Dozens of people are being charged in a massive corruption scheme involving New York City's public housing authority knowns as NYCHA.
U.S. Attorney Damien Williams says 70 current and former NYCHA employees allegedly demanded over two million dollars in bribe money from contractors in exchange for awarding 13 million dollars in contracts.
"And if the contractors didn't pay up, the defendants would not give them the work. That's classic pay to play. This culture of corruption at NYCHA ends today."
Williams says the alleged scheme goes back a decade and covers nearly a third of all NYCHA buildings. In a statement NYCHA says, The individuals allegedly involved put their greed first and violated the trust of our residents.