By CHARISSE HILL
Opening arguments began Tuesday in the federal trial of a Brooklyn real-estate developer and two lawyers, charged with bribing a senior New York City housing official.
Lawyers Michael Freeman and Lee Hymowitz and real estate developer Stevenson Dunn, all partners at SML Developers, were arrested on charges of bribery and wire fraud in October 2011.
Wendell Walters, the former assistant commissioner of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, was expected to testify about payoff money he accepted in return for awarding developers contracts to sell affordable housing with HPD funds. In March 2012. Walters pleaded guilty to taking $2.5 million in bribes and agreed to become a witness in the trial.
“The men seated behind me defrauded the city and took taxpayer’s money in a greedy scheme to line their own pockets,” Anthony Capozollo, a federal prosecutor who specializes in public corruption told jurors. “These defendants chose profit, greed, and taking taxpayer money over an honest system.”
Dunn, a high school classmate of Walters is charged with extortion, bribery and racketeering. Secret recordings were expected as evidence for the extortion charge. The audiotape features Dunn’s complaints about a general contractor who failed to pay the demanded kickback, Capozollo said.
“Like water flowing down hill, money is supposed to flow from HUD and HPD down to developers and then down to general contractors,” he said. “It’s not supposed to flow up.”
Dunn’s attorney Tony Evans painted a contrasting picture of the Brooklyn developer to the jurors. Evans described Dunn as an innovative, self-made family man who purchased his first property in Bedford Stuyvesant over two decades ago.
Evans said that Dunn is innocent and advised the jury not to trust the government’s witnesses, referring to them as “Bob the Builder” and “Greedy George”.
“As New Yorkers we make hostile decisions,” he said. “You folks have the unique and historic responsibility of determining who is credible in this case – take your time with your assessment.”
Hymowitz’s lawyer, Maurice Sercarz accused the government of bungling the case. He told jurors that Hymowitz did not participate in any of the unlawful transactions described in the indictment.
“There comes a point where they start to assemble evidence to support their point of view, rather than the facts,” Sercarz said. “This demonstrates the lack of care on the prosecution’s behalf.”
Michael Freeman’s attorney was scheduled to make his opening statement on Wednesday.
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