The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office yesterday launched a criminal probe into ACORN, while the Senate overwhelmingly voted to ban federal funding for the nonprofit group after two New York workers were caught on video aiding a couple posing as a pimp and prostitute.
A spokesman for DA Charles Hynes confirmed the investigation but would not comment further.
On the Senate floor last night, in a stunning turnaround from votes earlier this year supporting ACORN, lawmakers passed a bipartisan measure, 83 to 7, to strip its funding.
The vote opened up the first split between Sens. Charles Schumer, who sided with the majority, and Kirsten Gillibrand, whom Republicans immediately slammed for backing the organization.
In the hidden-camera sting first revealed by The Post, two employees of ACORN Housing’s Brooklyn office were taped giving tax advice to activists James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles, who were costumed as a pimp and hooker.
“Don’t say that you’re a prostitute thing or whatever,” housing coordinator Volda Albert is heard telling Giles.
The ACORN employees also instructed her on how to launder the ill-gotten earnings so they couldn’t be traced.
“The events of last week are not isolated,” fumed Republican Sen. Mike Johanns of Nebraska, who sponsored the amendment and referenced yesterday’s Post exclusive on ACORN on the Senate floor. “They magnify a troubling, systemic and criminal pattern. They serve as a public window into an organization besieged by corruption, fraud and illegal activities.”
Republicans blasted Gillibrand for being one of only seven senators to vote in favor of keeping ACORN’s funding.
“Even an outspoken liberal like Senator Schumer voted against ACORN, so why did Kirsten Gillibrand vote to protect them? New York’s appointed senator owes every New York taxpayer a thorough explanation,” said Brian Walsh, a spokesman for the Senate campaign arm.
Gillibrand’s office said she found the actions of certain ACORN employees “reprehensible” but added, “The truth remains that thousands of New York families who are facing foreclosure depend on charitable organizations like ACORN for assistance.”
Meanwhile, The Post has learned that ACORN got at least $436,000 in grants from state lawmakers funneled through its tax-exempt sister agency, the New York Agency for Community Affairs.
The biggest member item, for $175,000, came from Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan), with another $10,000 grant from Senate Democratic Leader John Sampson of Brooklyn.
“Speaker Silver is very concerned about the conversation depicted in the video and has asked ACORN for a full explanation of how the incident occurred and what policies and procedures ACORN has in place to ensure that nothing like this happens again,” Silver spokesman Dan Weiller.
The tax-exempt New York ACORN Housing Company reported $226,000 in grants as of last June, including $96,000 from the city Department of Finance, $60,000 from the New York Energy Research and Development Authority and $70,000 from federal housing lender Fannie Mae and its New York counterpart, SONYMA.
According to its most recent federal filing, the national ACORN organization got $11 million in direct public support and government grants nationwide in 2007 — a $3 million increase over 2006.
An ACORN spokesman yesterday commented on The Post’s report.
“ACORN has absolutely condemned this behavior. We’ve put in place procedures to ensure that this doesn’t happen again,” said Jonathan Rosen.
Rosen said the workers were “under review” but hadn’t been fired. He said that what was caught on tape was an “informal conversation” and that no one had filled out loan or tax documents.
Additional reporting by Laurie Kamens in New York