Comment on Pending Mount Vernon Litigation

December 23, 2019 at 6:40 PM

OFFICIAL COMMENT BY FORMER MAYOR RICHARD THOMAS

This is another personal attack by Andre Wallace and his drug kingpin cronies. On the merits of pending litigation that I have not seen nor have been served with, under advice of counsel, I cannot comment at this time. While I maintain my position that I did nothing wrong and followed advice of legal counsel, I look forward to my attorneys handling this frivolous matter.

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FOR BACKGROUND PURPOSES ONLY

The real question is how come $250,000+ in legal fees for Comptroller Reynolds personal lawyers were paid without Board of Estimate knowledge or approval?

Thousands were paid to defend former Mayor Ernest Davis for his personal income tax evasion case along with illegal dumping at Memorial Field. This comes on top of approximately $2 million recently spent cleaning up the mess.

Then Councilman Wallace broke into the Urban Renewal Agency, removed federal documents related to millions in undocumented loans, and his costly legal defense was paid for by the City.

Former Comptroller Walker and Councilman Griffith illegally signed checks, embezzling millions of dollars from the City in early 2016 and a State Supreme Court Judge ordered them to stop their reckless actions.

Yet, I remain a political target and no action has been taken to bring any of them to account.

History shows that those that make positive changes and blow the whistle on real wrongdoing are attacked in spectacular fashion. The strong endure. In the end, the truth will prevail and I expect my attorneys to address all of these frivolous actions thru dismissal.