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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (25889)	4/17/2008 2:41:15 PM
From: TideGlider	Respond to of 224724

NYC Council staffers indicted after $145,000 embezzled By Joan Gralla NEW YORK (Reuters) - A City Council member's former chief of staff was indicted on a charge of conspiracy to commit mail fraud over the use of discretionary city funds doled out to nonprofit groups, a federal prosecutor said on Wednesday. The counts against the Asquith Reid, former chief of staff, also included witness tampering and conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to Michael Garcia, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. The investigation could hurt the mayoral ambitions of council speaker Christine Quinn, a Democrat, who was responsible for the city funds and helped determine which members got the money. She also has repeatedly told voters that she is making the budget process more transparent. The former chief of staff, Reid was employed by Councilman Kendall Stewart, a Brooklyn Democrat, who was not named in the indictment. A spokesman for Stewart was not available. The indictment said Reid was the contact person for the council member's requests for the discretionary funds. An educational charity called the Donna Reid Fund got $356,000 of discretionary funds and Reid and his "criminal associates" embezzled at least $145,000, the indictment said. Joycinth Anderson, another staffer of Stewart's, was also indicted on the conspiracy to commit money laundering and mail fraud charges. Since at least 2003, council members have been able to give nonprofit groups discretionary city funds they control. The council sometimes uses fictitious names to when making requests for funds so that it can designate beneficiaries later. This has called into question the transparency of the system and whether there were appropriate checks. New York City also has yet to finalize its budget for the fiscal year starting on July 1 and financial analysts have said the latest scandal to hit New York might make that process harder. (Reporting by Joan Gralla; Editing by Tom Hals) theusdaily.com