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The head of former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's security detail was reportedly suspended Tuesday amid an ongoing obstruction probe by Manhattan prosecutors.
NYPD Inspector Howard Redmond, who formerly headed de Blasio's security team, was suspended without pay, the New York City Police Department confirmed to Fox News Digital.
The New York Daily News reported that the department notified commands in an email Tuesday of Redmond's suspension. The internal email did not provide an explanation, the outlet said.
Sources told the Daily News that Redmond was recently brought in for an interview at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office. Bragg's investigators have reportedly interviewed all the NYPD detectives who served on de Blasio's security detail at the same time as Redmond, the sources added.
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Fox News Digital also reached out to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office for comment Wednesday, but they did not immediately respond.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, center, chats with NYPD Inspector Howard Redmond during the Annual Greek Day Parade on April 14, 2019. Redmond is under investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. (Luiz C. Ribeiro/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Redmond, who reportedly earned more than $230,000 as an NYPD employee last year, has been quietly under investigation by the Manhattan DA's office since the New York City Department of Investigation (DOI) referred him for potential prosecution in 2021. At the same time, months before de Blasio left office, the DOI issued a report which deemed that the mayor treated the officers assigned to his security detail as a "concierge service," using them to move his daughter into an apartment and shuttle his son to college at Yale University.
Last month, de Blasio was ordered 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 years-long 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.
Then-New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is seen during the press briefing at NYPD Headquarters. De Blasio has been accused of misusing his security detail. (Albin Lohr-Jones/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
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Under the ruling, which the former mayor almost immediately appealed, de Blasio 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.
The order was handed down by the Conflicts of Interest Board Chair Milton Williams, who found that de Blasio "plainly violated" the city’s prohibition on using public resources to advance a political campaign. De Blasio was advised of this rule prior to his campaign, but "disregarded the Board’s advice," Williams wrote in his ruling.
Then-New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio at the 95th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Balloon Inflation on the Upper West Side on Nov. 24, 2021 in New York City. Last month, de Blasio was ordered 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. (Photo by Alexi Rosenfeld/WireImage)
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In a statement, de Blasio attorney Andrew G. Celli Jr. described the ruling as "reckless and arbitrary," as well as "dangerous, beyond the scope of their powers, and illegal."
Arguing acts of political violence underscored the security needs for public servants, Celli referenced the "January 6th insurrection," the shootings of former Rep. Gabby Giffords, D-Ariz., and Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., as well as the "almost daily threats directed at local leaders around the country."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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