Mercedes benzs

A New York real estate broker was sentenced to nine months of house arrest this week for paying a former shelter operator hundreds of thousands of dollars in a yearslong bribery scheme to profit from city funding meant for homeless people.

The broker, Sheina Levin, 61, owned a real estate company in Brooklyn. As the ranks of homeless people swelled in the city in recent years and the need for shelters grew more urgent, she paid a prominent shelter operator, Victor Rivera, more than $830,000 in kickbacks so his organization would lease property she controlled, federal prosecutors said.

Mr. Rivera, the former chief executive of the Bronx Parent Housing Network, pleaded guilty last year to federal crimes related to the bribery scheme and was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison . Mr. Rivera’s financial entanglements with Ms. Levin, as well as wide-ranging accusations of sexual assault and harassment against him, were first revealed in a New York Times investigation in 2021 .

Ms. Levin was sentenced on Wednesday after pleading guilty in March to one count of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud for her role in the pay-to-play scheme, which stretched from 2019 to 2021.

“Her felony conviction and the sentence imposed today show that those who put personal greed ahead of the needs of vulnerable city residents will face serious consequences,” said Jocelyn E. Strauber, commissioner of the New York City Department of Investigation, which investigated the case with agents from the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan.

In court filings, Ms. Levin described how Mr. Rivera first solicited bribes from her while they were working together to sublease several buildings she controlled in the Bronx as homeless shelters.

As the subleases were being arranged, Mr. Rivera demanded that he personally receive a cut of Ms. Levin’s rental profits, and she complied, she said.

“I knew that doing so would enable the subleases to go forward and that these payments were improper,” Ms. Levin said. “Mr. Rivera knew that I would make a profit on these arrangements due to my direct lease agreements with the owners of those properties.”

Prosecutors said Ms. Levin disguised the payments to Mr. Rivera as consulting fees to a bogus company run by his son, and that he used the kickbacks to make mortgage payments on his home.

After Mr. Rivera helped found the Bronx Parent Housing Network two decades ago, he built the organization into one of the largest shelter operators in New York, netting $274 million in city money from 2017 to 2021. But as the money flowed in, Mr. Rivera treated the nonprofit group as his personal domain, The Times found, collecting an annual salary of $453,000, driving a Mercedes-Benz leased by the organization and steering millions of dollars in contracts to friends and associates.

Mr. Rivera demanded kickbacks from some of those associates as well, including a construction company and a security guard firm, according to prosecutors. But the bribes he received from Ms. Levin, his one-time partner in a separate housing venture, were the most substantial.

The felony charge Ms. Levin pleaded guilty to carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. But prosecutors recommended that she be sentenced to house arrest and two years of supervised release because they said she made “sincere efforts” to aid the investigation into Mr. Rivera.

She also agreed to forfeit more than $790,000 and pay more than $838,000 to the Bronx Parent Housing Network.

In a statement, Ms. Levin’s lawyer said Mr. Rivera “manipulated her dedication to servicing the homeless population into supporting his own personal corruption.”

“Ms. Levin acknowledges her terrible mistake in going along with Victor’s demand for kickbacks,” said the lawyer, Michael Farkas, “and she is committed to making full amends for her conduct.”

As homelessness surged, Victor Rivera saw a chance to get rich.

While he was the chief executive of the Bronx Parent Housing Network, one of the largest homeless shelter operators in New York City, Mr. Rivera found ways of tapping into millions of dollars meant to help the poor, prosecutors said.

He took a cut of payments to a construction company for shelter renovations. He steered millions of dollars in contracts to a security firm that paid him kickbacks and hired his ex-wife for a high-paying job. He took hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from a real estate firm linked to a former business partner in exchange for leasing one of its buildings.

On Monday, Mr. Rivera was sentenced to more than two years in federal prison for accepting about $1.2 million in kickbacks in a scheme that stretched from 2013 to 2020 — a period during which he treated his shelter organization as a personal empire.

“You hurt a substantial not-for-profit organization,” Judge Sidney H. Stein said in a federal courtroom in Manhattan on Monday. “You made people cynical about government anti-poverty programs. You sent a signal that it was OK to stuff your own pockets with money.”

Mr. Rivera’s firing, arrest and guilty plea followed an investigation last year by The New York Times, which detailed a longstanding pattern of sexual and financial abuse by Mr. Rivera. Ten women, including homeless people in his shelters and employees, accused him of sexually assaulting and harassing them during a period in which he also was enriching himself with nonprofit money.

“I was entrusted with a lot of money and a lot of responsibility, and I failed,” Mr. Rivera told the judge at his sentencing hearing. “I am totally embarrassed and ashamed for the heartbreak and shame I caused my family.”

Mr. Rivera, 62, founded the Bronx Parent Housing Network in 2000, and he developed the organization into a major player in the city’s social services industry by leaning heavily on his personal story of redemption. He said he had once been homeless, incarcerated and addicted to crack cocaine before turning his life around and starting the nonprofit organization to help the less fortunate. Mr. Rivera’s group has received more than $274 million in city funding to run homeless shelters since 2017.

