Comptroller, Queens electeds call on city to cut contract with indicted Fresh Meadows hotel operator
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Security camera footage captured in Queens allegedly caught CEO Julio Medina taking kickbacks and bribes in exchange for services from Queens hotel operator Weihong Hu. Photo via the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York
By Ryan Schwach
Several local Queens electeds and City Comptroller Brad Lander are calling on the city not to renew a contract with a borough hotel linked to an alleged illegal kickback scheme.
The officials, including Rep. Grace Meng, Assemblymember Nily Rozic and Councilmembers Linda Lee and Sandra Ung, want the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice not to renew a contract for housing formerly incarcerated individuals with Wyndham Garden Fresh Meadows hotel after its owner Weihong Hu, was indicted in a fraud scheme alongside other organizations included in the contract.
The $20 million contract is set to expire on June 30, and if it's renewed, the comptroller says it could mean more city funding in the pockets of Hu and other indicted individuals.
Lander, who is running for mayor, also alleged that the city office improperly increased the contact two times previously and failed to vet the problematic vendor, claims that the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice denies.
In February, Hu along with Julio Medina and Christopher Dantzler were charged with fraud, bribery and money laundering for allegedly taking millions in kickbacks from city taxpayers given to them through the contract.
Prosecutors say that Medina, who led Exodus Transitional Community, a nonprofit that provides reentry services for formerly incarcerated people, diverted taxpayer funds to Dantzler and Hu in exchange for kickbacks.
Medina allegedly solicited and accepted bribes and kickbacks from Hu in exchange for bringing her hotel and her relative’s catering businesses into the work he was contracted to do through the Emergency Housing Program.
“Hotel owner Weihong Hu stands to gain millions of dollars through a shady contract with outlandish lease payments and nepotistic double-dealings with the food caterer,” said Lander. “Ripping off funds meant to provide housing to people transitioning off Rikers is obscene. My office joins local elected officials, who rang the alarm on this, in calling on the Mayor’s Office to immediately halt its plans to renew this contract because doling out $20 million to an individual indicted for fraud against the city is an abuse of taxpayer dollars.”
In a letter to the city, Lander’s office said that the contract should not be cancelled immediately, but not renewed when it comes due this summer.
“This office expects that MOCJ will carefully reconsider whether it is appropriate for services to continue to be provided at the same locations and whether the terms and conditions agreed upon in the underlying contract and related leases serve the best interests of the city and justify the expenditure of public dollars,” Lander’s office’s letter reads.
In a review, the comptroller’s office argued that MOCJ should have terminated the Wyndham contract and a contract with Exodus when reports started to surface last year of improprieties by Medina – who is a well known ally of Mayor Eric Adams.
“[MOCJ] has continually failed to address or take any action in response to the numerous concerns raised in press articles that have ensued over the past year plus,” the letter read. “In doing so, MOCJ continues to facilitate the ability of an indicted hotel owner to reap the benefits of City contracting and receive public dollars.”
Lander’s report also claims that the city and its housing vendor Housing Works, overpaid consistently for Wyndham, which the report said a higher fee than other hotels on the program. The comptroller also claims that two increases to the contract amount came from MOCJ totalling a little over $3 million.
In a response, MOCJ denied many of Lander’s claims.
“The comptroller's letter makes a series of claims about MOCJ that are not accurate – including suggestions of contract increases that never happened,” the agency said in a statement to the Eagle, adding that they intend to respond to Lander in a “timely manner.”
As for the additional payments, MOCJ said the alleged increases were a re-assignement in the budget done to correct a different mistake.
“Our top goal remains providing safety and stability to justice-involved New Yorkers as they transition back into their communities,” the agency continued.
MOCJ also said that while it is working to try and find alternatives to the Wyndham site, they say that the sites are difficult to find, blaming the real estate market and city contracting criteria.
“MOCJ continues to work with its providers to identify alternative sites for this hotel, which the city began using during the previous administration, due to the urgent need for housing during the COVID-19 pandemic,” the agency said. “However, terminating our work at this property without a suitable alternative would risk community safety, retraumatize individuals, and ultimately cost taxpayers more. While we are working diligently to find a new site, siting these kinds of shelters can be difficult for a number of reasons, including a tight real estate market and Fair Share criteria. Ultimately, we defer to our vendors to choose suitable sites, but we will continue to offer assistance through the process.”
While the city looks for alternatives, a quartet of local Queens officials want the problematic hotel site off the city’s payroll and the issues out of their districts.
"The Wyndham Hotel has a history of problems,” said Meng. “These include troubles with safety, transparency and oversight, issues that have long been unacceptable. I have called for the hotel’s contract to be terminated, and I join my government colleagues in renewing this demand, especially with continuing concerns and new revelations. It is time to act.”
Ung said the hotel raised a number of issues for her constituents.
“Not only has this hotel raised issues in the community for years, the decision to allow it to operate as a shelter raised a number of red flags related to transparency and good governance,” she said. “Residents were forced to suffer the quality-of-life issues this hotel created at the same time the operator was profiting from their hard-earned tax dollars. I hope this report from the Comptroller’s Office is just a first step in bringing a resolution to this longstanding issue.”
