Ex-NYC Mayor de Blasio ordered to pay $475K for misusing public funds on failed White House bid
Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was ordered Thursday to pay $475,000 by a city ethics board that found he misused public funds on a police security detail during his failed presidential bid.
The hefty fine is the largest ever handed out by New York’s Conflicts of Interest Board, capping off a yearslong investigation into the two-term mayor’s use of taxpayer dollars to cover the travel costs of NYPD officers who accompanied him on cross-country campaign stops.
Under the ruling, which he has vowed to appeal, de Blasio, a Democrat, will be forced to reimburse the city for $320,000 spent on the officers’ flights, hotels, meals and rental cars during the four-month campaign. He will also have to pay a fine of $5,000 for each of the security detail’s 31 out-of-state trips, amounting to $155,000.