Sources: De Blasio Fundraising Probe Moves On To Questioning Of Donors
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Sources said Friday that investigators are in their next stage of inquiry in the New York City corruption scandal, poring over documents and questioning people who gave money to Mayor Bill de Blasio in the last several years.
As CBS2 Political Reporter Marcia Kramer reported, Bar Toto in Park Slope Brooklyn is one of the mayor's favorite haunts, located a few doors down from the building he owns there. Now, it seems to figure into the corruption probes too.
According to the Wall Street Journal, de Blasio and fundraiser Ross Offinger sometimes sat in the restaurant together, making calls to ask for donations.
Offinger is just one of many subpoenaed in the twin probes by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, into both the mayor's fundraising and whether any quid pro quos – favorable government action – were offered in exchange.
And while the probes have been going on for months, sources said it has now turned to the donors themselves, and records and documents obtained either willingly or through subpoena. The documents, sources said, come from donors, mayoral aides and political consultants.
They include financial records, as well as correspondence between the mayor's political arm and local county committees, sources said.
The correspondence is critical because one of the probes centers on de Blasio's 2014 campaign to unseat state Senate Republicans, and whether the mayor used the county committees to funnel contributions to Democratic state candidates.
One of those candidates was Putnam County Democrat Justin Wagner, who despite de Blasio's best efforts, lost to Sen. Terrence Murphy (R-Shrub Oak).
Murphy's team filed the first complaints about what he called "Bill de Blasio's pay to play scam."
"It's like an onion. The more you peel it back, the stinkier it gets," Murphy said on May 27. "And Bill de Blasio stinks of corruption."
Among those who turned over documents are members of NYCLASS, who sought to have Mayor de Blasio ban horse carriages.
Sources said investigators still have a lot more to do, and that the probe could go on into the fall.
