“We are investigating these issues and are unable to discuss the details at this time,” he said. Gilbert said.
Rivera’s treatment of women has been widely discussed in the Bronx Network for Parents Housing over the past few years, former employees told The Times.
The organization paid a total of $ 175,000 in confidential settlements in 2017 and 2019 to two former employees who accused Rivera of sexual harassment and assault. One of them told New York police that 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, because she was sexually harassed in 2017 by Mr. Rivera. But the city referred her complaint to the Bronx Parent Housing Network, which ruled it was unfounded. And a former employee sent an industry-wide email in 2018 referring to Mr. Rivera’s abusive behavior and said he quit because as the father of a ‘young girl’ he would be devastated to know that a predator was leveraging her. ”
Mr. Rivera co-founded the Bronx Parent Housing Network in 2000 with other people from his church. Since 2017 alone, his organization has received $ 274 million in city funding to manage nearly 70 homeless premises.
But as city funding comes in, Mr. Rivera’s personal fortune also increased. He found his lucrative housing businesses captured the finances of his unprofitable operations, sent lucrative contracts to friends and co-workers and provided employment to several members of his family, The Times found.
A bell ringer told the city’s social services department about Rivera’s nepotism and conflicts of interest in 2017, and the city put the group on a special watch list. But Mr. Rivera went on to find ways to benefit himself and his associates, The Times found.
The Times has for years filled the board of the nonprofit with friends and associates of Mr. Rivera. In an earlier statement, an attorney for the Bronx Parent Housing Network said all board members had resigned with potential conflict. In the early days of the organization, the lawyer said, Mr. Rivera relied on his personal contacts to build his business.