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4 Accused in Theft of Aid Meant for Nonprofit
<h6 class="byline">By MOSI SECRET</h6><h6 class="dateline">Published: December 7, 2011</h6>
In 2006, a Queens state senator, Shirley L. Huntley, set up a nonprofit group called Parent Workshop that was intended to help parents navigate the inner workings of New York City’s school system. Then she began funneling state aid to the group, whose executives had close ties to her.
<h6 class="credit">Robert Stolarik for The New York Times</h6>
State Senator Shirley L. Huntley funneled aid to a group she set up to help parents. Associates are charged with stealing it.
But the money never helped a single family in the school system, prosecutors said Wednesday.
They said four people with ties to Parent Workshop were involved in the theft of nearly $30,000 in state aid that Ms. Huntley had secured.
Indictments made public on Wednesday are evidence of a new effort by New York’s attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, and its comptroller, Thomas P. DiNapoli, to crack down on public corruption.
Senator Huntley, a Democrat, was not named in the indictment, and officials would not say whether she was under investigation. She would not comment on the charges.
Two officers of Parent Workshop, Patricia D. Savage and Lynn H. Smith, are charged with submitting false vouchersto the state for work that was not performed and then keeping nearly $30,000 from the state, according to the indictment.
Two others with ties to the nonprofit group, David R. Gantt and Roger N. Scotland, submitted false documents to cover up the scheme, the indictment said.
Prosecutors said the money at issue was obtained for Parent Workshop in 2008 by Ms. Huntley through “member item” funds, or earmarks, from the State Legislature.
The accusations are the latest involving elected officials, their friends and relatives, in the theft of public money that had been directed to nonprofit groups — established by the officials.
City Councilman Larry B. Seabrook, a Bronx Democrat, is on trial on charges that he participated in fraud schemes involving more than $1 million in taxpayer money sent to nonprofit groups he controlled.
Former State Senator Pedro Espada Jr., also a Bronx Democrat, was charged last yearwith misappropriating more than half a million dollars in federal money from the nonprofit health care network he operated with his son.
Ms. Savage, president of Parent Workshop, is a member of Ms. Huntley’s staff. Ms. Smith, the group’s treasurer, is a former member of the staff who lives at Ms. Huntley’s residence, officials said.
On Wednesday, the defendants surrendered in State Supreme Court in Nassau County and were released on their own recognizance.
Lawyers for Ms. Savage and Ms. Smith, who each face 11 felony charges, including grand larceny, denied the accusations. “When a thorough accounting of the organization’s affairs are completed, it is our position that it will show all transactions were lawful,” Ms. Savage’s lawyer, Phil Solages, said.
Lawyers for Mr. Gantt and Mr. Scotland, who are accused of falsifying business records, did not respond to requests for comment.
In May, the attorney general and the comptroller reached an agreement that granted Mr. Schneiderman power to prosecute corruption involving taxpayer money, significantly expanding his authority over such cases.
Under the agreement, the comptroller and the attorney general established a joint task force on public integrity. Mr. Schneiderman’s prosecutors work with Mr. DiNapoli’s investigators and auditors to examine legislative earmarks, state pensions and government contracts.
In an interview, Mr. Schneiderman, a Democrat, praised the partnership, saying that earmarks and similar financial streams should be more closely scrutinized. “It is clear from cases that have been brought in the past that the abuse of local development corporations and member items are some of the prime vehicles for corruption,” he said.
Mr. DiNapoli, a Democrat, said in a separate interview: “The reality is that these situations continue to happen. At any level, whether state or federal or local, I think it’s serious that those with oversight send a message that there is zero tolerance for abusing public dollars.”
<h6 class="metaFootnote">A version of this article appeared in print on December 8, 2011, on page A30 of the New York edition with the headline: Four Accused Of Stealing Aid Intended For Nonprofit.</h6>
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Schneiderman: Huntley, cronies ran sham nonprofit
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 3:52 pm by Casey Seiler, Capitol bureau chief in Corruption, Eric Schneiderman, General,Tom DiNapoli
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said that the indictment of state Sen. Shirley Huntley for her alleged role in an attempt to cover up the theft of almost $30,000 in public funds through a “sham nonprofit” emerged from his office’s year-old collaboration with state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli.
