Investigation of N.Y.C. Council Said to Grow

NEW YORK -- The federal inquiry into how New York City Council members spend the discretionary money they control appears to be expanding, and city investigators have begun questioning workers at a variety of nonprofit organizations that received money, The New York Times reported citing a person familiar with the investigation.

Several of the nonprofit groups whose activities are being reviewed by federal prosecutors and lawyers for the city’s Department of Investigation are those financed by Councilman Larry B. Seabrook, a veteran Bronx legislator, the paper reported.

In recent weeks, news reports have focused attention on several nonprofit groups to which Seabrook directed funds, including the Bronx African American Chamber of Commerce, which for years was located across the hall from Seabrook’s office on White Plains Road. The group has since moved, but recently the Mayor’s Office of Contracts froze $912,244 in funds for the group while the investigation proceeds, the paper reported.

Seabrook could not be reached for comment by the paper. Representatives from the Bronx African American group and others that received funds from Seabrook could not be reached for comment Tuesday night, and it was unclear exactly which organizations investigators were concentrating on, according to the paper.

-- NYSSCPA.org News Staff

Posted on 5/1/08