Hope he at least got a schmear with that bagel.
City Councilman Larry Seabrook yesterday was smacked with a massive federal indictment for allegedly trying to bilk the city out of $2.5 million by using an elaborate network of shady community groups to funnel cash to himself, family and pals.
The 58-year-old Bronx politico steered at least $1.2 million into the web of organizations, authorities said.
His amazingly brazen, slimy scams included altering a $7 receipt for a bagel sandwich and a diet drink to make it seem as if he had paid $177 for the lunch, which he had delivered to City Hall, officials said. The Democrat then submitted the doctored receipt for expense reimbursement to a political club he controlled, investigators said. Asked about the Bagelgate brouhaha, Seabrook’s lawyer, Murray Richman, quipped, “Bagels can be expensive.”
Also dragged into the sensational scandal were the Yankees.
Seabrook leaned on the team to award a Bronx boiler manufacturer a lucrative contract for the Bombers’ new stadium — and his political club then received $41,000 in kickbacks from the firm, authorities said. The money was then allegedly re-routed to the councilman.
In addition to raking in the illicit dough himself, Seabrook is accused of enriching his wife, girlfriend, brother, sisters and nephews with more than $500,000 in salaries and consulting fees from nonprofits he controlled.
Those groups received so-called discretionary funds from the City Council. In most cases, they did little or no work to justify that funding.
His alleged scams were at least partially aided by the City Council’s longtime improper practice of keeping a “slush fund” for members — earmarked money, set aside in the names of phony entities, that the politicians could tap for their pet projects at their discretion. The Post exposed the council slush scandal in 2008, igniting a series of investigations.
“Councilman Seabrook basically operated his own, City Council-funded ‘friends and family plan,’ ” said US Attorney Preet Bharara, whose office is prosecuting the councilman.
Seabrook was released on $500,000 bail at Manhattan federal court and refused to speak to reporters. Richman said his client “absolutely” will not resign.
The 66-page, 13-count indictment leads off with Seabrook’s alleged ham-fisted efforts to win a lucrative Yankee Stadium contract for a Bronx company, just so that he could shake down the firm.
It says that in 2006, when the Yankees were getting ready to build their new stadium, Seabrook contacted a team consultant and told him that the contract for two boilers should be awarded to A.L. Eastmond & Sons.
The Yankees, pressured by the council to give some work to local businesses, ended up doing just that, giving the $283,000-plus contract to Eastmond — despite the fact that its bid was $13,000 more than the lowest one, the indictment noted.
Seabrook then “directly solicited a series of payments from” Eastmond’s owner, Leon Eastmond, the indictment said.
Eastmond signed 11 checks worth a total of $50,000, according to the indictment said. Eight checks totaling $41,000 went to the Seabrook-controlled Northeast Bronx Community Democratic Club; a $5,000 check went to Seabrook himself; and another $4,000 check went to the Bronx African-American Chamber of Commerce, which he controlled.
“On all but two occasions . . . Seabrook personally filled out the payee and amount sections of the checks and [Eastmond] signed them,” the indictment said.
Seabrook, after routing the money into the political club, then had the club reimburse him for nearly $45,000 in expenses purportedly related to the club, the feds said. Those expenses were actually “his personal credit-card bill, including airline travel to Florida, gift cards at a local department store, luggage, books, parking fines and flowers for his sisters,” the indictment said.
The Yankees yesterday said they were unaware of any “wrongdoing” by team employees.
More than $4,700 in gas receipts were reimbursed to the married Seabrook from purchases in New Jersey — the home state of his mistress, Gloria Jones-Grant. She also headed up some of the Bronx nonprofits to which he allegedly funneled council funds.
Seabrook, who has previously served in the state Senate and Assembly, faces charges of extortion, fraud and money-laundering. An African-American, he is even accused of selling out fellow minorities to feather his family’s nest.
In 2006, Seabrook allegedly got the City Council to give John Jay College $750,000 to encourage and train minorities to join the FDNY. About $300,000 of that went to a Seabrook-controlled nonprofit — which did virtually no work, the feds charge.
The same nonprofit was paid to find jobs for 42 people in a separate program funded by the city — but wound up placing just three job-seekers, all in Seabrook’s council office.
Seabrook also is accused of overseeing a complicated lease scam. Some of his nonprofits would allegedly pay rent on spaces, then sublet them to another nonprofit in the group at inflated rates — and submit the bill to the city.
Additional reporting by David Seifman