By The City
Photos: YouTube Screenshots
This story was published in partnership with The Guardian.
Federal and city law enforcers executed a search warrant earlier this month at the Queens home of a pastor who led a political action committee for Mayor Eric Adams — on the same day authorities raided a hotel owned by a developer and Adams fundraiser the pastor had worked for, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The probe out of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York is eyeing the pastor, the Rev. Al Cockfield II, and his dealings with the developer, Weihong Hu, the source said.
The raids by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and city Department of Investigation follow an in-depth reporting project by THE CITY, Guardian US and Documented earlier this year on Hu, her fundraising for Adams and Cockfield’s work on her behalf.
The joint news project revealed Hu had deployed Cockfield to press the city Department of Buildings to greenlight construction work the agency had halted at two of her Manhattan development sites, after one project was cited for violating safety regulations and another demolished and failed to replace required affordable housing.
The city Department of Buildings commissioner has since made an extraordinary apology to the local community board, acknowledging his agency had been wrong to allow the affordable housing to vanish, according to one board member.
Eastern District U.S. Attorney Breon Peace is also looking at the political action committee Cockfield launched just ahead of the general election in 2021…READ MORE