In a press conference Monday afternoon, Schneiderman displayed a reproduction of a “template” letter allegedly drawn up by Huntley and others to make it seem as if the nonprofit Parent Workshop Inc., which received $30,000 in member item funds requested by the Queens Democrat, had provided programming to the Southern Queens Park Association when no such services had been provided.
Huntley created Parent Workshop in March 2006, and secured the member item in May 2008.
Senate Democratic Leader John Sampson issued the following statement: “With the filings of today’s charges, I have removed Senator Huntley from her committee ranking and leadership positions, effective immediately.”
Huntley has, however, already received this year’s $9,000 stipend as the ranking Democrat on the chamber’s Mental Health Committee. (A quarter of these lulus are paid in March; the remainder goes out after the budget is passed — which this year was also in March.)
Schneiderman said the investigation was ongoing, and suggested similar actions were in the pipeline as a result of his unique arrangement with DiNapoli on public integrity cases. “There is more firepower being brought to bear on this issue than there has been,” he said, pointing to federal as state prosecutors and watchdog entities.
Huntley, who on Saturday declared her innocence, appeared Monday morning at Nassau County courthouse under a superceding indictment that added to last year’s action against four people, including a Huntley staffer and the senator’s niece. Today’s 20-count indictment charges the senator with conspiracy, a misdemeanor, and two felonies: tampering with physical evidence and falsifying business records.
A felony conviction would result in Huntley’s automatic ejection from the Legislature.
Re-named in the new indictment was Huntley’s niece Lynn Smith, who served as the non-profit’s treasurer; its president Patricia Savage, a Huntley aide; and David Gantt, a New York City Housing Authority official who the indictment says served as a “consultant” for Parent Workshop.
Conspicuous in his absence from the new superceding indictment is Roger Scotland, who the December press release from the AG’s office identifies thusly:
Defendent Roger N. Scotland, the President of the Southern Queens Park Association, a separate nonprofit corporation located in Queens, also created a false record in an attempt to hide the theft from investigators. Mr. Scotland is charged with Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree, Tampering with Physical Evidence, and conspiracy to engage in those crimes.
The new indictment makes no mention of Scotland, though its description of the creation of the letter from the Southern Queens Park Association refers to an unnamed “witness known to the Grand Jury” who created the bogus missive allegedly at the request of Huntley and Savage.
The AG’s office said the case against Scotland is “still pending.”
Here’s the full release:
Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman and Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli today announced a superseding indictment against New York State Senator Shirley Huntley for falsifying business records, conspiracy and tampering with their joint investigation of a scheme to steal taxpayer dollars using a sham not-for-profit that did not provide services to the public. In addition to Senator Huntley, the new indictment charges a close aide and her niece with stealing funds from a member item sponsored by the Senator, and a third individual with aiding the cover-up.
As part of their Joint Task Force on Public Integrity, the Offices of the Attorney General and Comptroller investigated Parent Workshop, Inc., a not-for-profit founded by Senator Huntley, which funneled public money to the Senator’s aide, Patricia D. Savage, and to the senator’s niece, Lynn H. Smith. According to the indictment, Savage and Smith submitted fraudulent documents to the State of New York to obtain public money from a legislative member item Senator Huntley sponsored. Instead of providing the promised programs, Savage and Smith pocketed approximately $29,950.
The investigation revealed that, after learning of the probe, Senator Huntley personally wrote a template for a false, backdated letter designed to fool investigators into believing that the Parent Workshop had conducted workshops that never took place. Parent Workshop then submitted this letter to the Attorney General’s Office in response to a subpoena.
Senator Huntley is charged with the felonies of Tampering with Physical Evidence and Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree, and Conspiracy in the Fifth Degree, a misdemeanor. Each felony carries a maximum sentence of 1 1/3 to 4 years in prison. Under the New York State Public Officers Law, conviction of a felony would result in Huntley’s automatic removal from office.
