City Comptroller Brad Lander is blocking the NYPD from awarding a new $5.4 million contract to a construction company facing criminal indictment — and chiding the police department for leaning on the firm to do work at its Manhattan headquarters without anti-corruption “safeguards.”
The company, MDB Development Corp., first secured a $5 million emergency contract with the NYPD in 2021 to inspect and erect scaffolding on the facade of the department’s 1 Police Plaza headquarters after parts of the building fell off.
In January 2023, MDB, its owner, Michael DeBellas, and another employee were indicted on criminal charges alleging they along with a wide range of others participated in a kickback scheme using shell companies to steal money from clients, including funds allocated as part of city government construction contracts. They have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
MDB’s scaffolding contract with the NYPD expired in September 2022.
Barry Williams for New York Daily News
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander. (Barry Williams for New York Daily News)
But the Daily News has learned the NYPD asked Lander’s office in April for approval to enter into a new emergency-based $5.4 million contract with MDB to maintain the scaffolding on the downtown police headquarters, and to do repairs to the facade.
In a Tuesday letter obtained by The News via a Freedom of Information Law request, Deputy Comptroller for Contracts Charlette Hamamgian wrote to the NYPD that Lander’s office is rejecting the emergency contract request due to corruption concerns stemming from MDB’s indictment.
“Other procurement methods were possible and practicable here, and they could and should have been utilized,” Hamamgian wrote, noting it has been years since the facade issues first emerged and arguing the department should’ve solicited bids from other vendors in the interim. “Instead, NYPD chose to proceed with an emergency vendor despite being aware of procurement-related indictments.”
The NYPD press office declined to comment late Tuesday.
An attorney for DeBellas said Lander’s rejection is “inappropriate.”
“We assume the comptroller’s position is based on the pending criminal case in which MDB was mistakenly included,” said the attorney, Nicholas Gravante. The case, which is being brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, accuses two dozen individuals and 26 companies, including MDB, of orchestrating the scheme.
Also in her letter, Hamamgian revealed the NYPD recently acknowledged to her office it has continued to rely on MDB for maintaining the scaffolding — which remains visible on the facade — and doing other work for the department, even though the company no longer has a contract.
The other work MDB has performed for the department since its contract expiration includes asbestos testing, window testing and overhead protection, all of it done without any special oversight measures, according to Hamamgian.
“[The NYPD] has not only continued to retain MDB’s services long after the expiration of the contract on September 30, 2022, and without the required authorization from this office, but has done so without addressing any of the vendor integrity issues raised in the indictment, and without putting any additional safeguards in place,” Hamamgian wrote.
City records show the NYPD has paid the company more than $816,000 since its January 2023 indictment, including a $46,000 check issued this February.
It’s not clear from the records how the money paid out to the company since its contract expiration was allocated. A comptroller’s office source said at least some of it was drawn from the original 2021 contract, which isn’t unusual as payments to city vendors are often late.
It remains unclear whether the NYPD headquarters’ facade will need to undergo actual repair work to prevent more pieces from falling off. According to Hamamgian’s letter, the NYPD was at one point presented with a proposal from MDB saying that type of work would cost $25.3 million.
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