But as city money came in, Mr. Rivera began living lavishly. Prosecutors said he collected a salary of $453,000, and The Times reported he drove a Mercedes-Benz leased by his nonprofit, steered lucrative contracts to friends and associates and entwined nonprofit business with for-profit companies he ran.

In court documents, prosecutors described a nonprofit leader who publicly touted his good works in the community while privately taking kickbacks. The court filings also revealed which contractors had paid Mr. Rivera off — details that closely aligned with previous reporting by The Times.

“Mr. Rivera was well-paid,” said David Abramowicz, assistant United States attorney for the Southern District of New York. “He didn’t need more. He wanted more.”

Mr. Rivera accepted more than $66,000 in kickbacks from a company called RJP Construction and its owner, Fernando Rodriguez, a Bronx pastor, according to court filings. He arranged for RJP to get contracting work in one shelter building in the Bronx in return for 7 percent of the construction contract. The kickbacks were disguised as “consulting fees” paid to a company operated by Mr. Rivera and his ex-wife. Mr. Rodriguez was criminally charged in a separate health care fraud case in which he pleaded guilty.

Mr. Rivera pocketed another $492,000 in kickbacks from a security firm called Prime Protective Bureau, which had received $12 million in contracts to police the Bronx Parent Housing Network’s shelters. Mr. Rivera had the security firm’s CEO cut checks to his for-profit company, Community Outreach Consulting Firm, and to another company run by Mr. Rivera’s son called TLV Consultants, according to prosecutors and Mr. Rivera’s attorney.

Mr. Rivera also required the security company to hire his ex-wife, Lanet Rivera, court filings show, after she was forced to resign from the Bronx Parent Housing Network because of conflict of interest rules. As of last year, Prime Protective Bureau had paid Ms. Rivera more than $372,000. The couple, who married in 2009, separated because of Mr. Rivera’s infidelity and the criminal case, according to a legal filing from Mr. Rivera’s attorney.

Prosecutors said the largest kickback payments to Mr. Rivera — nearly $690,000 — came from a real estate company that lease records show was linked to his former business partner, Sheina Levin.

In exchange for leasing a shelter building from the company, Urban Residences Corp., Mr. Rivera demanded kickback payments to a consulting firm operated by his son, which had “few if any business expenses,” according to Mr. Rivera’s attorney and the government’s sentencing submission. Mr. Rivera used most of the money to pay down the mortgage of his home, prosecutors said.

Attorneys for Ms. Levin declined to comment.

Mr. Rivera’s lawyer had argued that Mr. Rivera should be sentenced to probation and community service because of his years of charitable work and his cooperation with the government. But federal prosecutors said prison time was necessary to deter other shelter operators from exploiting taxpayer funding.

Mr. Rivera was sentenced to 27 months in prison for one count of honest services fraud and must surrender to authorities on June 30. He also agreed to forfeit $1.2 million and repay his shelter organization more than $902,000.

Mr. Rivera’s case was but one example of the difficulties New York City has faced in operating a $2.6 billion homeless shelter system that has been plagued with financial misconduct, especially as need has soared in recent years.

In a series of articles, The Times last year detailed how other shelter executives have personally benefited from the homelessness organizations they ran, including one executive who collected more than $1 million a year in compensation.

In response, New York City officials announced that they would conduct a sweeping audit of the roughly 60 homeless shelter organizations in the city to root out financial abuse. But more than a year later, that audit has yet to be completed.

Flora Montes, one of the women who told The Times that Mr. Rivera had sexually assaulted or harassed her, welcomed his sentencing for financial crimes but said the damage from his sexual misconduct would remain, according to a letter submitted to the court.

In 2019, Ms. Montes, a former employee of Mr. Rivera’s, received a $130,000 settlement from his nonprofit that prevented her from speaking publicly of allegations that Mr. Rivera had touched her inappropriately and made sexually charged comments to her, records show. He has denied sexual impropriety with any woman.

“No amount of money can erase the pain caused by a serial abuser cloaked in authority and power,” Ms. Montes wrote in her letter. “No amount of money can erase the disgust I feel toward those aware but unwilling to stand up and speak out against the machine he had created to benefit himself, his family and his friends.”

Since The Times published its first article about Mr. Rivera, five additional women have filed lawsuits accusing him of sexual harassment, according to a review of the complaints.

The former head of one of the largest operators of homeless shelters in New York pleaded guilty Monday to pocketing hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from contractors in a scheme that went on for years, as homelessness in the city grew to record numbers.

Victor Rivera , the founder and former chief executive of the nonprofit Bronx Parent Housing Network, admitted to accepting kickbacks from contractors working with the organization and laundering the money through entities he controlled, according to the city Department of Investigation.

As part of the plea agreement, Mr. Rivera is expected to face a prison sentence and, according to federal court documents, he has agreed to forfeit $1.2 million. He also agreed to pay $902,000 to the shelter organization he used to run.

