gun and badge tried to retire Monday – triggering his immediate suspension because he is still a target of a federal corruption probe.

Detective Michael Milici, a 20-plus-year veteran currently assigned to Brooklyn’s 66th Precinct in Borough Park, was placed on modified duty earlier this month after invoking his Fifth Amendment rights before a grand jury hearing evidence in the case.

Milici was being questioned about his relationship with two Jewish businessmen suspected of offering cash and gifts to police brass in exchange for favors, such as free NYPD security at special events and rides to and from the airport.

The Post reported exclusively that Milici and other police officials took at least one trip on a private plane with the men in 2014, and that at least some on board allegedly had sex with a hooker dressed as a flight attendant.

So far, nine mostly high-ranking officers have been transferred or had their jobs modified as a result of the federal investigation.

Detective Michael Palladino, president of the Detectives Endowment Association, said Milici filed his retirement papers Monday morning.

The Internal Affairs Bureau was notified and he was then suspended without pay.

He will still receive his pension because he has more than 20 years on the job, Palladino added.

“This is obviously a complicated situation that I prefer not to discuss in the media other than to say that Detective Milici, having an unblemished record for 25 years, simply invoked his constitutional right and he has not been officially accused of anything,” he said.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/04/26/owner-of-eatery-popular-with-corrupt-cops-took-trips-with-police-pals/

Owner of eatery popular with corrupt cops took trips with police pals
By Kaja Whitehouse, Jamie Schram and Bruce Golding
April 26, 2016 | 9:04pm

Hamlet Peralta used to run the Hudson River Café in Harlem. Photo: Rahav Segev ; Mark Von Holden


The former owner of a Harlem eatery that was a hangout for allegedly corrupt cops was ordered held in lieu of $5 million bond in a fraud case Tuesday, after the feds said he traveled to the Dominican Republic with his police pals — including “a very, very high-ranking officer for the NYPD.”

A federal prosecutor also said that Hamlet Peralta had “close connections to people in law enforcement, including people who can fix things for him.”

Manhattan Assistant US Attorney Russell Capone said Peralta even roped in NYPD members for a $12 million Ponzi scheme, allegedly duping at least one cop into investing, and using a high-ranking official to introduce him to other people he ripped off.

Two fraud victims previously have been ID’d as businessmen Jona Rechnitz and Jeremy Reichberg, who sources have said are at the heart of a widening NYPD corruption scandal over a suspected gifts-for-favors scheme — including trips to and from Vegas on a private plane with a hooker dressed as a flight attendant.

The investigation has since expanded into a probe of fundraising efforts by Mayor Bill de Blasio and others, including top aide Emma Wolfe and campaign operative Ross Offinger.

Capone said that Peralta, 36, twice traveled to the Dominican Republic with NYPD cops in 2013, and that one of those trips included the unidentified “very, very high-ranking officer.”

Peralta allegedly ran away to Georgia — where he was busted earlier this month — after realizing he was under investigation by the FBI last year. “He was fleeing. He was very much fleeing the FBI,” Capone said.

Peralta was taken into custody on April 8 only because he was nabbed in Georgia in an unrelated matter, Capone said. Peralta formerly owned the Hudson River Cafe, which police sources have said served as “a clubhouse for the bosses” before closing in 2015.

It was frequented by both former Chief of Department Philip Banks III, who sources have said is under investigation, and Deputy Chief David Colon, one of four high-ranking cops relieved of their duties during the first wave of crackdowns following The Post’s revelation this month of the corruption probe.

In court, defense lawyer Cesar de Castro said, “The facts of this case, we deny them and we are intending to fight the case.”

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/04/27/this-top-cop-traveled-to-dr-with-ponzi-scheming-club-owner/

This top cop traveled to DR with ‘ponzi-scheming’ club owner
By Shawn Cohen, Jamie Schram and Bruce Golding
April 27, 2016 | 10:19pm

Philip Banks III
Photo: David McGlynn


The “very, very high-ranking [NYPD] officer” who the feds say traveled to the Dominican Republic with an accused Ponzi-scheming club owner is former Chief of Department Philip Banks III, The Post has learned.

Multiple sources on Wednesday confirmed that Banks was the police boss referenced during a bail hearing for Hamlet Peralta, who ran a Harlem eatery that served as a hangout for allegedly corrupt cops.

Banks flew on a private plane from Teterboro Airport to the Caribbean nation for a golf trip and a stay at a waterfront condo with Peralta in November 2013, sources said. Also on the trip were Mayor de Blasio’s buddies Jona Rechnitz and Jeremy Reichberg, the source said.

Sources also identified Deputy Chief David Colon as the high-ranking cop the feds say introduced Peralta to victims of the alleged $12 million Ponzi scheme.

At least one cop was among the investors Peralta ripped off, federal prosecutor Russell Capone said.

Colon was relieved of his duties as second-in-command of the Housing *Bureau after The Post revealed this month that the FBI was investigating an alleged gifts-for-favors racket involving Banks and other top brass.

Rechnitz and Reich*berg, two bizmen at the center of that probe, have previously been identified as victims of Peralta’s alleged fraud.

Banks quit the NYPD in 2014 rather than accept a promotion to first deputy commissioner, claiming it would diminish his power,

Capone said Peralta, being held in lieu of $5 million bail, had twice traveled to the Dominican Republic with members of the NYPD during 2013.

Sources have said that Banks twice took golf trips to the Dominican Republic that were at least partly paid for by Rechnitz.

Banks’ lawyer, Ben Brafman, declined to comment, as did Colon and the NYPD.