Guilty Pleas in the Ulrich DOB Bribery Case, Trial This Month

Joseph Livreri and Anthony Livreri pleaded guilty on September 9 in a bribery conspiracy that includes former New York City Buildings Commissioner Eric Ulrich among the co-defendants. Each pleaded to one count of fourth-degree conspiracy, a class E felony, and one count of third-degree bribery, a class D felony. Sentencing is set for December 10. The case against Ulrich remains open and is scheduled for trial later this month.

Why it matters

Strip out the politics and this is a case about how fast a city inspection happens. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office says the defendants sought jobs for themselves and family members, and expedited inspections at businesses that were carrying health and building code violations. For anyone who runs jobs in New York, that is the process every schedule depends on: inspection sequencing, violation clearance and the removal of a stop-work or vacate condition are the gates between a permit and a working site.

The Investigation Department’s account is broader than the inspections alone. Its release lists the benefits obtained as expedited inspections at commercial businesses, access to senior members of the Adams administration, and a city position for the daughter of another defendant. That combination is the reason this reaches past one agency.

The numbers

Two defendants, two counts each, one sentencing date. The Livreris face a class E felony and a class D felony, and will be sentenced December 10, the same day a separate Buildings Department deadline lands on the industry over revoked Site Safety Training cards. No dollar figure for the bribes appears in the Investigation Department’s announcement, and no restitution amount has been published.

“Joseph and Anthony Livreri’s illegal conduct is quintessential public corruption,” Investigation Commissioner Nadia I. Shihata said.

What’s next

The Ulrich trial later this month is where the rest of the record becomes public, and that testimony is what will show whether the conduct reached the permitting and enforcement functions builders actually queue in, or stopped at inspection scheduling for commercial tenants. Two enforcement actions against the Buildings Department’s own processes inside a single week is the pattern worth watching, not either case alone. More in our New York coverage.