“We are looking into these issues and we cannot discuss the details at the moment,” said Gilbert.
Rivera’s treatment of women has been widely discussed in the Bronx Parent Housing Network in recent years, former employees told The Times.
The organization paid $ 175,000 in confidential deals in 2017 and 2019 to two former employees who accused Mr. Rivera of sexual harassment and assault, the records show. One of them told the New York police that Mr. Rivera slapped her and forced her to have oral sex in a shelter where she worked.
A homeless woman also complained to the New York Department of Social Services, which oversees shelter operators, about being sexually harassed by Mr. Rivera in 2017. But the city forwarded her complaint to the Bronx Parent Housing Network. , which decided it was unfounded. And a former employee sent an email to the entire company in 2018, alluding to Rivera’s abusive behavior and said he was quitting because, as the father of a girl, he would be “devastated to learn that she would be attacked by a predator who influence on it. “
Mr. Rivera founded the Bronx Parent Housing Network in 2000 with others in his church. Since 2017, his organization has received $ 274 million in municipal funding to manage nearly 70 homeless housing facilities.
But as the city’s funding came in, Rivera’s personal fortune also grew. He tangled his for-profit real estate companies with the finances of his non-profit organization, secured lucrative contracts with friends and associates, and provided jobs for several members of his family, the Times found.
A whistleblower told the city’s Department of Social Services about Rivera’s nepotism and conflicts of interest in 2017, and the city put the group on a special watch list. But Rivera continued to find ways to benefit himself and his associates, the Times found.
The nonprofit’s board for years was filled with Rivera’s friends and associates, the Times found. In a previous statement, a lawyer for the Bronx Parent Housing Network said that all board members with potential conflicts had resigned. In the organization’s early days, the lawyer said, Rivera relied on his personal contacts to build his operation.