2 NYC Council workers indicted in slush fund probe

AP reports:

Two aides to a New York City Council member have been indicted in connection with a slush fund used to funnel millions of taxpayer dollars to pet projects and favored community groups.

Federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment Wednesday accusing the former chief of staff to Councilman Kendall Stewart with skimming at least $145,000 from a charity that had received council funds.

Called the Donna Reid Memorial Education Fund, the organization was supposed to provide educational assistance to schoolchildren. But the indictment said it "primarily served as a conduit to provide cash and other personal benefits" to Stewart's chief of staff, Asquith Reid.

Reid was charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud, money laundering conspiracy and two counts of witness tampering. Prosecutors said he directed two grand jury witnesses to lie about working for the Donna Reid fund and its related financial transactions. The fund was named after a daughter of Asquith Reid who died of cancer at a young age.

Also charged was Joycinth Anderson, another Stewart staffer. The indictment said she aided Reid in the scheme. Stewart was not named in the indictment.

The two aides' loyalty "should have been to the New York City taxpayers," U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia said at a news conference Wednesday. "Instead, they were driven by greed."

Garcia said the federal probe will continue to take a "hard look" at the council's discretionary funds practice.

Corruption New York style.