Five more people were arrested this morning in an ongoing probe by the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office into alleged wrongdoings at the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the New York Post reported. The allegations center on city officials pocketing money from real estate developers and builders who seek valuable city housing contracts.
The Post did not mention the names of those arrested, but did write that one person arrested is a city official and another is a former city employee. These two individuals, plus the three others, will be arraigned in Brooklyn Federal Court later today.
As The Real Deal previously reported, six developers and Wendell Walters, an assistant commissioner at HPD, were arrested on charges of wire fraud, money laundering, racketeering, extortion and bribery in the same probe. Walters admitted accepting $2.5 million in bribes from developers, part of which he used to pay for his Striver’s Row townhouse in Harlem. [Post]