“Falsifying documents, conspiracy and deliberately tampering with an open investigation are serious crimes. The individuals who schemed to profit at the taxpayers’ expense and cover it up will be held accountable,” Attorney General Schneiderman said. “My office’s partnership with the Comptroller is designed to combat corruption in the public sector, and we will continue to work tirelessly to protect every penny of taxpayer money.”
“Public service is a privilege and a trust that should never be violated,” Comptroller DiNapoli said. “I will continue to partner with Attorney General Schneiderman to root out public corruption and safeguard the use of public funds.”
The indictment charges Savage, president of Parent Workshop and Senator Huntley’s aide, and Smith, the treasurer of Parent Workshop and Senator Huntley’s niece, of engaging in a fraudulent scheme to steal member item funds. The defendants falsely claimed that Parent Workshop would use member item funds secured by Senator Huntley to hold workshops for and conduct outreach to parents on the workings of the New York City public school system.
Instead, the new indictment charges that Savage and Smith never intended to hold any such events and that they falsely asserted in multiple submissions to the New York State Department of State that, from April 2008 through March 2009, the Parent Workshop had held workshops and conducted outreach, when no such workshops were ever held and no such outreach was ever conducted. Based on these submissions, the Department of State paid Parent Workshop $29,950 – the sum the two defendants are charged with stealing. Savage and Smith are each charged with multiple felony counts of Grand Larceny in the Third Degree and Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree. The maximum sentence for one count of Grand Larceny in the Third Degree is 2 1/3 to 7 years in prison.
The indictment also charges that Senator Huntley, Savage and defendant David R. Gantt conspired to create and submit false evidence, in response to a subpoena issued to Parent Workshop by the Attorney General’s Office. One piece of that false evidence was a handwritten letter drafted by Senator Huntley that served as a template for a falsified, backdated letter from the Southern Queens Park Association (SQPA), a separate not-for-profit corporation located in Queens. The SQPA letter was falsified to make it appear as if Parent Workshop had conducted workshops when, in fact, it did not.
The superseding indictment also charges that defendant David R. Gantt falsified records to claim that he was paid in cash for conducting workshops as a consultant. The indictment further charges that he, in fact, never conducted any workshops. Gantt is charged with four counts of Tampering with Physical Evidence, four counts of Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree and one count of Conspiracy in the Fifth Degree.
Since 1999, the New York State Legislature has distributed more than $900 million through legislative member items to more than 20,000 not-for-profit entities.
Prosecuting the case are Public Integrity Bureau Senior Counsel Emily Bradford, Public Integrity Bureau Assistant Attorney General Jerrold Steigman, and Criminal Prosecutions Bureau Assistant Attorney General Thomas Schellhammer. The investigation was supervised by Public Integrity Bureau Deputy Chief Stacy Aronowitz and Chief William E. Schaeffer, under the supervision of Executive Deputy Attorney General for Criminal Justice Nancy Hoppock.
The Comptroller’s audit and investigation were conducted by the Investigations Unit and the Bureau of State Expenditures.
The charges are merely accusations, and all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.
Anyone with additional information on this matter or any other public corruption is encouraged to contact the Attorney General’s Office toll-free at 1-800-996-4630 or the Comptroller’s Office by dialing the toll-free fraud hotline at 1-888-672-4555 ; filing a complaint online at investigations@osc.state.ny.us ; or mailing a complaint to: Office of the State Comptroller Investigations Unit, 110 State Street, 14th Floor, Albany, NY 12236.
State Senator From Queens Is Indicted
Uli Seit for The New York Times
State Senator Shirley L. Huntley, in handcuffs, outside the Nassau County courthouse, where she and three others pleaded not guilty to various charges.
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A state senator from Queens helped create a false paper trail to conceal the fact that a nonprofit agency she had founded was a sham charity that was misusing taxpayer money, prosecutors in the state attorney general’s office said Monday.
Related
- <h6>State Senator From Queens Is Warning of Her Arrest (August 26, 2012)</h6>
The senator, Shirley L. Huntley, was accused of conspiring to help a niece and an aide steal money that the nonprofit agency was supposed to use to help poor parents navigate the New York City school system.
Ms. Huntley, 74, handcuffed behind her back, was led out of a building at the Nassau County court complex in Mineola on Monday, joining a parade of Albany lawmakers who have been accused of abusing their office for personal gain. She and her co-defendants pleaded not guilty on Monday.
Ms. Huntley, a Democrat, is the highest-profile defendant in an investigation into Parent Workshop Inc., an organization she founded shortly after she was first elected in 2006.
The senator’s office issued a statement suggesting that the timing of the indictment was politically motivated — she faces a strong challenger, James Sanders Jr., a city councilman, in a Democratic primary on Sept. 13. “Senator Huntley has been an advocate for parents and children in this community for over 40 years,” it said, “and, rest assured, she will continue representing the 10th Senatorial District.”
The charges against Ms. Huntley included tampering with evidence and falsifying business records, both felonies that carry maximum sentences of four years in prison, and conspiracy in the fifth degree, a misdemeanor. If convicted of a felony, Ms. Huntley would automatically be removed from office.
As a result of the indictment, Ms. Huntley was stripped of her leadership positions and committee rankings. She was the ranking Democrat on the Senate’s Committee on MentalHealth and Developmental Disabilities, a role that carried a $9,000 stipend, which she had already received.
The charges were filed by Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman in Mineola because the nonprofit agency lists a Nassau County address as its headquarters.
Also charged in the case were a niece of Ms. Huntley’s, Lynn H. Smith; Patricia D. Savage, Ms. Huntley’s aide, who like Ms. Smith is an officer of the nonprofit agency; and David R. Gantt, a former aide to Ms. Huntley. Ms. Smith and Ms. Savage are accused of stealing nearly $30,000 from the group and were charged with multiple counts of grand larceny. Mr. Gantt, who was described as a consultant to the group, was accused of falsifying documents. The three had already been charged in a previous indictment last year; the new charges were part of a superseding indictment.
Ms. Huntley, the indictment charges, helped create fake, backdated letters from a different nonprofit agency, the Southern Queens Park Association, falsely claiming to show that the Parent Workshop had conducted workshops. A handwritten template for such a letter, supposedly by Ms. Huntley, was shown on Monday by Mr. Schneiderman at a news conference in Manhattan.
The charges are part of a new joint initiative by Mr. Schneiderman and the state comptroller, Thomas P. DiNapoli, on suspected corruption among public officials. Ms. Huntley and Mr. Schneiderman were once colleagues — he was a fellow Democratic state senator before his election as attorney general in 2010. Until 2007 Mr. DiNapoli was a Democratic assemblyman.
Both Mr. Schneiderman and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who also is a Democrat, have described cleaning up Albany, where corruption has long been part of the political landscape, as a top priority.
The indictment is the latest in what has seemed like a wave of corruption cases against lawmakers. A former Democratic majority leader of the State Senate, Pedro Espada Jr. of the Bronx, was convicted of using the network of nonprofit health care facilities he founded to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars for his own use. Carl Kruger of Brooklyn, a Democrat who was chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, is serving seven years in prison for accepting bribes. Joseph L. Bruno, a Republican who was Senate majority leader for 14 years, was charged in May by federal prosecutors with accepting bribes.
“In an era where taxpayer money is such a precious and limited resource,” Mr. DiNapoli, the comptroller, said, “there is even more scrutiny and certainly zero tolerance of waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars.”
Eric P. Newcomer contributed reporting.
IT SEEMS AS THOUGH THIS STATE Senator stole our funds as we never got any funding from her office
State Sen. Huntley hauled off in 30G ‘scam’
Cuffed in charity cover-up
By SELIM ALGAR, ANTONIO ANTENUCCI and DAN MANGAN
Last Updated: 1:47 AM, August 28, 2012
Posted: 1:08 AM, August 28, 2012
PrintState Sen. Shirley Huntley desperately tried to cover up the theft of $30,000 in taxpayer money from her “sham” nonprofit as a grand-jury probe bore down on her, sources claimed and documents indicated yesterday.
