Brooklyn: Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes today announced the conviction of Brooklyn Democratic Assemblywoman Diane Gordon on charges of Bribe Receiving in the Third Degree, Receiving Bribes by Members of Legislature, two counts of Official Misconduct, two counts of Receiving Reward for Official Misconduct in the Second Degree and two counts of Unlawful Fees and Payments.  She faces up to 10 years in prison when she is sentenced on May 20.

District Attorney Hynes said, “I want to congratulate Department of Investigations Commissioner Rose Gil Hearn.  This conviction is a result of a joint investigation aimed at rooting out corruption in Brooklyn’s government.  It continues our commitment to rooting out official corruption of any kind.  Over the past four years two Supreme Court Judges and the County Democratic Party leader have gone to prison for their greed and arrogant flouting of the public trust.  Disgraced Judge Gerald Garson is serving more jail time than any New York State Supreme Court Judge has ever been sentenced to.  It is especially appalling in Diane Gordon’s case that she was seeking to have a house built for her in return for helping a developer get a valuable parcel of city land but she did not want her house built in her own assembly district. She did not even want the house built in Brooklyn. She had her eye on a new, gated development in the borough of Queens.  Diane Gordon not only violated her oath as a member of the New York State Assembly she flagrantly violated the trust given to her by her constituents. “

Department of Investigation Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn said, “Today’s felony conviction of New York State Assemblywoman Diane Gordon, which resulted from a DOI undercover investigation, is gratifying news. As an elected official, Gordon was supposed to work for the best interests of her Brooklyn community. Instead, Gordon marketed herself as a corrupt legislator ready to use her position to help a private builder unlawfully acquire City-owned land in her district if he, in exchange, would build her a half-million-dollar house in a gated community in Queens for practically no money. We know this because Gordon said so in nine meetings with the builder while DOI investigators secretly recorded their conversations. For example, Gordon told the builder, who was cooperating with DOI, “I want to deliver these properties to you so I can get this house for little to nothing. I don’t want to pay a mortgage.” DOI’s investigation further showed that Gordon sought to conceal her crimes by arranging for her mother to act as the purchaser of the house and for the builder to deposit approximately $7,500 in a checking account opened in her mother’s name, which her mother then returned to the builder as a purported “down payment.” Today, the jury in Brooklyn found that the evidence painstakingly gathered by DOI investigators proved Assemblywoman Gordon guilty of crimes involving abuse of her public office.

That Gordon, a State legislator, seized on a City program to build affordable housing on City-owned land in her district as her opportunity to sell her office and to obtain her own luxury housing elsewhere adds a layer of outrageousness to her misconduct. It’s fortunate that DOI was right there to witness and record Gordon’s criminal scheme as it unfolded, ensure that it failed, and expose it publicly by referring the evidence for criminal prosecution.

I thank and congratulate Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes and his staff, particularly Assistant District Attorney Michael Spanakos, for their professionalism in prosecuting this case to its successful conclusion and all the DOI investigators whose skill and professionalism made this prosecution possible, particularly Deputy Commissioner Vincent E. Green, Assistant Commissioner Alberta Ancrum, and Assistant Inspector General Joseph H. Medina.”

Gordon was found guilty of seeking a $500,000 single-family home as a bribe from a Brooklyn contractor for just one dollar. In exchange for the home and the free installation of doors in her Assembly offices, Gordon told the contractor she would use her influence to have a $2 million city-owned vacant lot turned over to him for development.

On the video recordings made by investigators from the Brooklyn DA’s Office and the Department of Investigation, Gordon explained to the contractor how he could win favor with other elected and government officials who would ultimately decide whether he would get the property. She also wrote a letter recommending the contractor for the project, in addition to obtaining recommendations from other local elected officials.

Deputy Bureau Chief Michel Spanakos and Senior Investigative Attorney Patrick Cappock from the Rackets Division prosecuted the case.  Michael Vecchione is Chief of the Rackets Division.