'Guilty': Former NYCHA Super Took Bribes For Contracts, Jury Finds

HAVERSTRAW, NY — A Rockland man arrested in what was described by feds as the "largest single-day bribery takedown" ever, has been found guilty by a jury.

In the third trial after a 70-person takedown in February, Corey Gilmore, a former NYC Housing Authority Superintendent, was convicted of bribery and extortion for accepting cash from NYCHA contractors in exchange for awarding contracts.

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Gilmore, a Haverstraw resident and former NYC Housing Authority (NYCHA) superintendent, was convicted of bribery and extortion for taking thousands of dollars from contractors in exchange for awarding those contractors no-bid contracts or approving payment on previously awarded contracts at NYCHA developments for about six years, Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced.

"Corruption is an insidious crime—difficult to detect, corrosive in its effect on government agencies, and damaging to the public’s trust in government institutions," Williams said in a statement announcing the verdict. "As a NYCHA Superintendent, Corey Gilmore abused his position of public trust by demanding thousands of dollars of bribes from contractors, betraying his duty to NYCHA residents, the City of New York, and taxpayers. The jury’s unanimous verdict sends a clear message that those who use their public offices for personal gain will be held accountable."

NYCHA is the largest public housing authority in the country, and receives over $1.5 billion in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) every year.

When repairs or construction work at NYCHA housing require the use of outside contractors, services must usually be purchased via a bidding process. However, when the value of a contract was under a certain threshold, certain staff at NYCHA developments, including superintendents, could hire a contractor of their choosing without multiple bids. With either type of contract, a NYCHA employee needed to certify that the work was completed in order for the contractor to be paid.

Gilmore, a superintendent at three NYCHA developments in the Bronx between 2016 and 2023 (Bronx River Houses, Eastchester Gardens, and Forest Houses), demanded and received cash in exchange for NYCHA contracts. He typically demanded $1,000 for each contract he awarded. In total, Gilmore was found to have demanded and received tens of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in NYCHA contracts.

Of the 70 individual NYCHA employees charged with bribery and extortion offenses in February, 59 have pled guilty, and three have been convicted after trial.

The 46-year-old was convicted of one count of federal program bribery, which carries up to 10 years in prison, and one count of extortion under color of official right, which carries up to 20 years in prison.

Williams praised the investigative work of the NYC Department of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security – Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the HUD Office of Inspector General, and the U.S. Department of Labor – Office of Inspector General, which work together 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 New York.

Anyone who believes they have any information related to bribery, extortion, or any other illegal conduct by NYCHA employees, is asked to send an email to this address or call (212) 306-3356. Anyone involved in such conduct is encouraged to consider self-disclosing through the SDNY Whistleblower Pilot Program at this website.

This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces ("OCDETF") operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles criminal organizations using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found here.