NYPD Corruption Case: Air Travel for Prostitute

Businessman allegedly paid for perk during trip to Vegas with police officials
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jun 20, 2016 12:37 PM CDT
NYPD Corruption Case: Air Travel for Prostitute
File photo.   (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

Charges brought against four men arrested Monday in a widening city corruption probe include lurid claims that a police department commander roomed with a prostitute during a Las Vegas trip as businessmen spent tens of thousands of dollars to ensure uniformed officers were available as their private security force. Two high-ranking New York Police Department officials and a police sergeant who oversaw gun license applications were among the latest arrests in a case that has cast a cloud over the nation's largest municipal police force, reports the AP. A businessman who contributed heavily to the election campaign of Mayor Bill de Blasio already has pleaded guilty in the case. Earlier this month, federal prosecutors charged the head of the correction officers' union with taking kickbacks. De Blasio, a Democrat, has not been implicated in any wrongdoing.

A criminal complaint accompanying the latest charges described how Brooklyn businessman Jeremy Reichberg exploited his connections within the police department to arrange arrests, speed up gun application processing, make tickets disappear, obtain police escorts for him and his friends, get assistance from uniformed personnel to resolve personal disputes and boost security at religious sites and events. A Reichberg lawyer didn't return a message seeking comment. Among favors was $59,000 spent on a private jet in February 2013 that took Reichberg, an unidentified detective, and James Grant, commander of an Upper East Side Precinct, to Las Vegas, the court papers said. The complaint said Reichberg and another businessman arranged for a prostitute to join the flight and spend the weekend with the group, staying in Grant's luxury hotel room. (More NYPD stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X