NEW YORK, N.Y. – Federal prosecutors have charged Anthony Herbert, the former Citywide Public Housing Liaison at the New York City Mayor’s Office, with multiple counts of bribery, fraud, and extortion, alleging he used his position to pressure city officials and secure personal payments from businesses seeking favorable treatment.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, Herbert, 61, of Brooklyn, was arrested Wednesday morning and charged in a newly unsealed federal indictment. Prosecutors allege that between February 2022 and September 2025, Herbert accepted $16,000 in bribes and kickbacks while serving in the Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit, first as Brooklyn Borough Director and later as the Citywide Public Housing Liaison.
U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said Herbert’s alleged conduct represented a betrayal of public trust. “At a time when Anthony Herbert was serving as City Hall’s liaison to the City’s public housing residents, he engaged in blatant pay-to-play schemes to enrich himself,” Clayton said. “New Yorkers deserve honest and competent public officials.”
Investigators say Herbert engaged in two separate schemes. In the first, he allegedly accepted thousands of dollars in cash from a security company executive in exchange for pressuring city officials to award contracts to the firm, including for services at New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) properties. In the second, prosecutors allege he conspired with a funeral home director to steer publicly funded burial assistance payments to the business in return for kickbacks.
IRS-Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Harry T. Chavis Jr. said Herbert “used his position in the NYC Mayor’s Office to create a side hustle of bribery and fraud,” adding that the case underscores the agency’s partnership with SDNY investigators to hold public officials accountable.
DOI Commissioner Jocelyn E. Strauber said Herbert also filed false financial disclosures to conceal the payments, calling his alleged actions “an egregious exploitation of public trust and influence.”
In addition to the bribery and kickback schemes, prosecutors say Herbert fraudulently obtained a $20,418 Paycheck Protection Program loan in April 2021 by submitting an application for a fictitious baked goods business.
Herbert is charged with two counts of bribery, one count each of honest services wire fraud, federal program fraud, extortion under color of official right, and wire fraud. If convicted on all counts, he faces a maximum sentence of up to 90 years in federal prison.
A former official in the New York City Mayor’s Office was charged in a federal corruption case alleging he accepted bribes, pressured officials, and filed false documents to enrich himself.
