This morning, the official in charge of new affordable housing construction for the city of New York got busted on federal racketeering and bribery charges along with six developers following an FBI-led search on his Harlem home and office at City Hall. Assistant Commissioner Wendell B. Walters at the Department of Housing Preservation and Development is accused of taking $600,000 in bribes and kickbacks on "about $22 million in moderately priced housing projects overseen by the housing preservation department in the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn between 2002 and 2011."
Gothamist has some additional scoop on Walters' shady dealings: "In one example given, Walters met an unnamed businessman on various occasions at a golf range in the Bronx where Walters would slip the man his demands (often $25,000) on slips of paper. The money would then be delivered in places like golf ball boxes, overnight mail envelopes and coffee cups. " Walters' Tammany-style crew also included two attorneys.
· City Housing Official Is Among 7 Charged With Bribery [NYT]
· Feds: Corrupt City Official Took Some Of His $600K Bribes In Coffee Cups [Gothamist]
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