Dive Brief:
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At least two contractors were arrested in New York this week and charged with bribing city housing inspectors to ignore safety violations, push through permits, expedite inspections, and issue phony eviction notices, various media outlets have reported.
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More than a dozen employees of city housing agencies and several property owners and managers were also among the 50 people arrested in connection with a number of bribery schemes, in which approximately $450,000 changed hands. The arrests came after an investigation that lasted nearly two years.
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The illegal activity was not part of a single bribery scheme, but of 26 that involved two city building departments, Reuters reported. The suspects are charged with felonies, and some face penalties of up to 15 years in prison.
Dive Insight:
Cyrus Vance, the New York County District Attorney for Manhattan, said the alleged corruption is a byproduct of the city’s building boom and “demonstrate[s] that the same surging demand that drives the pace of development can inspire the taking of shortcuts, and the taking of bribes.”
About $33 billion was spent on construction in New York City in 2014, a report by the New York Building Congress said. This spending is close to reaching the levels seen during the last building boom ending in 2008.