New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has subpoenaed two subordinates of ousted Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes, according to the Daily News. The subpoenas targeted former Hynes spokesperson Jerry Schmetterer and former campaign consultant Mortimer Matz, and suggest that Schneiderman may be building a criminal case against Hynes.
Hynes's relationship with Matz was reviewed in a recent report by the NYC Department of Investigation that said he used seized money for campaigning. That report (read it here) said that between 2002 and 2013 Hynes paid Matz's consulting firm $1.1 million out of state asset-forfeiture-funds, including money seized from drug dealers. Seized funds are required to be used for law enforcement purposes.
Not a week after the DOI report, new Brooklyn DA Ken Thompson fired 11 Hynes holdovers: nine attorneys and two staffers. Thompson denied that those terminations were related to the DOI report, but last year a former Hynes ADA told us, "Half of this office should go, really."
A spokeswoman with the Attorney General's office said she could not confirm that the subpoenas were sent.
