NYPD Brass May Have Exchanged Expensive Trips for Favors

Approximately 20 members of NYPD brass, including a number of chiefs, are being implicated in a corruption investigation by the FBI, the New York Times reports. They're suspected of accepting expensive gifts, including tickets to the Super Bowl, according to the New York Daily News. The New York Post reports other gifts include trips to the Caribbean, Rome, Las Vegas, and London. If NYPD members, who are prohibited from accepting so much as a free lunch, are found to have accepted these trips, they could be punished or even fired. But a New York police union says the chiefs and other brass aren't the targets of the investigation, despite FBI agents showing up at their homes to question them as early as 5am.

The corruption investigation started with an unrelated investigation into a liquor deal involving two businessmen, Jeremy Reichberg and Jona Rechnitz, with connections to New York mayor Bill de Blasio. A tap of the men's phones revealed their generous treatment of NYPD brass. It's unclear what crime Reichberg and Rechnitz are suspected of committing, but sources say they were getting favors from the NYPD in return for their gifts. An NYPD corrections union president questioned by the FBI denies there was any "quid pro quo" going on. But one NYPD detective has been put on restricted detail after refusing to answer questions from a grand jury–convened for the investigation—on whether or not he had ever "fixed tickets" for Reichberg and Rechnitz. Both men have denied any wrongdoing. (More NYPD stories.)