Former Hempstead Official Gets Prison Time For Kickback Scheme: Feds

CENTRAL ISLIP, NY — The former chairman of the Board of Commissioners at the Village of Hempstead Housing Authority was sentenced to 10 years in prison for a fraud and bribery scheme, prosecutors announced Monday.

Cornell Bozier was convicted by a federal jury in 2019.

“The defendant exploited his official position as Chairman of the Village of Hempstead Housing Authority to enrich himself at the expense of the elderly, disabled and low-income residents whom he was meant to serve," U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said. "Corruption at any level of government erodes public confidence in the institution."

As proven at Bozier’s trial and outlined in court filings, rather than providing his
residents with the honest services they needed, Bozier used his official position to
orchestrate a bid-rigging and kickback scheme by filling numerous positions in the Housing
Authority with either co-conspirators who were actively participating in the scheme, or people he
believed could be manipulated and would not interfere.

Bozier, 63, relied on bribes, threats and intimidation to pressure other Board members into supporting his fraudulent schemes. Prosecutors said Bozier also fraudulently induced the Board to declare numerous projects as emergencies to sidestep the normal procedure process by which the VHHA obtained HUD funding.

"Cornell Bozier and his co-conspirators engaged in an egregious false billing and
kickback scheme resulting in the theft of critical taxpayer dollars," stated HUD-OIG Acting
Special Agent-in-Charge William Woolard. "Moreover, they risk damaging the integrity of HUD
programs and violate the trust of the communities who rely on them."