The Queens Democrat last year handwrote a “false, backdated letter designed to fool investigators” into believing her Parent Workshop charity conducted seminars that never actually occurred, authorities said.
The $29,950 that was supposed to go to the workshops was instead pocketed by Huntley’s niece, Lynn Smith — the charity’s treasurer — and the group’s president, Patricia Savage, authorities said.
DENNIS CLARK
SHIRLEY, YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS! Sen. Shirley Huntley is taken away in handcuffs yesterday to face corruption charges but still declared it “a great day!” The letter above is among the evidence against her.
PATRICIA SAVAGE
Charity’s president.
Charity’s president.
DAVID GANTT
Consultant charged.
Consultant charged.
The taxpayer funds were delivered to the Nassau County-based charity as “member items,” which the Legislature appropriated at Huntley’s request.
State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman began building the case against Huntley, 74, after The Post exposed her do-nothing nonprofit in 2011.
“We are going to make sure every taxpayer dollar goes to the purpose [for] which it’s intended . . . and the sham nonprofits are put out of business as quickly as possible,” Schneiderman said yesterday.
Smith, Savage and David Gantt — a purported charity consultant who allegedly submitted fake invoices for the workshops never conducted — were charged in December for what authorities call the underlying scam.
Also charged in December with doctoring documents was Roger Scotland, president of the Southern Queens Park Association.
The indictments led at least one co-defendant to cooperate with investigators, sources said.
Yesterday’s indictment added Huntley, charged with conspiracy, tampering with physical evidence and falsifying business records.
Those falsified records, according to the indictment, included:
* One handwritten letter Huntley wrote to Savage allegedly from a group called the Southern Queens Park Association, which supposedly hosted the charity’s workshops.
* Four documents from Gantt and another “consultant” claiming to have received payments for their work.
* Twelve fake fliers advertising the nonexistent seminars.
* Six false testimonial letters from people who said they attended those sessions.
Huntley could face four to 12 years in prison if convicted on all charges, which would trigger her automatic removal from her $79,500-a-year job.
She joins a number of fellow Albany Democrats who are in hot water.
In the past week, three agencies announced they were investigating Assemblywoman Naomi Rivera for putting her lovers on the public payroll, and a state ethics panel charged Assemblyman Vito Lopez with sexually harassing female aides.
Earlier this year, former state Sen. Pedro Espada Jr. was convicted of looting his Bronx nonprofit, and Brooklyn state Sen. Carl Kruger got seven years in prison for bribery.
Legislative leaders yesterday stripped Huntley of her position as the ranking Democrat on the mental-health committee — she’ll lose her $9,000 stipend.
Huntley, who is being challenged in the Sept. 13 primary by Councilman James Sanders Jr. and Gian Jones, vowed to fight the charges.
“It’s a great day!” she bizarrely bizarrely exclaimed outside Nassau County Criminal Court, as she joined the ranks of several Democrats who have recently been arrested, been convicted, or come under investigation.
Additional reporting by Erik Kriss, Josh Margolin and Jennifer Bain
This note, scrawled by Huntley, was “a template for the falsified letter from the Southern Queens Park Association,” prosecutors say. The group allegedly hosted tax-funded workshops, organized by Huntley’s charity, that never happened.
The addressee is Pat Savage, the charity’s president, who allegedly delivered it to a third party on Huntley’s behalf.
The dates refer to the period when the charity was supposed to be using the association’s facilities for tax-funded sessions that prosecutors said did not happen.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/l...rPMWCJ#ixzz24vMfquAn
Former Member
Seems like she is going to lose that primary in September.Then it might be a better day for her.
Well, she has not very little for us in Richmond Hill.
Today we will have Councilman Sanders coming to Krystal Hall on 125th St and 101st Ave from 7 PM.
We need all our leaders and community issues to be discussed and participate.
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