State Politician Charged in Alleged ‘Dream Home’ Scheme
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NEW YORK (AP) – A state legislator was caught on videotape demanding that a developer build her a $500,000 dream home in exchange for using her influence to steer a city-owned vacant lot into his hands, authorities said Monday.
Assemblywoman Diane Gordon was released without bail after being arraigned on bribery, official misconduct and other charges, prosecutors said. If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of 5 to 15 years behind bars.
The Brooklyn Democrat “dreamed of living in a gated community, but not the one she bargained for when she abused her authority as a public official,” Department of Investigation Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn said at a news conference.
Calls to Gordon’s local office and to her attorney were not immediately returned.
Brooklyn prosecutors and DOI devised the sting in 2004 after receiving a tip about a possible scheme involving Gordon and a developer hoping to build on a $2 million lot in Brooklyn designated for low-income housing.
“In return, she wanted him to build her dream house,” Hearn said.
After the developer agreed to cooperate with investigators, he wore a concealed camcorder during a series of meetings with the politician over the next year.
“I want these things to be delivered to you where I can get a home almost for little to nothing,” Gordon told the unidentified developer, according to a transcript.
Later, the assemblywoman assured the developer, it “will make you feel comfortable when you get reward, and I get reward. … It makes people work together better.”
Gordon allegedly sought to cover her tracks by having the developer make secret cash payments to her mother, who was expected to make a down payment on the home in her name. One of the surveillance videos shows the developer counting out $100 bills and handing them to the mother.
A grand jury voted to indict Gordon earlier this year. But prosecutors withheld the charges after the assemblywoman _ once confronted with the videos _ agreed to cooperate with a broader corruption investigation and to resign, said Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes.
But Hynes claimed Gordon recently notified his office she was pulling out of the deal and intended to run for re-election. In response, prosecutors ordered her to surrender Monday morning at their office.
