Garnerville Man In DOJ's 'Largest Single-Day Bribery Takedown' Ever

CLARKSTOWN, NY — Two Hudson Valley residents are among the 70 current and former NYC Housing Authority (NYCHA) employees charged with allegedly accepting cash from contractors in exchange for contracts, in the largest number of federal bribery charges in a single day in Department of Justice history.

45-year-old Corey Gilmore, of Garnerville, and 55-year-old Garth Small, of Mount Vernon, were both charged with solicitation and receipts of a bribe which has a maximum sentence of 10 years, and extortion under color of official right, which has a maximum sentence of 20 years.

Gilmore, who worked for NYCHA from 2016 to 2022, is accused of soliciting and accepting a total of $27,000 in bribes in exchange for arranging for certain contractors to receive no-bid NYCHA contracts worth a total of at least $175,000.

He was listed as the superintendent at Bronx River Houses from July 2016 to November 2019. Gilmore was also the administrative housing superintendent with Heating Management Services Department in the Bronx from November 2019 to March 2021 and the superintendent at Eastchester Gardens in the Bronx from March 2021 to July 2023, according to officials.

Small, who worked for NYCHA from 2015 to 2020, is accused of soliciting and accepting a total of $42,000 in bribes in exchange for arranging for certain contractors to receive no-bid contracts from NYCHA worth a total of at least $400,000.

From January 2015 - March 2019, he was listed as the assistant superintendent at Mill Brook in the Bronx. From March 2019 to October 2020, and September 2021 to January 2023, he was the assistant superintendent at Mitchel Houses in the Bronx, according to federal officials.

Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York; Merrick B. Garland, the Attorney General of the United States; Jocelyn E. Strauber, the Commissioner of the NYC Department of Investigation ("DOI"); Ivan J. Arvelo, the Special Agent in Charge of the NY Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations ("HSI"); Rae Oliver Davis, the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General ("HUD OIG"); and Jonathan Mellone, the Special Agent in Charge of the Northeast Region of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General ("DOL-OIG"), announced the bribery and extortion charges against the 70 current and former employees of the New York City Housing Authority, on Tuesday. 66 of the 70 defendants were arrested Tuesday morning in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and North Carolina. The defendants who were arrested in the New York area were scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judges Stewart D. Aaron, Sarah L. Cave, Valerie Figueredo, Sarah Netburn, Katharine H. Parker, Gary Stein, and Ona T. Wang in Manhattan federal court late Tuesday.

"Instead of acting in the interests of NYCHA residents, the City of New York, or taxpayers, the 70 defendants charged today allegedly used their jobs at NYCHA to line their own pockets," Wiliams said. "This action is the largest single-day bribery takedown in the history of the Justice Department. NYCHA residents deserve better. My Office is firmly committed to cleaning up the corruption that has plagued NYCHA for far too long so that its residents can be served with integrity and have the high-quality affordable homes that they deserve. The culture of corruption at NYCHA ends today."

According to court documents, NYCHA is the largest public housing authority in the U.S., providing housing to 1 out of every 17 New Yorkers in 335 developments across NYC and receiving over $1.5 billion in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development annually. When repairs or construction work require the use of outside contractors, services are usually purchased through a bidding process. However, when the value of a contract is less than $10,000, designated staff at NYCHA developments are able to hire a contractor themselves without soliciting multiple bids, in a "no-bid" process that is faster than the general NYCHA procurement process.

Court filings contend that the defendants, while employed with NYCHA, demanded and received cash in exchange for NYCHA contracts by either requiring contractors to pay up front or requiring payment after the contractor finished the work and needed a NYCHA employee to sign off on the completed job. According to the DOJ, the defendants typically demanded approximately 10 percent to 20 percent of the contract value, usually between $500 and $2,000 depending on the size of the contract, although some defendants demanded higher amounts. In total, the 70 defendants demanded over $2 million in corrupt payments from contractors in exchange for awarding over $13 million worth of no-bid contracts.

If anyone has information related to bribery, extortion, or any other illegal conduct by NYCHA employees, they are being asked to contact NYCHA at this email address or to call (212) 306-3356. If anyone was involved in such conduct, the DOJ asks them to consider self-disclosing through the SDNY Whistleblower Pilot Program at this email address.

Williams praised the investigative work of DOI, HSI, HUD OIG, and DOL-OIG, which work together collaboratively as part of the HSI Document and Benefit Fraud Task Force, as well as the special agents and task force officers of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of NY. He also thanked the NYPD and the U.S. Marshals Service for their assistance with Tuesday's arrest operations. Williams also expressed his apprectiation for the cooperation and support of NYCHA’s senior executive leadership and thanked NYCHA Federal Monitor Bart Schwartz for his assistance with the investigation.

"As charged, these 70 current and former NYCHA supervisors and other staff used their positions of public trust and responsibility to pocket bribes in exchange for doling out no-bid contracts," Strauber said. "The extensive bribery and extortion alleged here calls for significant reforms to NYCHA’s no-bid contracting process, which DOI has recommended and NYCHA has accepted. I thank the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and our federal law enforcement partners for their commitment to protect scarce public resources intended to maintain public housing, and to hold accountable public servants who abuse their authority, and NYCHA’s senior leadership for its cooperation in this important investigation."

The prosecutions are part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces ("OCDETF") operation.

"These 70 defendants are accused of demanding kickbacks and bribes for access to no-bid contracts and lucrative, under-the-table deals," Arvelo said. "Make no mistake, this alleged pervasive corruption had the biggest impact on NYCHA residents themselves, who may have been cheated out of better services and programs. I commend the outstanding work of HSI New York’s Document and Benefit Fraud Task Force for today’s historic operation. As one of the largest investigative agencies, the public can rest assured: Homeland Security Investigations will pursue all avenues of justice for the people of this great city."

The cases are being handled by the Office’s Public Corruption Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jerry J. Fang, Jacob R. Fiddelman, Meredith Foster, Catherine Ghosh, and Sheb Swett are in charge of the prosecutions.