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January 10, 2012
Ratner in the midst of corruption scandals
Crain's NY Business
by Amanda Fung
Despite having ties to a lobbyist and politicians who have either acknowledged bribe-making or are facing trials for bribery, extortion and tax evasion, major developer Bruce Ratner, and his firm Forest City Ratner, has not been implicated in any of the corruption cases, according to The New York Times.
Lobbyist Richard Lipsky and former state senator and Brooklyn democrat Carl Kruger face years in prison after acknowledging bribe-making in court. Both were instrumental in helping to push forward Mr. Ratner’s controversial 22-acre Atlantic Yards development in Brooklyn. In fact, indictments never named Forest City or Mr. Ratner, but only cited “Developer 1” in Brooklyn and “Developer 2″ in Yonkers.
In Yonkers, after Mr. Ratner received city zoning approval to build an 81-acre luxury mall and housing complex, the developer hired the Yonkers Republican chairman as a consultant. That politician’s cousin was a member was the Democratic council leader who voted in favor of the development project.
Posted by eric at January 10, 2012 1:55 PM