Assemblymember Pamela Harris (D-Coney Island, Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights) faces up to 30 years in a federal prison after the U.S. Attorney’s office today alleged she pocketed both City Council and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) money earmarked for the non-profit she ran.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York handed down the 11-count indictment including two counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, four counts of making false statements, two counts of bankruptcy fraud, one count of witness tampering and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice.
“As alleged in the indictment, the defendant defrauded government agencies out of tens of thousands of dollars in public funds and tried to fraudulently obtain even more. She conducted her schemes victimizing the federal and New York City governments, and then obstructed a federal investigation into her crimes while a sitting New York State Assemblywoman,” said U. S. Attorney Richard Donoghue.
According to the unsealed indictment, between August 2014 and July 2015, Harris, who was at the time the Executive Director of the Coney Island Generation Gap (CIGG), a not-for-profit organization whose mission involves mentoring Coney Island teens and young adults, defrauded the city council out of nearly $23,000 in discretionary funding by falsely claiming that the not-for-profit would use the funds to rent a studio space.
As part of her alleged scheme, the Assemblywoman submitted to the city’s Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) a forged lease agreement. Once CIGG received the funding, she diverted the funds to her personal checking account and used the money to pay for personal expenses.
Harris allegedly used the fraudulent funds to pay for airline tickets, a cruise and bills from Victoria Secret among other personal expenses.
Additionally, the indictment claims Harris defrauded FEMA out of nearly $25,000 in Superstorm Sandy Recovery and Build It Back funding by falsely claiming to FEMA she had been forced out of her residence and into a home in Staten Island. Harris then presented fake lease agreements that she purportedly entered into with the landlord of the Staten Island residence, as well as bogus rent payment receipts. In reality, the defendant continued to live at her Coney Island residence and pocketed the FEMA payments for herself, according to the indictment.
“Both before and during her tenure as a public servant, as alleged, Assemblywoman Pamela Harris went to great lengths to defraud local and federal agencies out of thousands of dollars. In fact, at a time when many residents in her district were dealing with the horrific aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, Harris was busy brewing a storm of her own, one that resulted in her receiving significant payouts by the very federal agency charged with helping those truly in need,” said FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William Sweeney Jr.
Harris became aware of the case against her in March of 2017, and allegedly instructed witnesses to lie to FBI agents conducting the grand jury investigation.
Harris’s arraignment on the indictment is scheduled for this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Ramon E. Reyes, Jr.
Call and emails to Harris’ office were not returned at post time.
This marks the second time in a row that the 46th Assembly member is indicted on federal charges. Harris is the successor to former Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny, who was busted in connection to a Medicaid and painkiller scheme.
“These types of crimes threaten the financial stability of our local and federal governments, but when a public official is involved, even more is at risk. Today we are proud to put an end to this inexcusable scheme,” added Sweeney.
