NYC DOI Bags A Dozen In Sweep Of Allegedly Dirty Tenants Accused Of Pilfering Over $500K In Fraudulently Obtained Public Housing Subsidies (Section 8, Etc.)

The City of New York Department of Investigation recently announced:

• Mark G. Peters, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Investigation (“DOI”), announced a dozen arrests as part of a sweep by DOI to attack tenant housing fraud.
  
  The arrests originate from separate investigations and include charges associated with the theft of public housing funds through schemes that include underpaying rent, continuing to receive housing benefits while no longer living in a Section 8 apartment, failing to disclose familial relationships and failing to disclose additional income of tenants living in apartments. Several of the investigations resulted in the arrest of current City and other government employees on charges of defrauding the City’s public housing agencies.
  
  In all 12 individuals have been arrested involving a total of more than $500,000 in housing fraud, according to the charges.
  
  On these cases, DOI referred its findings to, and worked with, the Bronx County District Attorney’s Office, the Queens County District Attorney’s Office, and the Office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. In addition, DOI worked with the Office of the City Comptroller, which referred matters to DOI as a result of data matches the office conducted with various City records that revealed potential fraud.
  
  DOI Commissioner Mark G. Peters said, “Housing fraud is corruption – plain and simple. Housing fraud by the government employees we just arrested is doubly corrosive. These crimes diminish valuable public housing dollars and, in these cases, tally to more than half a million dollars, undermining efforts to provide affordable housing to needy New Yorkers, according to the charges.”

For more, including the highlights on each of the recently bagged alleged dirty dozen, see DOI Arrests a Dozen Individuals on Nearly Half a Million Dollars in Housing Fraud and Theft Charges (Arrests are part of a sweep by DOI’s NYCHA and HPD Inspectors General and includes the arrests of three current City and State employees).