MANHATTAN. N.Y. (PIX11) — At least 70 current and former New York City Housing Authority employees were arrested Tuesday following a federal investigation, officials said.
Dozens of current and former NYCHA employees are facing bribery and extortion offenses, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams called the arrests “the largest single-day bribery takedown in the history of the Justice Department.”
Prosecutors allege employees would demand money from contractors in exchange for contracts for NYCHA buildings, taking advantage of no-bid contracts. The employees would then allegedly approve the contract once their demands were met, prosecutors said.
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The employees allegedly solicited over $2 million in bribes over a 10-year period, according to prosecutors. Contracts for nearly 100 NYCHA buildings were impacted by the corruption, prosecutors said.
“That’s nearly one-third of all NYCHA developments that we allege were involved in some of this corruption,” Williams said. “If the contractors didn’t pay up, the defendants wouldn’t give them the work. That’s classic pay-to-play. This culture of corruption at NYCHA ends today.”