New York City Department of Investigation

The New York City Department of Investigation (“DOI”), announced the guilty pleas today of a former Bronx County prosecutor, her brother, and her mother to fraudulently obtaining affordable housing in Manhattan. The defendants obtained housing for which they were ineligible, as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars in benefits, by providing false information on applications to rent and own affordable housing units. DOI investigated this matter with the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, which prosecuted the case. Read the release here: https://on.nyc.gov/4gFSgxC DOI Commissioner Strauber thanked Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and his staff, for their partnership on this investigation and prosecution, which was handled by Assistant District Attorney Jaime Hickey-Mendoza, and supervised by Assistant District Attorney Christopher Beard (Deputy Bureau Chief of the Rackets Bureau), Assistant District Attorney Judy Salwen (Principal Deputy Bureau Chief of the Rackets Bureau), and Assistant District Attorney Jodie Kane (Chief of the Investigation Division). DOI Commissioner Strauber also thanked HPD Commissioner Adolfo Carrión Jr. and his staff for their cooperation on the investigation. At DOI, the investigation was conducted by Special Investigator Eric Tyszka in DOI’s Office of the Inspector General for HPD and was supervised by Inspector General Michael Morris, Deputy Commissioner for Strategic Initiatives Christopher Ryan, and Deputy Commissioner/Chief of Investigations Dominick Zarrella.

ICYMI: DEP Worker Indicted for Stealing $275,000 From Ailing 78 Year-Old Former Co-worker. Thank you Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark for your partnership on this important case. Read the release here: https://on.nyc.gov/4hPn7Ja New York City Department of Investigation Commissioner Jocelyn E. Strauber said, “This defendant – a City worker - stole from a former colleague who was elderly and in poor health by forging documents, including powers of attorney, a living will and a healthcare proxy, to facilitate the theft of more than $275,000 from the victim, according to the charges. As is also alleged, the defendant, acting with others, deprived the vulnerable victim of necessary care. The charged conduct displays a shocking disregard for the victim and a lack of basic human decency, far below the high standards we have for City employees. I thank Adult Protective Services for referring this matter to DOI and the Bronx District Attorney’s Office for its partnership in this important investigation.”

A former Superintendent at the New York City Housing Authority (“NYCHA”) was sentenced today to 48 months in prison for taking $329,300 in bribes—more money than any other defendant of the 70 charged with bribery and extortion offenses. He pled guilty on May 6, 2024, to Receipt of Solicitation of a Bribe by an Agent of an Organization Receiving Federal Funds and was sentenced today in the Southern District of New York. He has agreed to pay $329,300 in restitution to NYCHA and to forfeit $329,300 in illegal proceeds. As of today, 60 of the 70 defendants have pled guilty, three defendants have been convicted at trial, and the cases of seven defendants are pending. DOI Commissioner Jocelyn E. Strauber said, “For nearly ten years, this defendant received hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from NYCHA vendors in exchange for awarding micro-purchase contracts and other contract work, driving up the cost of services and depriving NYCHA residents of resources intended to improve their homes. Today, with this prison sentence, he faces the consequences of his criminal conduct, joining 63 convicted defendants among the 70 charged. I thank the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and our federal law enforcement partners for their commitment to protect NYCHA’s contracting process and public dollars.” Read more about the investigation here: https://on.nyc.gov/40EGoGb Commissioner Strauber thanked the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, the New York Field Office of HSI; the Inspector General of the U.S. HUD OIG; and the Northeast Region of the U.S. DOL-OIG, and their staffs, for their thorough work on the investigation, and NYCHA for its cooperation. At DOI, the investigation was conducted by Special Investigator Karen Smith with DOI’s Office of the Inspector General for NYCHA and supervised by Assistant Inspectors General Enio Bencosme and Robert Joyce, Deputy Inspector General Gregory Deboer, Inspector General Ralph Iannuzzi, Deputy Commissioner of Strategic Initiatives Christopher Ryan, and Deputy Commissioner/Chief of Investigations Dominick Zarrella.

