Three of New York City’s biggest developers have been slapped with subpoenas from a state corruption panel investigating huge tax breaks that they received in a law enacted just this year, the Wall Street Journal reported. Gary Barnett’s Extell Development, Larry Silverstein’s Silverstein Properties and Joseph Sitt’s Thor Equities are being asked to turn over reams of correspondence, including years of correspondence with lobbyists and elected officials, a source who examined a subpoena from the Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption told the newspaper.
A provision in the bill, signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in late January, slashes residential property taxes on five marquee Manhattan developments, including Extell’s One57 in Midtown, Silverstein’s planned Four Seasons tower in Lower Manhattan, and Thor’s project 516 Fifth Avenue. The Journal did not identify the other two properties or their owners.
Extell “will cooperate fully with any agency trying to improve government,” a company spokesperson said; the newspaper did not include comments from Silverstein or Thor and did not state whether they were contacted for comment.
The commission confirmed it is issuing subpoenas, but its co-chairwoman, Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, declined to specify what the documents requested or who received them. [WSJ] – Hiten Samtani