NYC Corrections union head arrested in corruption probe
By Jamie Schram and Yaron Steinbuch June 8, 2016 | 6:55am | Updated
Correction Officers’ union chief Norman Seabrook was busted by the feds Wednesday morning on corruption charges in connection with a sweeping corruption probe focusing on the NYPD and City Hall, law enforcement sources said.
Seabrook, the president of the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association, was arrested at his Bronx home, sources told The Post.
He allegedly took kickbacks involving the union’s pension fund investments, investigators said, sources said.
Seabrook is accused of receiving thousands of dollars in payoffs in exchange for steering business to the Platinum Investment fund.
Also busted Wednesday was Murray Huberfeld, the fund’s former head, sources said.
The arrests come as the feds are probing allegations that high-ranking NYPD officers have received gifts in exchange for favors. Mayor de Blasio’s campaign fundraising also is under investigation.
Jona Rechnitz — one of two mayoral fundraisers at the heart of the corruption scandal — allegedly steered Seabrook to the hedge fund where he invested $10 million in membership money, the Wall Street Journal has reported.
Seabrook was among the first law enforcement officials scrutinized by the FBI in the suspected gifts-for-favors scheme involving Rechnitz, Jeremy Reichberg and top NYPD brass, sources have told The Post.
Huberfeld has a shady past that includes pleading guilty to a misdemeanor in 1992 for having a stand-in take his brokerage licensing exam and, with a business partner, getting fined $4.7 million by the Securities and Exchange Commission in 1998 for illegally selling restricted stock.
According to its website, Platinum manages more than $1.3 billion spread across “multiple funds.”
It claims to be generating steady profits, but last year blocked clients from withdrawing money from one of its funds, sources told the Wall Street Journal.
The FBI investigating whether the two businessmen provided free vacations and other freebies to Seabrook and ex-NYPD Chief of Department Philip Banks.
All have denied any wrongdoing.
Michael Benjamin
@SquarePegDem
