The NYC Department of Education approved spending close to $750,000 on catering expenditures at one Brooklyn restaurant in fiscal year 2025, according to expense records and government communications obtained by amNewYork — raising concerns from City Comptroller Brad Lander over mayoral oversight of the city’s public school system.
In a March 5 letter to the DOE, obtained by amNewYork, Deputy Comptroller for Contracts and Procurement Charlette Hamamgian wrote that the Comptroller’s office had been made aware of a series of 13 consecutive invoices from Fusion East for events between Aug. 28 and Sept. 6, 2024. The 13 invoices — sent to the Brownsville Collaborative Middle School in Brooklyn — totaled to $19,998.