State and federal authorities descended on a Bronx clinic at the heart of Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada’s alleged embezzlement scheme this morning, executing criminal search warrants after being accused of looting $14 million from it.
The warrants came a day after state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed a civil suit accusing Espada of stealing $14 million from the taxpayer-backed Soundview Health Center to fund a lavish lifestyle that included $20,000 in sushi delivered to his Mamroneck home and family trips to Las Vegas, Puerto Rico and Miami.
Agents from the FBI, IRS and Cuomo’s office swooped in on the second floor around 7 a.m., removing boxes of material from the rear entrance used by boardmembers and Espada.
They also used bolt cutters to break open two large, 8-foot-tall and 25-foot-long shipping containers being used as makeshift offices and stacked with “Vote Pedro Espada” campaign literature and boxes of files.
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Officials appeared to be focusing on financial documents: Cardboard boxes removed were labeled, in black marker, “payroll master control,” “payroll register,” and “timesheets.” Many of those boxes dealt with 2005 records.
Agents also stacked boxes on the grass outside the clinic. One box was marked, “Payroll 205.” Another said “Timesheets 205-206.”
FBI spokesman Jim Margolin said no one was arrested in the raid, which inlcuded the seizure of 30 boxes.
On Tuesday, Cuomo called criminal charges “a very real possibility,” and said the scale of Espada’s alleged misconduct was “outrageous.”
A source said the raid was conducted early this morning to minimize disruption for patients. Soundview remains open, according to patients, even as federal agents rife through the offices of some of the executive members.
Patients and workers are being allowed to enter, but federal agents have blocked off the center’s administration offices where they are sifting through evidence.
Patients were not surprised.
Maria Ortiz, 54, said, “They’re late on this. They should have done this years ago.”
Margolin said only that the search was part of an ongoing investigation.
“We didn’t give prior notice,” he said.
Espada spokesman Steve Mangione did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A Senate official told The Associated Press that Espada was headed from Albany to the clinic this morning. He has been excused from session for the day.