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| Jamaican-Born City Council Staffer Indicted |
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CaribWorldNews, NEW YORK, NY, Thurs. April 17, 2008:
The Jamaican-born former chief of staff of a New York City councilman was yesterday indicted by the United States District Attorney's Office.
Asquith Reid, the top former staffer to Vincent-born City Councilman Kendall Stewart is accused along with Joycinth `Sue` Anderson, another Stewart employee, of embezzling thousands in city money from a Brooklyn charity over the last three years.
Reid and Anderson are named in the indictment which charges that Reid, who was in charge of discretionary city funds, allocated about $356,000 in funds to the Donna Reid Fund, which was established by Reid in honor of his daughter, who passed away from cancer at a young age.
The Donna Reid Fund also applied for money through the Department of Youth and Community Development, which granted the request. An additional $14,000 was transferred to the organization from other fictitious non-profits: the New York Foundation for Community Development and the American Association of Concerned Veterans.
The indictment alleges that about $145,000 of those funds were embezzled to provide cash and personal benefits to the defendant, and Anderson.
Some $31,000 of the money was sent by wire transfer to friends and family in Jamaica, while some $21,000 was used to pay for events in Brooklyn and campaign material. Anderson also cashed thousands of dollars in Donna Reid fund checks and gave the money to Reid, the indictment said.
In total, Reid faces a maximum of 80 years in prison if found guilty on all charges. Together they face charges of conspiracy, money laundering, and witness tampering. Anderson faces a maximum of 40 years in prison and the indictment said she aided Reid in the scheme. Councilman Stewart was not named in the indictment.
The two aides' loyalty "should have been to the New York City taxpayers," U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia said at a news conference yesterday. "Instead, they were driven by greed."
Garcia said the federal probe will continue to take a "hard look" at the council's discretionary funds practice.
Reid and Anderson, meanwhile, were still reportedly employed by the council as of yesterday.
Councilmember Stewart for his part yesterday denied that the alleged embezzlement had anything to do with him or his office.
In a statement he said, `While I believe in the presumption of innocent until proven guilty, I must say that I’m deeply disappointed over the allegations leveled at Mr. Reid and the embarrassment that his actions – right or wrong - have caused me, my staff and office and the people of my district.`
The indictment comes a week after it was revealed that the council was hiding discretionary funds for more than two decades. – CaribWorldNews.com
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