Lawsuit: Democrat state senator spent $20,000 on sushi, $450,000 on credit card
--New York Daily News
Pedro Espada Jr. looted $14M from non-profit, including $20K spent on sushi: suit
By Kenneth Lovett and Larry Mcshane
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Tuesday, April 20th 2010
nydailynews.com
State Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada Jr. was accused Tuesday of looting his taxpayer-backed health clinic of $14 million, including $80,000 in meals and fancy trips to Puerto Rico, Miami and Las Vegas.
The stunning lawsuit by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo charged Espada, the president and CEO of the Soundview Health Clinic, with using the facility to secure a $9 million severance package while running up $450,000 in credit card bills and $100,000 in campaign expenses.
He arranged for family and friends to land jobs on the Soundview board, the suit charges.
And he did it all while living outside his Bronx district, channeling funds from Soundview to pay $2,500 a month for his sham residence in the borough, Cuomo charged.
"Not for public means just that ... not for looting," Cuomo said. "This is not a corporate abuse. It's a public abuse."
The attorney general said criminal charges were a possibility as the investigation continued. Espada has accused Cuomo of launching a political prosecution, and insisted that he was a Bronx resident.
But Cuomo blasted Espada in announcing the suit.
"Taxpayer money was given to this not-for-profit to provide health care services to underprivileged patients," Cuomo said. "But our investigation has found the funds flowed into the pockets of Sen. Espada and his supporters."
Nineteen current and former officers at the Soundview Health Clinic were also named in the suit, which charged Espada with stacking the board with family, friends and colleagues to aid in the rip-off.
The lawsuit included a dizzying array of corruption, including allegations that:
- Espada received a severance package worth an estimated $9 million - a deal that would force the non-profit into bankruptcy if the senator collected.
- Soundview paid $80,000 in restaurant bills for Espada and his supporters, including $20,000 from a pair of sushi restaurants near Espada's Westchester County home.
- Soundview paid for Espada and family members to take lavish trips to Las Vegas, Miami and Puerto Rico.
- Soundview provided Espada with an American Express card that he used to ring up $450,000 in personal charges between 2006-09.
- Espada rigged bids to insure that his son collected a $400,000 janitorial services job at Soundview.
- Espada covered the cost of $100,000 in campaign literature by funneling money through Soundview. |
