Cleared officer sues in forced retirement

An ex-NYPD deputy inspector acquitted of taking bribes in a bombshell corruption case sued the city Monday, charging he was wrongly forced into retirement.

James “Jimmy” Grant filed the lawsuit arguing the NYPD violated his right to due process on the same day his co-defendant, Jeremy Reichberg, was sentenced to four years in prison.

After a two-month trial a jury found that Reichberg had bribed police officers, but acquitted Grant of being one of them.

“The trial revealed with clarity that Mr. Grant and other innocent (police) executives had been scapegoated while highranking NYPD officials who had actually engaged in corrupt activity were allowed to skate,” Grant’s attorney Joshua Moskovitz wrote in the lawsuit.

Once a rising star in the department, Grant says he was forced out by former Deputy Commissioner for Legal Matters Larry Byrne and former Commissioner Bill Bratton in May 2016 as they tried to contain the ballooning gifts-for-favors scandal. The federal probe reached the NYPD’s top uniformed officer, Philip Banks, who went on vacations with Rechnitz and Reichberg. Banks was not charged but retired from the NYPD.

Grant was one of the cops on the 2013 private flight to Vegas with with a prostitute. Rechnitz, who was on the plane along with Reichberg, covered the bill.

Rechnitz also claimed that he was able to buy access to City Hall by donating $100,000 to Mayor de Blasio’s pet causes.

“Now that the federal case and investigation is over, what is painfully obvious is that my reputation and the reputations of other good men were sacrificed to protect Commissioner Bratton and his top brass. It is clear that the administration of the NYPD acted in their own self interest and out of fear that the truth about what they were doing would be revealed,” Grant said in a statement.

The suit echoed one filed earlier on Monday by four highranking officers also forced out of the NYPD after being linked to the investigation. Unlike Grant, those four cops were never charged. Like them, Grant says he was forced out while other cops implicated in the scandal were allowed to keep their jobs. He seeks damages to be determined at trial.

The NYPD said it believed Grant’s retirement was handled properly. The Law Department said the suit would be reviewed.