A former New York City Fire Department (“FDNY”) Chief in the Bureau of Fire Prevention (“BFP”) pled guilty January 29, 2025 to a charge of Conspiracy to Solicit and Receive a Bribe. As part of the plea agreement, the former FDNY official has agreed to forfeit $57,000, the estimated amount of bribes received by the defendant. A sentencing date has been set for May 14, 2025. The guilty plea is the second of two co-defendants in this investigation that began in 2023 when the FDNY notified DOI of a possible scheme involving improper payments to two high-ranking leaders of the BFP. Read the release: https://on.nyc.gov/4ghBwfL DOI Commissioner Jocelyn E. Strauber said, “This former Chief of the Bureau of Fire Prevention provided preferential treatment to clients of a former FDNY colleague, expediting the clients’ plan reviews and inspections in return for over $50,000 in bribes. As the guilty plea demonstrates, public officials who compromise City processes with pay-to-play schemes undercut government’s ability to serve the public equitably, and will be held accountable. I thank the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the FBI for their continuing partnership on significant investigations involving public corruption. And I thank the FDNY for promptly reporting this matter to DOI.” DOI Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber thanked Danielle R. Sassoon, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and James E. Dennehy, Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the FBI, and their dedicated staff for their work with DOI on this significant investigation. Commissioner Strauber also thanked FDNY Commissioner Robert S. Tucker and his staff for their cooperation in this investigation. At DOI, the investigation was conducted by Investigative Attorney Jasmine Harris and Investigative Auditor YingTong Yu, and was supervised by Director of Audits Laila Yu, Deputy Inspector General Arturo Sanchez, Inspector General Audrey Feldman, Deputy Commissioner of Strategic Initiatives Christopher Ryan and Deputy Commissioner/Chief of Investigations Dominick Zarrella.

The Department of Investigation’s Office of the Inspector General for the New York City Police Department (“OIG-NYPD”) released a Report today concerning the New York City Police Department’s (“NYPD”) policies governing social media use, and several troubling social media posts that were made by NYPD executives in 2024. Based on its review, OIG-NYPD determined that NYPD’s social media practices do not fully comply with the Citywide Policy and that NYPD did not provide sufficient oversight of posts made on executive accounts. Read the report here: https://bit.ly/4aIryD1   DOI Commissioner Jocelyn E. Strauber said, “New York City deserves public officials who use social media responsibly, to communicate accurate information and to prompt respectful dialogue on issues of importance to the community, and not as a means to ridicule those with whom they disagree.  No aspect of the social media exchanges that DOI reviewed in this investigation served the public. While NYPD rightly has refrained from such exchanges since early May 2024, the Department should strengthen its social media policies, particularly with respect to oversight of executive posts, to ensure that all posts on the Department’s social media accounts meet the NYPD’s standards of courtesy and professionalism.” Inspector General Jeanene L. Barrett said, “In light of NYPD’s significance, power, and authority within the City, the Department must maintain a consistently respectful and courteous level of discourse in its official communications. It is inappropriate for NYPD to use its platform to target and demean journalists, elected officials, and other members of the public. The measures NYPD has taken to improve oversight and depersonalize interactions reflect steps in the right direction; however, consistent oversight is key. The advancement of NYPD’s policy positions and missions in public statements should always be informative, accurate, and professional.”   This Report was prepared by DOI’s Office of the Inspector General for the NYPD, specifically, Deputy Inspector General Percival Rennie under the guidance of Inspector General Jeanene L. Barrett with the assistance of Investigative Project Analyst Crystal Ynoa, First Deputy Inspector General Annette B. Almazan, Special Counsel to the Inspectors General Maria Paolillo, and Director of Intergovernmental Affairs and Special Counsel Rebecca Chasan, and was supervised by Deputy Commissioner of Strategic Initiatives Christopher Ryan, and Deputy Commissioner/Chief of Investigations Dominick Zarrella.

