Three Charged in Attempted Consumer Affairs Bribes

The owner and two managers of three Manhattan businesses have been arrested for attempting to bribe an undercover investigator posing as a consumer affairs inspector, the commissioner of the New York City Department of Investigation, Rose Gill Hearn, announced yesterday.

The undercover agent was allegedly offered between $100 and $200 to look the other way concerning Department of Consumer Affairs violations at a horse stable and two restaurants in Manhattan between October 2006 and April 2007, Ms. Hearn said in a statement.

The owner of the Central Park Carriage Stables, Cornelius Byrne, 61, allegedly offered the investigator $100 in October 2006 to overlook seven violations, including using the same identification number for two different horses, Ms. Hearn said.

That same month, the manager of the Wicker Park Bar and Bistro on 83rd Street and Third Avenue, Bart Borys, attempted to bribe the investigator, offering $200 to keep 54 different consumer affairs violations from being reported, Ms. Hearn said.

Earlier this year, the investigator was allegedly offered a bribe of $100 by the manager of Penang Restaurant at Columbus Circle, William Humphries, to overlook six violations, Ms. Hearn said.

All three suspects were arrested earlier this week, Ms. Hearn said.