BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The I-Team has discovered a 15-page federal lawsuit filed against the City of Buffalo, preceded by a raid of Buffalo City Hall, has been dropped and won't be prosecuted.
In November 2019, would-be whistleblower, Nona Watson, the former Executive Director of the Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency (BURA) filed an action under the Federal False Claims Act.
She claimed there was a "well-orchestrated fraud" inside City Hall that led to the improper use of federal money.
But in March, the U.S. government declined to intervene and Watson dropped this case. Her attorney, Harvey Sanders, tells 7 News' Kristen Mirand this is too big of a case to take on without the right resources and Watson wants to put this case behind her.
Watson said she saw firsthand how this money was misused.
In the lawsuit, Watson alleged if the money was used properly, it could have funded up to five projects a year in the city, and developed a "diverse pool of real estate developers from all backgrounds."
Instead, she claimed Mayor Byron Brown and Brendan Mehaffy, the Executive Director of the Office of Strategic Planning made real estate decisions based on "their own personal agendas" and steer public resources to well-connected developers like Nick Sinatra and David Pawlik.
The lawsuit claims that a city employee told Watson the budget would not be such a problem each year if the "Mayor did not give so many tax breaks to these developers.
The I-Team found that Sinatra and Pawlik donated thousands of dollars to Brown's campaign finances for years. 7 News did reach out to both developers but has yet to hear back.
On Monday, following the State of the City address, Mayor Brown responded to the lawsuit.
"Ms. Watsons' civil case was voluntarily dismissed, you know that says all you need to know about that issue," he said.
A 2019 lawsuit from former city employee Nona Watson claims there's massive fraud inside Buffalo City Hall. The lawsuit claims improper use of federal money. Recently, the US Gov. declined to intervene & the case was dropped. @MayorByronBrown responded to this moments ago @WKBW pic.twitter.com/AWXzIZTBFc
— Kristen Mirand WKBW (@kristen_mirand) May 1, 2023
MORE: Buffalo City Hall raided by FBI, HUD, IRS
The claim explains, "Mayor Brown has made decisions and approved previous projects without proper documentation and/or going through proper protocol. For another example, one such decision provided $2,750,000 to the church he attends. This type of behaviour [sic], misuse, and abuse of federal funds is also cause for delay regarding more recent projects."
The would-be whistleblower claims she was terminated after raising concerns about what was happening inside the BURA office.
Days before this lawsuit was filed, there was a massive FBI raid inside City Hall.
On November 6, 2019, F.B.I. agents, with Housing and Urban Development, Office of the Inspector General and I.R.S. officials conducted a court authorized search warrant inside Buffalo City Hall.
MORE: Mayor Brown comments on FBI raid at City Hall
Two large carts wrapped with tape and blue tarps were wheeled out of the building.
The day-long raid centered around the Mayor’s Office of Strategic Planning with focus on two agencies: the Buffalo Urban Development Corporation and BURA.
At this point, it's unclear if the two events are connected.