The Department of Investigation’s (“DOI”) Office of the Inspector General for the New York City Police Department (“OIG-NYPD”) released today its third Report concerning the New York City Police Department’s (“NYPD”) compliance with the Public Oversight of Surveillance Technology (“POST”) Act. For this Report, OIG-NYPD reviewed NYPD’s Impact and Use policies, required by the POST Act, applicable to unmanned aircraft systems, commonly referred to as drones. Based on its review, OIG-NYPD made a number of findings and issued 10 recommendations. A copy of OIG-NYPD’s Report can be found at the following link: https://lnkd.in/gx84U7mj   DOI Commissioner Jocelyn E. Strauber said, “Drones can be a critical public safety tool capable of enhancing NYPD operations. However, this Report found that NYPD’s Impact and Use policies do not fully and accurately describe the Department’s unmanned aircraft systems’ practices in certain respects and issued key recommendations to achieve that goal.”   Inspector General Jeanene L. Barrett said, “NYPD’s increase in drone usage in recent years has raised privacy concerns related to how drones are used to conduct police surveillance and monitoring. The recommendations in this Report call on NYPD to enhance its unmanned aircraft systems’ impact and use policy by providing additional information about the drone program and drone capabilities, thereby increasing public transparency related to NYPD’s use of this technology.”   This report was prepared by DOI’s Office of the Inspector General for the NYPD, specifically, Senior Investigative Policy Analyst McKenzie Dean under the guidance of Inspector General Jeanene L. Barrett with the assistance of Investigative Policy Analyst Olivia Sykes, former intern Emma Huber-Donovan, and First Deputy Inspector General Annette B. Almazan, Special Counsel to the Inspectors General Maria Paolillo, and Director of Intergovernmental Affairs and Special Counsel Rebecca Chasan, and was supervised by Deputy Commissioner of Strategic Initiatives Christopher Ryan and Deputy Commissioner/Chief of Investigations Dominick Zarrella.

The Department of Investigation’s (“DOI”) Office of the Inspector General for the New York City Police Department (“OIG-NYPD”) released a Report today concerning the New York City Police Department’s (“NYPD” or “the Department”) Community Response Team (“CRT”). OIG-NYPD reviewed this specialized unit due to community concerns about CRT and an absence of publicly available information about it. The review found that the teams lacked a mission statement, as well as written policies and procedures in key areas including selection and training of team members. Read the Report here: https://lnkd.in/gx84U7mj .   DOI Commissioner Jocelyn E. Strauber said, “NYPD’s Community Response Team (“CRT”) has been operating for over two years, and publicly available information about CRT and its enforcement activities is quite limited. This Report provides transparency around CRT’s formation, staffing and structure; exposes significant gaps in CRT policies and procedures; and raises important questions about how its effectiveness is measured. DOI’s OIG-NYPD will continue to evaluate CRT’s enforcement activities and the impact of its work in the next phase of our investigation.”   OIG-NYPD Inspector General Jeanene L. Barrett said, “The lack of transparency regarding NYPD’s Community Response Team (“CRT”) risks non-compliance with the law, ethical breaches, and negative policing outcomes. Since its inception more than two years ago, CRT has expanded significantly, with a team in every Patrol Borough, without a corresponding expansion of publicly available information about the work of these teams. The recommendations in this Report encourage the creation of public policies and procedures that will enhance knowledge of and confidence in CRT’s mission, as well as facilitate future oversight.”   This report was prepared by DOI’s Office of the Inspector General for the NYPD: Investigative Policy Analyst Olivia Sykes under the guidance of Inspector General Jeanene L. Barrett with the assistance of Senior Investigative Policy Analyst McKenzie Dean, Assistant Inspector General Adrian Amador, First Deputy Inspector General Annette B. Almazan, Special Counsel to the Inspectors General Maria Paolillo, and Director of Intergovernmental Affairs and Special Counsel Rebecca Chasan, and was supervised by Deputy Commissioner of Strategic Initiatives Christopher Ryan and Deputy Commissioner/Chief of Investigations Dominick Zarrella.

DOI issued two Reports today finding that the City Department of Correction (DOC): (1) needs better controls to deter the trafficking of contraband by City Correction Officers and other DOC staff, as well as Persons in Custody (“PICs”) and (2) uses narcotics field tests that are unreliable when testing for the presence of fentanyl. Together, these Reports illustrate that DOC’s policies and procedures intended to deter staff from bringing in contraband fall short, and that DOC’s assessment of the nature and extent of fentanyl trafficking in City jail facilities, and its interdiction practices, are based on flawed data resulting from unreliable field test results. DOI makes a number of findings and recommendations to address these issues, as set forth in each report. Read the reports here: https://on.nyc.gov/4eEjX8P DOI Commissioner Jocelyn E. Strauber said, “DOI’s investigations have shown that contraband enters DOC facilities through means including DOC staff, and that DOC has failed to fully implement DOI’s prior recommendations, particularly those intended to strengthen controls around staff contraband smuggling and thereby to limit vulnerabilities in this area. Relatedly, DOI has also found that field tests used by DOC to confirm the presence of fentanyl are unreliable and have indicated — incorrectly — that DOC should focus on the U.S. mail as the principal entry point for fentanyl into the City’s jails. The two Reports issued today make critical recommendations to strengthen DOC’s approach to contraband and drug testing.” At DOI, the investigation was conducted by Assistant Inspector General Sasha Holguin and Deputy Inspector General Sony Fortune in DOI’s Office of the Inspector General for DOC and supervised by Acting Inspector General Marissa Carro, Deputy Commissioner of Strategic Initiatives Christopher Ryan, and Deputy Commissioner/Chief of Investigations Dominick Zarrella.

