Mayor de Blasio broke conflict of interest rules by ignoring advice to stop soliciting political donations from real estate developers and others asking for favors from his administration, according to a Department of Investigation report made public Wednesday.
The 15-page report, which was heavily redacted and only released following a Freedom of Information Law request, summarizes the principal findings of an over two-year-long DOI investigation into de Blasio’s fundraising for his since-defunct Campaign for One New York fund.
The probe ended in October, but its findings have never previously been disclosed.
De Blasio was warned by his own counsel and the city’s Conflict of Interest Board to not collect CONY donations from various individuals who were approaching the administration about tax breaks and other perks, according to the DOI report.
But de Blasio still accepted such donations, investigators found.
In interviews with DOI investigators, the mayor claimed he didn’t recall any warnings from his counsel or the Conflict of Interest Board. He also told investigators he couldn’t recall any conversations with developers who had testified about the mayor’s personal requests for donations, according to the report.
The identities of those developers are redacted from the report.
City Hall spokeswoman Freddi Goldstein wouldn’t comment specifically on the DOI report, but said the mayor has previously been cleared of any wrongdoing relating to CONY, likely referring to a criminal inquiry by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan that ended in March 2017 with no charges.
“Fundraising for the now-defunct Campaign for One New York was thoroughly reviewed by multiple parties and it was determined that there was no wrongdoing,” Goldstein said. “It’s been said a million times: the Mayor acted lawfully and ethically.”
It’s not clear from the DOI report unveiled Wednesday whether any action was taken against de Blasio.
The final five pages of the report — including an entry dubbed “Conclusion and Recommendations” — are entirely blacked out.
Despite the heavy redactions, the report paints a picture of a sketchy vetting process for donations to CONY.
“There does not appear to have been any particular individual who exercised supervision over the vetting process,” the report states, adding it was also “unclear” whether the vetting was conducted “thoroughly and completely.”
De Blasio closed down CONY in early 2016 and the DOI began investigating it shortly thereafter following concerns about possible pay-to-play schemes.
Four weeks after the CONY investigation ended on Oct. 22, de Blasio fired DOI Commissioner Mark Peters. The mayor said the firing had nothing to do with the CONY probe.
