GRAND JURY HEAT ON DeB
Federal & state $$ probes could mean indictments
Separate grand juries have reportedly begun hearing evidence related to the state and federal corruption investigations into the de Blasio administration.
The revelation that prosecutors are presenting evidence does not necessarily mean the mayor will face criminal charges, according to The New York Times, which first reported the story Thursday night.
But the seating of the grand juries shows that more subpoenas could be forthcoming, and that prosecutors may be moving closer to indictments, perhaps against some close de Blasio aides or even the mayor himself.
The state probe focuses on whether de Blasio and his allies violated election law by raising money and funneling it through upstate Democratic county com- mittees to help elect state Senate candidates and wrest control of the body from the GOP in the 2014 elections — an effort that failed.
De Blasio’s activities are also under scrutiny by investigators examining his political campaigns and his now-defunct fundraising nonprofit, Campaign for One New York.
The mayor on Thursday was hit with $47,778 in fines by the city’s Campaign Finance Board, which regulates the program providing taxpayer matching funds to candidates.
The investigations are focusing on de Blasio aides Emma Wolfe and Ross Offinger and political operative Josh Gold, the Times said. Offinger, one of the mayor’s top aides, was accused of “willful and flagrant violations” of state law after allegedly coordinating the fund-raising.
Offinger was the top fund- raiser for CONY.
Wolfe, De Blasio’s top political lieutenant, became enmeshed in the controversy surrounding the sale of the Rivington House nursing home, which developers planned to convert into luxury condos.
Wolfe was named in a memo by a top investigator at the state Board of Elections that alleged criminal fund-raising activity.
The federal investigation was launched by crusading Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara, who began with a corruption probe into two shady de Blasio allies and then expanded it into other business owners and a political race in Westchester.
De Blasio pal and donor Jeremy Reichberg allegedly bribed NYPD cops with cash and a plane trip to Las Vegas with a hooker in exchange for getting pistol permits from the NYPD’s License Division for his clients.
Another pal, Jona Rechnitz, allegedly bragged to his associates that “I’ve got the mayor on lockdown” and obtained a $220,000a-year post in the NYPD for ex-Chief of Department Joseph Esposito.
Rechnitz, who donated $50,000 to the mayor’s nonprofit, is now a cooperating witness in the NYPD scandal.
The feds are also getting help from restaurant owner Harendra Singh, who is facing bribery and tax-evasion charges.
Singh, who was named to the advisory board of the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York, owns The Water’s Edge eatery in Long Island City, Queens — where the de Blasio campaign spent $2,613 on events.
Singh is charged by the feds with bribery, fraud and tax evasion.
Bharara did not comment about his grand jury, which The Post confirmed was hearing evidence.
State election law forbids cash from a party committee to be funneled to a specific candidate, since that maneuver can be used to circumvent limits on individual contributions.
The mayor’s aides allegedly advised unions and wealthy supporters to write large checks to the Ulster and Putnam County Democratic state Senate campaign committees. The committees, in turn, funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars to the campaigns of three Democrats in tight races.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. is conducting the state inquiry.
Following a town-hall meeting in Manhattan Thursday, de Blasio waved away a reporter and declined to comment when asked about the report.