DOI issued a Report today that examines the impact of Raise the Age (RTA) legislation and Bail Reform on the City Administration for Children’s Services’ (ACS) two juvenile detention centers: Horizon Juvenile Center in the Bronx and Crossroads Juvenile Center in Brooklyn, operated by ACS's Division of Youth and Family Justice. The Report explains that these legislative changes pose significant challenges for these juvenile facilities, including managing an older population facing more serious and violent charges; and describes some of the specific incidents that have occurred at Horizon and Crossroads that demonstrate the safety risks to both residents and staff. The Report also explores key issues that include a troubling pattern of resident misconduct, criminal activity and lack of staff control over the facilities since the implementation of RTA and Bail Reform. DOI issued 15 recommendations to ACS. Click here to read the report: https://on.nyc.gov/48mWQxZ DOI Commissioner Jocelyn E. Strauber said, “DOI’s Report exposes the significant impact that Raise the Age and Bail Reform legislation have had on ACS’s two juvenile detention facilities, which now house an older population facing more serious and violent criminal charges. These challenging circumstances call for ACS to strengthen its behavioral management tools to better track and respond to violent and criminal conduct by residents in order to protect both residents and staff. Our investigation also establishes that these facilities need additional staff, and better protections and training for them. I thank ACS for its assistance and cooperation in this inquiry, and its commitment to improving conditions at these juvenile detention centers.” This investigation was conducted by Deputy Inspector General Harlyn Griffenberg, assisted by Deputy Inspector General Gladys Cambi, Director of Intergovernmental Affairs/Special Counsel Rebecca Chasan, and Data Analyst Chantel Peters, and was supervised by Senior Inspector General Laura Millendorf, Deputy Commissioner of Strategic Initiatives Christopher Ryan and Deputy Commissioner/Chief of Investigations Dominick Zarrella.

DOI issued a Report today with the key findings from DOI’s extensive examination of compliance risks at 51 nonprofit human service providers that operate many of the homeless shelters in New York City and the City’s oversight of the shelter system. The Report includes DOI’s 32 recommendations for reform, intended to protect the billions of dollars that the City spends annually on shelter services from corruption, waste, fraud, and abuse. Read the full report here: https://on.nyc.gov/3BPQpri DOI Commissioner Jocelyn E. Strauber said, “When it comes to protecting the vast taxpayer resources that City-funded nonprofits receive, prevention is key. City-funded nonprofit service providers pose unique compliance and governance risks, and comprehensive City oversight is the best way to stop corruption, fraud, and waste before it starts. This deep dive into the City-funded homeless service provider system builds on DOI’s extensive experience investigating nonprofit fraud, and our 2021 Report concerning City-funded nonprofits. Today’s Report provides ample evidence of the risks specific to nonprofits and shortcomings in City oversight and makes 32 recommendations to strengthen controls around this essential network. I thank the DOI team that has worked tirelessly on this investigation and the many City entities that provided assistance, including the staff from the City Department of Social Services who worked closely with DOI to support this examination.” Aspects of this examination are still ongoing. At DOI, this examination was conducted by Deputy Inspector General/Special Counsel Daniel Kacinski and Confidential Investigator Rushelle Sharpe, with the assistance of Senior Investigative Auditor Olga Avram and Senior Investigative Attorney Alex Cane in DOI’s Office of the Inspector General for City-Funded Nonprofits. Data Analysts Anthony McDowald and Zachary Sayle and Director of Data Analytics Shyam Prasad in DOI’s Data Analytics Unit provided technical assistance. The examination was supervised by Senior Inspector General Andrew Sein, Deputy Commissioner of Strategic Initiatives Christopher Ryan, and Deputy Commissioner/ Chief of Investigations Dominick Zarrella.