Metro

Probe into ACORN’s ‘brothel’ affair

State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo yesterday launched an investigation into pork-barrel grants given to ACORN by state lawmakers, as City Council Speaker Christine Quinn froze all city funding earmarked for the scandal-scared community-activism organization.

The actions by the Democratic officials followed release of a shocking undercover video that showed employees at a Brooklyn ACORN office giving illicit financial advice to activists posing as a pimp and prostitute who wanted to start a brothel.

The agency was among several ACORN affiliates, including offices in Baltimore, Washington and San Bernardino, Calif., exposed in the hidden-camera sting.

On Monday, the US Senate voted overwhelmingly to block federal funding to the community group, while Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes opened an investigation into the local office in response to a report in The Post.

A spokesman for Cuomo said the attorney general would seek to make sure pork-barrel grants directed to ACORN by state lawmakers were spent on tax-preparation and loan-counseling services, as intended.

“We are now closely monitoring that investigation to preserve the integrity of state funds,” Cuomo spokesman Richard Bamberger said.

“We will be reviewing member-item contracts involving ACORN in light of the district attorney’s investigation.”

A source told The Post that Cuomo is considering freezing any funds set aside for ACORN until after Hynes completes his investigation.

A spokesman for state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said the state’s financial watchdogs would also flag future payments to ACORN for extra scrutiny.

Meanwhile, Quinn went a step further, suspending all ACORN grants sponsored by City Council members until Hynes concludes his investigation, according to one city lawmaker Quinn told about the move.

“There was some money in the Department of Housing Preservation and Development for housing related to ACORN and what they’re going to do is basically suspend the money until the investigation is complete,” the council member said.

Quinn’s spokeswoman, Maria Alvarado, declined to comment, although another city source confirmed the ACORN freeze.

“We are confident that any review will find that every dollar we’ve received from the city and the state went directly to combating New York’s foreclosure crisis and helping tens of thousands of low-income New Yorkers receive their earned income tax credit,” said ACORN spokesman Jonathan Rosen.

The group and its affiliates have received at least $1.5 million in city and state legislative grants in the last four years, according to a Post review of grant records.

Council budgets from fiscal years 2010, 2009 and 2008 show members showered ACORN and its affiliates with at least $644,500.

ACORN and the tax-exempt affiliate featured in the video, New York ACORN Housing Company, have received at least $890,000 in pork from state lawmakers in the last four years

The ACORN crackdown by state and city Democrats came after state Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos (R-LI) called for a freeze all state funding to the agency and its web of affiliates.

Additional reporting by Fredric U. Dicker

brendan.scott@nypost.com