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March 23, 2011
Kruger scandal costs developer another project
The Brooklyn Paper
by Thomas Tracy
A deep-pocketed developer entrenched in an ambitious, federally funded plan to build the borough’s tallest building at Albee Square has been quietly thrown off the project for his involvement in the FBI’s sweeping bribery probe into state Sen. Carl Kruger.
Acadia Realty Trust, the builders behind the $750-million City Point project, which received $20 million in tax-exempt federal stimulus money when it suffered financial troubles in 2009, confirmed that developer Aaron Malinsky’s PA Associates has been “removed from all operational involvement” behind the plan to bring a four-story shopping mall and as many as 700 units of housing to the Fulton Mall.
...“Acadia would never have tolerated anything improper being done [to the City Point project],” project spokesman Rick Matthews said in a statement. “We have no knowledge of any improper or illegal activities related to Malinsky’s projects, but we have strong policies in place prohibiting illegal or unethical conduct by employees, associates or affiliates.”
...The developer was arrested alongside Kruger (D–Mill Basin) and six others on March 10, and was charged with bribing Kruger and his lover Michael Turano with $472,500 over the years.
In return, Kruger:
• Tried to get Forest City Ratner Companies, the lead developer on the soon-to-be-built Four Sparrows Retail Center on the southern tip of Flatbush Avenue, to give a portion of the project to Malinsky so he could build a department store on the city-owned site.
Posted by eric at March 23, 2011 10:50 AM