Soft-on-crime Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg was comped free tickets worth at least $9,400 combined to attend 17 swanky black tie-affairs and other galas last year — most of them put on by lefty groups doing business with the city, The Post has learned.
Fourteen of the 17 freebies were dished out by nonprofits and other organizations with city contracts — and more than half ranged from $1,000 to nearly $5,000 in value, including some attended by music and sports industry celebs, according to a review of Bragg’s yearly financial disclosure filings with the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board.
They included:
- A June 18 gala for the Vera Institute of Justice, whose mission is ending “mass incarceration.”
- The Apollo Theater’s Spring Benefit on June 11 where R & B artists Usher and Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds were honored.
- The NYC Police Foundation’s June 6 gala at the Intrepid Museum in Manhattan where tickets ran at least $2,500 each, and Giants Super Bowl MVP Phil Simms attended.
- A event also held June 6 for Brooklyn-based Center for Alternatives Sentencing and Employment Services, who provided Bragg tickets worth $50 to $999 in value.
The three events Bragg attended that were not thrown by groups with city business included the April 10 “Keepers of the Dream” gala for Rev. Al Sharpton’s civil rights group National Action Network, which holds plenty of clout with New York Democratic pols. The DA valued his ducats being worth anywhere from $1,000 to nearly $5,000.
Bragg — a Democrat who’s has been slammed by critics since taking over as DA in 2022 for villainizing victims while going easy on suspects — reported his ticket totals were worth in the range of $9,400 to nearly $53,000.
By comparison, Bronx DA Darcel Clark reported attending 10 events last year as gifts worth a combined $1,400 to nearly $13,000; Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez reported attending seven valued at combined $2,260; and Queens DA Melinda Katz and Staten Island DA Michael McMahon reported no such freebies.
Many of Bragg’s comped tickets blur the lines of potential conflicts of interest because as Manhattan’s lead prosecutor he should avoid schmoozing with groups pushing a woke social justice agenda, critics said.
And Bragg “should know better” than to “accept complimentary gifts from businesses that do business with the city,” said Republican Maud Maron, a former Legal Aid Society attorney running against Bragg for Manhattan DA.
“Of course he spends his free time rubbing shoulders with the moneyed elite whose luxury beliefs let them feel good about themselves while imposing steep costs on everyday New Yorkers who can’t buy their way out of crime and grime,” she said.
Bragg didn’t list attending any events as free gifts in his previous financial disclosure statements for 2022 and 2023.
“Instead of focusing on making our streets safer, DA Bragg has focused on hobnobbing with special interests at glitzy events,” said Diana Florence, a veteran prosecutor running as an independent against him in November’s general election.
“Since day one, he has pursued a social experiment that’s made our city more hospitable for criminals and less safe for everyone else. Enough is enough.”
Bragg spokesperson Danielle Filson said the DA “fully disclosed his support and attended events for victims of domestic violence, NAN, the NYC Police Foundation … and other civic, charitable and community organizations whose work is relevant to the office – just like his predecessors and fellow DAs.”
“This is nothing but a pathetic attempt to smear Bragg’s strong record of keeping Manhattan safe to score cheap political points,” she said of his critics.
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