Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was ordered Thursday to make a payment of $475,000 following a ruling by the city’s ethics board, which determined that he had misappropriated public funds for a police security detail during his unsuccessful presidential campaign.
This penalty constitutes the largest ever imposed by New York’s Conflicts of Interest Board, concluding a lengthy investigation into the two-term mayor’s use of taxpayer money to cover the travel expenses of NYPD officers who accompanied him on campaign stops throughout the country.
According to the ruling, which de Blasio has pledged to contest, the Democratic politician will be compelled to reimburse the city for $320,000, which was expended on the officers’ airfare, accommodation, meals, and rental cars over the course of the four-month campaign. Additionally, he will be required to pay a fine of $25,000 for each of the 31 out-of-state trips made by the security detail, resulting in a total of $155,000.
Chairman Milton Williams of the Conflicts of Interest Board delivered the order, declaring that de Blasio had “clearly violated” the city’s prohibition on using public resources to promote a political campaign.
de Blasio’s lawyer Andrew G. Celli Jr. said, “In the wake of the January 6th insurrection, the shootings of Congressmembers Giffords and Scalise, and almost daily threats directed at local leaders around the country, the COIB’s action – which seeks to saddle elected officials with security costs that the City has properly borne for decades – is dangerous, beyond the scope of their powers, and illegal.”
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