New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration intentionally withheld critical information regarding the city’s handling of a deed restriction on a nursing facility, according to evidence released by the Department of Investigation on Tuesday.
The DOI, the city’s internal watchdog, unveiled that Corporation Counsel Zachary Carter had deliberately covered up an internal memo that explicitly detailed the administration weighing the pros and cons of removing the Rivington House deed, contradicting City Hall claims that top officials were not briefed on the issue, the New York Daily News reported.
The deed removal occurred after top de Blasio donors lobbied his administration.
De Blasio dismissed the scandal Wednesday, sarcastically joking to a reporter that it was "probably bigger than Watergate."
The newly obtained document, which was attached to a July 2014 email, showed the city deliberating early on whether the nursing home should be sold to a private buyer who wanted to turn the building into luxury condominiums.
The buyer ultimately sold Rivington House to a condo developer for $116 million.
Carter did not disclose the document despite its relevance to the DOI investigation. Instead, he handed over two pages that were entirely whited out and marked confidential as part of the city’s internal "deliberative process."
DOI later discovered the memo without Carter’s assistance.
The New York Daily News reported:
Carter also withheld information about another deed restriction waiver handled by the city, the DOI letter states. Carter whited out sections of a November 18, 2015, internal memo detailing aspects of the Rivington St. deed waiver request, stamping it "NR" for "Not Relevant." DOI later discovered from another source that the section Carter had whited out described another deed restriction waiver, this one involving the Dance Theater of Harlem. In that case, a de Blasio donor buying the building needed the waiver so it could be turned into apartments.
De Blasio asked DOI in March to investigate the city’s handling of deed restrictions amid allegations of potential fraud in the sale of Rivington House.
While DOI is supposed to have access to the city’s documents, emails, and computers, Carter denied investigators access to de Blasio’s official computer.
DOI wrote in a July 21 letter to Carter demanding that he release all requested documents without redactions and provide investigators access to the mayor’s computer.
"Neither City Hall, Law, nor any other City agency or official is entitled to interfere or refuse to cooperate with a DOI investigation or determine what material is relevant to that investigation," DOI wrote.
Carter provided the DOI access to the computer Tuesday afternoon.
The revelations came to light one day after a report disclosed Monday that de Blasio is under investigation by federal authorities for his involvement in the sale of Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn.