Is the District Attorney Committing a White Collar Crime in New York City?
A new war is brewing and its contenders are Robert Morgenthau and the Mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg. What does this conflict refer to? This battle is for money. The mayor is concerned about taking control of resources because he faces numerous budget gaps. Mr Morgenthau’s concern is that all the money, other than personnel services, has been spent earlier in the 1970s.
Mr. Morgenthau promised that this will never happen again, and is seeking additional sources of income and is personally involved with the budget. Mr. Morgenthau has experienced considerable success in the past thirty-four years in reducing violent crime rates. It has also expanded its role in dealing with economic and white collar crimes. His office alone has personally hidden millions of dollars in undisclosed bank accounts. Mayor Bloomberg feels that these millions of dollars should be in the hands of the city and not the district attorney’s office.
Mayor Bloomberg has praised Mr. Morgenthau for his successful years of service, but turned around at the same time and stated that he was wrong for his actions in hiding money for the district attorney’s office when it should be overseen by the city of New York. . Mayor Bloomberg’s argument is that the money belongs to the public and not to the district attorney. Mayor Bloomberg has stated that this is analogous to the white collar crime against which Mr. Morgenthau has been prosecuted.
The District Attorney states that the administration has been made aware of the salary accounts and has issued checks from the account on several occasions. He also claims that in the past, there was not enough money to pay his employees and the District Attorney remembers when his office could not pay any of his bills.
The District Attorney has stated that with the emergence of more white collar crimes to fight, he needs the money that has been hidden and is refusing to hand it over to New York City. This charge is due to the discretionary measures of the mayoralty’s past.
New York City provides approximately eighty-two percent of the budget for the district attorney’s office. The city wants the money from all the fines and successful prosecutions. Mayor Bloomberg in particular feels that the city should get all the money from the settlements in cases of indictments.
Morgenthau claims that he understands that the state deserves a share of the pot, yet the city in 1985, when he needed money to prosecute white-collar crimes such as tax evaders, his job was mocked and his office did not have the resources. to fight certain white collar crimes.
With whom will you side with this issue? The Mayor Bloomberg who feels the money from the district attorney’s office belongs to New York City or the district attorney who claims the money is necessary to commit regular and white collar crimes? I don’t think we’ve seen the last of this battle between Mayor Bloomberg and the District Attorney, Mr. Morgenthau.