Correction officers’ union chief Norman Seabrook was busted by the feds Wednesday on corruption charges for allegedly selling himself for a “Ferragamo bag full of cash,” authorities said.
Seabrook, president of the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association, was arrested by the FBI at his Bronx home and accused of receiving $60,000 in kickbacks stuffed inside the $820 bag, according to federal officials.
“For a Ferragamo bag full of cash, Norman Seabrook allegedly sold himself,” Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara said at a press conference announcing the bust in connection with a sweeping corruption probe of City Hall and the NYPD.
Also arrested was former Platinum Partners hedge-fund honcho Murray Huberfeld. They are charged with honest services wire fraud.
“It’s a very simple-and-straightforward quid pro quo. The quid being the $60,000. In return for that kickback there was a quo: Norman Seabrook using his power as head of the union” to direct money to the fund previously run by Huberfeld, Bharara said.
Seabrook was expected to earn between $100,000 to $150,000 in kickbacks, according to the federal complaint.
Bharara said it was the first time Platinum Partners had received union pension money.
“Just as high-net-worth investors were getting out of the fund, Seabrook was getting in with union retirement money,” he said.
Seabrook made decisions “based not on what was good for his union members, but based on what was good for Norman Seabrook,” he added.
In a search of Seabrook’s home, FBI agents found a bag that matched the description from the Ferragamo receipt, he said. They also found 10 pairs of Ferragamo shoes.
A corrections officer who dropped by to check out the scene had harsh words for the busted union boss.
“He’s full of s—. We all expected this kind of thing from him. He can’t be trusted,” the officer told The Post, declining to be identified but showing his credentials.
Mayor de Blasio said Seabrook would be suspended.
“If proven true, it’s disgusting and it’s very, very sad. It means he stole money from his own workers,” Hizzoner said.
Between November 2013 and 2015, Seabrook received kickbacks for steering more than $20 million in wire transfers from the union’s pension fund to Platinum Partners, according to the complaint..
Around December 2013, Huberfeld confirmed to a third party that Platinum was willing to make “substantial payments” to Seabrook in exchange for COBA’s investment into the company, according to the complaint.
The third party – referred to as a cooperating witness but unnamed in the complaint — is Jona Rechnitz, a donor to de Blasio who is at the center of a sweeping corruption probe, sources told The Post.
Rechnitz, who introduced Seabrook to Huberfled, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy, according to the complaint.
Huberfeld told Rechnitz that if COBA invested with Platinum, the company would get, as part of its compensation, 20 percent of the profit on the union’s investment – and that Platinum would agree to pay the union boss 10 percent of its 20 percent share, the feds say.
When the intermediary presented the offer to Seabrook, the union chief asked: “How much is Norman Seabrook going to get paid?”
After consulting with Huberfeld, Rechnitz told Seabrook that the amount could be between $100,000 and $150,000 a year, the complaint says.
Before meeting Seabrook on Dec. 11, 2014, Rechnitz went to Salvatore Ferragamo – Seabrook’s favorite luxury-goods store – and bought him the pricey bag, which he filled with $60,000.
The kickback was disguised and invoiced as being for tickets to “8 Knicks Games @ 7500 per game” for two seats, according to the complaint, which noted that the team’s record was a dismal 4-20 that year.
Seabrook was apparently unimpressed, however, complaining angrily that the money was not as much as he had been promised, the feds say.
Former NYPD Chief of Department Philip Banks and several other high-ranking cops attended the trip, sources have said. Banks resigned from the force in 2014.
The FBI is investigating whether the two businessmen provided free vacations and other freebies to Seabrook and Banks.
De Blasio said he has not spoken to Seabrook in “several months.”
“We have a lot we’ve been trying to change on Rikers Island. Sometimes he was willing to work with us, sometimes he wasn’t,” he said. “But the reform on Rikers Island will continue aggressively, I want to make that very clear. We are adamant about changing the culture of Rikers Island.”
The mayor sought to separate the case against Seabrook from the scandal enveloping the city government.
“Although investigations continue, I believe that the vast majority of the problems have been identified and obviously in the context of the police department they’re being acted on very aggressively,” he said. “What he did involved his own union, his own pension fund, which is separate from the city government obviously.”
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he was troubled by the “drip, drip, drip of alleged scandals.”
“Now all of this comes together. People are alienated. People are unhappy with government. People are dissatisfied with politicians,” Cuomo said.
Asked if he saw a problem for de Blasio, Cuomo said: “I agree with the premise of the question, which is there’s a compounding effect when you have these allegations that seemingly go on for a long period of time.”
Additional reporting by Shawn Cohen and Yijun Wang