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Real estate exec pleads guilty to kickback scheme of corrupt homeless services boss
By
David Brand
Published Mar 10, 2023
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Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images
By
David Brand
Published Mar 10, 2023
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The head of a Brooklyn real estate firm who profited from the city’s homelessness crisis pled guilty to a federal fraud charge this week.
On Thursday, real estate executive Sheina Levin admitted to paying disgraced former nonprofit CEO Victor Rivera hundreds of thousands of dollars in exchange for his organization, Bronx Parent Housing Network, leasing buildings owned by her company.
Rivera’s organization received millions from city contracts to house and shelter homeless New Yorkers, with a huge chunk of that cash fueling Rivera’s lavish lifestyle rather than providing services to the poor.
The corruption and kickback schemes, along with allegations of sexual assault and harassment by Rivera, were uncovered in a 2021 investigation by the New York Times, which first reported Levin’s guilty plea on Friday.
Rivera pled guilty to charges related to the bribery and kickback scheme in February 2022. He’s currently serving up to 27 months in prison.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan said Levin, 60, paid Rivera nearly $700,000 to rent out a Bronx shelter building owned by her company, the Times reported. She received hundreds of thousands of dollars in return between May 2019 and January 2021, according to court documents.
Her company, Urban Residences Corp., rents space to nonprofit organizations.
The city’s Department of Investigation partnered with federal prosecutors on the case.
DOI Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber said Levin’s “unscrupulous real estate company owner resorted to bribes and kickbacks to become the landlord of choice for a taxpayer-funded nonprofit that provides vital homeless shelter services.”
As part of her plea deal, Levin agreed to forfeit nearly $800,000, the Times reported.
Levin’s attorney Michael Farkas said Friday that the case was more complicated than prosecutors presented. He said he would be making an “exhaustive presentation to the judge” at Levin’s July sentencing.
“This is not a simple case of someone paying bribes to get business the way it has been characterized,” Farkas said.
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new york city
housing
bronx
homelessness
David Brand
David is a reporter covering housing for Gothamist and WNYC. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 908-310-3960.
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