WASHINGTON, D.C. – April 8, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — Earlier today, federal agents arrested Stacey Stackhouse, the former executive director of Village of Hempstead Housing Authority (VHHA) and James Alimonos, Michael Lambros, and Demetrios Kaouris, who performed construction work for the agency, for their involvement in a wire fraud conspiracy in connection with the theft of federal funds. The defendants are scheduled to appear this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge A. Kathleen Tomlinson at the federal courthouse in Central Islip, New York.
The charges in a criminal complaint unsealed this morning were announced by Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Christina Scaringi, Special Agent in Charge, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of the Inspector General (HUD-OIG), Northeast Region, and Diego G. Rodriguez, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), New York Field Office.
“The defendants here were entrusted to use federal funds to provide safe and affordable housing to senior citizens and low income residents. Instead, as alleged, they bypassed the rules in order to siphon taxpayer dollars into their own pockets. We are committed to fighting criminal conduct and fraud that targets vital federal programs,” stated United States Attorney Lynch.
“The charges made today prove our determination to root out corruption in public housing authorities. We in the Office of Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation will continue to collaborate and combine resources to accomplish HUD’s vital mission to ensure that decent housing is available to the country’s low and moderate-income families. We also wish to thank the U.S. Attorney’s Office for their committed and steadfast resolve in preserving the integrity of federally-funded programs,” said HUD-OIG Special Agent in Charge Scaringi…
