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Monday, April 11, 2016

NYPD chief raked in up to $500K from man at center of corruption probe 

Former NYPD Chief of Department Philip Banks took in as much as $500,000 in income in a single year from "investments" with the businessman at the heart of a federal probe of the police department and City Hall, city documents show.

The income, listed as a range of $250,000 to $499,999.99 invested in "JSR capitol" [sic], appears on the final financial disclosure form Banks filed after abruptly quitting his post in late 2014.

No investments in JSR Capital are listed in prior disclosure forms by Banks going back to 2009.

The firm is owned by Jona Rechnitz, who along with Borough Park businessman Jeremy Reichberg, is under the FBI and US Attorney's eye for his cozy relationship with top NYPD brass and for his donations to the agenda of Mayor de Blasio.

Banks, 53, has insisted he didn't do anything wrong.

His lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said, "Despite all that has been printed and reported about Phil Banks, I repeat: Not one single dollar earned by Mr. Banks while a member of the PD or subsequent to his retirement, is any way related to illegal or corrupt activities. All of the money invested by him or on deposit in his accounts is derived from lawfully earned income and his wife's inheritance after her father passed away."

The wide-ranging probe has already led to the reassignment of four top police officials and has forced de Blasio to return $9,000 in 2013 campaign donations from Rechnitz and his wife.

Sources have said the probe has focused on whether the politically-connected businessmen traded cash and trips abroad for favors from the top police brass – including police escorts for funerals or crowd control at Hasidic weddings.

Their donations on behalf of de Blasio – which included $102,000 for the Senate Democrats in 2014 from an LLC belonging to Rechnitz and $50,000 from the same LLC to de Blasio's progressive non-profit the Campaign for One New York – have prompted a deeper look at the mayor's fund-raising.

The two men served on de Blasio's 2013 inauguration committee and Reichberg hosted a May 2014 fundraiser for the Campaign for One New York at his Brooklyn home.

The mayor said on Sunday he has no knowledge that such a probe is underway.


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