NYC Landlord Sentenced To Prison For Bribing City Employee, Prosecutors Say

SOHO, NY — The New York City landlord who sparked a massive corruption investigation with a single bribe has been sentenced to serve at least 3 years in prison, prosecutors announced on Monday.

Herman Epstein was convicted of bribery in February and will serve between three and six years in state prison, the Manhattan district attorney Cy Vance said. As a landlord, Epstein paid off a city Department of Buildings employee to erase complaints and violations associated with his properties, according to Vance's office.

"Herman Epstein is a serial briber who has shown time and again that nothing—including criminal convictions—will stop him from cutting corners to make a profit," Vance said in a statement. "In this case and previous ones, he did not hesitate to pay for favors, ignore safety regulations, flout the law with seeming impunity, and even use aliases in an attempt to disguise his dishonest conduct."

Epstein, 37, paid off a city employee in 2013, investigators said. Prosecutors and investigators looking into that single bribe unearthed a widespread network of corruption involving landlords and city employees who the landlords paid off to pass inspections and remove stop work orders and complaints, according to the district attorney's office. The two-year investigation culminated in the arrest of more than 50 people, including 17 city employees, and uncovered more than $450,000 that had been paid in bribes. Authorities said the uncovered bribes were paid in relations to more than 100 properties in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.

Manhattan prosecutors collaborated with the city's Department of Investigation to review the bribery schemes. For more New York City news, subscribe to Patch news alerts here.

This post has been corrected with new information due to incorrect information from the Manhattan district attorney's office.

Lead image via Shutterstock.