“It was a very stupid thing that I did,” Mr. Rivera said during his plea in federal court in Manhattan, according to a transcript of the proceedings. “It was dumb. Greed.”

The case marked a steep fall for a man whose power, influence and wealth grew along with the number of people living in the city’s homeless shelters and on the streets. Since 2017, Mr. Rivera’s organization has received more than $274 million in city funding to operate shelters.

He was arrested weeks after a New York Times investigation last year showed he had run the group with near impunity: Ten women, including homeless women and employees, accused him of sexual assault and harassment, while Mr. Rivera also enriched himself with money meant for his nonprofit, The Times found.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan charged Mr. Rivera in March , saying he had used some of the money to pay the mortgage on his personal home. Mr. Rivera owned a $780,000 home with a heated swimming pool and waterfall in Stony Point, N.Y., and another house in the Poconos.

“Instead of protecting the city-funded nonprofit he once ran, this defendant abused his power, using the nonprofit as a hub for his illicit scheme,” Daniel G. Cort, acting commissioner of the city Department of Investigation, which investigated the case along with federal prosecutors, said in a statement Monday.

Mr. Rivera, 61, is scheduled to be sentenced on May 6 on one count of honest services wire fraud. His recommended sentence under federal guidelines is between three and four years in prison.

“Mr. Rivera accepts full responsibility and is remorseful for his conduct,” said his lawyer, Harlan J. Protass. “He very much looks forward to putting this episode behind him and to rebuilding his life consistent with the public service work he has done for the past 30-plus years.”

During his court proceedings on Monday, Mr. Rivera told the judge, Sidney H. Stein, that while he was taking kickbacks, he did not believe he was stealing from the organization or hurting the thousands of people it served. He said he had come to realize he was wrong.

The scheme lasted from 2013 to 2020, the authorities said, as Mr. Rivera rose to become a major player in the city’s massive social safety net. In public, he frequently invoked a compelling personal story: He said he grew up poor in the South Bronx, even becoming homeless for a time, and that he was convicted of selling drugs and served time in prison before turning his life around.

He founded the Bronx Parent Housing Network in 2000 on a shoestring budget with members of his church.

But as city money came in, Mr. Rivera’s personal fortune also grew, according to The Times investigation. His salary swelled to $306,000 in 2019, and the organization also leased him a Mercedes-Benz with a custom license plate promoting his charity: BPHN ORG.

He mingled the nonprofit’s finances with for-profit housing companies he owned, steering lucrative contracts to friends and associates and providing jobs to several members of his family, the investigation found.

“Victor Rivera sought to leverage his position as the C.E.O. of a nonprofit into a very much for-profit situation for himself,” Audrey Strauss, then the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, said when the charges were first announced.

A representative for the U.S. attorney’s office did not respond to a request for comment on Monday.

The authorities did not specify which contractors paid Mr. Rivera off, exactly how much money he collected or how he laundered the money. But The Times had reported that Mr. Rivera started a for-profit company in 2011, Community Outreach Consulting Firm, that provided housing for people living with H.I.V. and AIDS. Former employees of the Bronx Parent Housing Network told The Times the firm shared staff and resources with the nonprofit group. When Mr. Rivera stepped down from the consulting company in 2018, his wife, who also worked at the firm, took over.

As homelessness has soared in New York in recent years, the city has entered into contracts with dozens of nonprofit organizations to run shelters and provide services. Last year alone, the city awarded $2.6 billion to these groups. But officials have been reluctant to closely scrutinize the finances of nonprofit groups or to end contracts because the city is so reliant on the organizations.

In October, The Times detailed how other executives personally benefited from the homelessness organizations they ran, including one chief executive who earned more than $1 million a year.

The city Department of Social Services, which oversees homeless shelters, had placed the Bronx Parent Housing Network on an internal watch list after a whistle-blower at the organization told officials in 2017 that Mr. Rivera had engaged in financial improprieties, including hiring family members.

But the city continued to give the group millions of dollars, and Mr. Rivera found ways to benefit himself and his associates.

The Times found, for instance, that Bronx Parent Housing Network awarded $184,000 in maintenance contracts to a friend of Mr. Rivera who had performed work at a building Mr. Rivera personally owned in the Bronx. Mr. Rivera’s organization also steered millions of dollars in rent payments to a company owned by his onetime business partner.

Mr. Rivera was ousted from his position at the Bronx Parent Housing Network after The Times story was published.

Mr. Rivera had faced another criminal inquiry: The Bronx district attorney’s office opened an investigation into Mr. Rivera following allegations, reported in The Times, of a pattern of sexual misconduct, including assault.

The nonprofit organization paid a combined $175,000 in confidential settlements in 2017 and 2019 to two former employees who accused Mr. Rivera of sexual harassment and assault, records showed. One of them had told the New York police that Mr. Rivera had coerced her into performing oral sex and told her, “Nobody tells daddy no.”

Mr. Rivera has denied any sexual misconduct. A spokeswoman for the Bronx district attorney said the investigation had closed and Mr. Rivera had not been charged.

Benjamin Weiser