But despite Rechnitz’s name cropping up in the arrest of Seabrook as well as the probe into the police department, de Blasio said he was not anxious that the scandal could extend further into the city’s workforce.
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For a Ferragamo bag stuffed with $60,000 in cash, Seabrook allegedly sold himself and his duty to safeguard the retirement funds of his fellow correction officers.
A scheme by Huberfeld to hand out hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks to Seabrook in exchange for the investments in his fund, Platinum Partners, L.P., was facilitated by someone who has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with federal investigators, the complaint says. He also knew Huberfeld, who had an office at Platinum, the complaint said.
Seabrook and Huberfeld were charged with one count each of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, and one count of honest services wire fraud, Bharara announced this afternoon.
A criminal complaint says that in return for kickbacks, Seabrook agreed to “direct transfers of millions of dollars” in union retiree benefit and operating funds to the hedge fund. Huberfeld, the founder or Centurion Credit Management, which was later subsumed by the top-performing Platinum Partners, was taken into custody at his home at about the same time.
The cash was delivered by an unnamed intermediary to Seabrook, according to the complaint.
According to Bharara and company, during a 2013 trip to the Dominican Republic, Seabrook told a cooperating witness for the government that he worked hard to invest the union’s money and wasn’t getting anything out of it. He told the witness that it was his time to get paid.
De Blasio has repeatedly said he and his administration acted legally at all times.
The arrests of Seabrook and Huberfeld are bad news for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who is facing scrutiny from the feds for his campaign fundraising.
The head of New York City’s corrections officers’ union was accused by prosecutors of taking bribes from a hedge fund manager. The unfolding scandal has proven to be a major distraction for de Blasio, who will be up for re-election in 2017 and has seen numerous press conferences hijacked by questions about the investigations in recent months. Huberfeld was released on a US$1 million bond package.
Seabrook has been president of COBA for the past 21 years and has served as a corrections officer in New York City since 1985.
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Seabrook has fiercely defended his union members amid repeated allegations of brutality and misconduct at the Rikers Island jail complex and elsewhere in the 10,000-inmate jail system.
