Housing official Wendell Walters pleads guilty in bribery scheme

Posted March 23, 2012 By Alice Brennan

Former city housing official Wendell Walters pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and bribery in Brooklyn’s federal court today. Last fall, The New York World revealed the behind-the-scenes story of the kickback scheme in which Walters played a key part, and which siphoned funds from numerous affordable housing development projects run by the city.

The ex–assistant commissioner for the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development admitted to receiving bribes with a total value of more than $2.5 million.

Six real estate developers and lawyers were also arrested for their part in the pay-to-play racket, for whom no trial dates have yet been set.

Walters faces up to 30 years in prison. He is free on bail and due to be sentenced on July 25.

See Alice Brennan’s in-depth story detailing the Wendell Walters bribery scheme.

The New York World is published under Creative Commons' BY-ND 3.0 license. Unless otherwise noted, you are welcome to reprint The New York World's reporting. Except by prior arrangement, the following guidelines apply:

Credit The New York World, preferably by appending “The New York World” to the bylines already on the stories. Bylines must remain in the stories.
Do not edit stories, except to reflect relative changes in time or location (eg. “Yesterday, following months of uncertainty, Governor Cuomo...” may be changed to begin “In January,” or “Early this year”)
You may edit stories to accommodate style variations or to expand acronyms (eg. “TWU Local 100” may be written “Transport Workers Union Local 100”)

Stories reprinted online must:

include a link to the original story on http://www.thenewyorkworld.com
retain all links included in our original reporting
Retain in republished HTML a simple tracking code, provided in the body of each story as published on The New York World website.
include a syndication source tag directing search engines to the original story in The New York World
Do not republish The New York World wholesale or automatically
Contact our editor with any questions about this policy or to make arrangements to reprint The New York World stories under other terms.
This reprint policy is subject to change.

<h1>Housing official Wendell Walters pleads guilty in bribery scheme</h1>Former city housing official Wendell Walters pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and bribery in Brooklyn’s federal court today. Last fall, The New York World <a onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.thenewyorkworld.com/2011/10/27/wreckage/');" href="http://www.thenewyorkworld.com/2011/10/27/wreckage/">revealed the behind-the-scenes story</a> of the kickback scheme in which Walters played a key part, and which siphoned funds from numerous affordable housing development projects run by the city.
The ex–assistant commissioner for the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development admitted to receiving bribes with a total value of more than $2.5 million.
Six real estate developers and lawyers were also arrested for their part in the pay-to-play racket, for whom no trial dates have yet been set.
Walters faces up to 30 years in prison. He is free on bail and due to be sentenced on July 25.
<a onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.thenewyorkworld.com/2011/10/27/wreckage/');" href="http://www.thenewyorkworld.com/2011/10/27/wreckage/">See Alice Brennan’s in-depth story detailing the Wendell Walters bribery scheme.</a>

Increasing number of New York school children skipping vaccinations

More than 22,000 medical and religious exemptions were granted to students for the 2013-14 school year, up 27 percent from 2010-11, according to the state Health Department. Public and private enrollment over the same period remained largely flat.

New data provides first detailed look at military gear held by New York law enforcement agencies

Over the past several years, more than 120 law enforcement agencies across the state, from the NYPD to Tuckahoe, have obtained military-grade equipment through the Pentagon’s 1033 program, which transfers excess military equipment to state and local police across the country.