N.Y. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie’s Staff Chief Enjoyed A ‘Opulent’ Lifestyle Off The Drugs Money Of His Husband
New York Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie’s cocaine-dealing husband, the chief of staff, deposited more cash in the bank per month than he reported making in a year, allowing him and his wife to enjoy a luxurious lifestyle, federal prosecutors say in newly filed court documents.
Orlando Dennis, 32, husband of Jevonni Brooks-Dennis, Heastie’s top aide, deposited an average of $10,000 a month over five years from 2015 to 2019, even though according to prosecutors, his work as a freight truck driver netted him just around $10,000 overall per year.
Dennis invested a total of around $600,000 in cash in the bank during that time.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Siegel said: The defendant’s and his wife’s financial records also reflect extravagant purchases from luxury designers and significant, unexplained wealth.
In 2018 and 2019, Dennis spent more than $12,000 on Christian Louboutin, the feds said. Brooks-Dennis, meanwhile, spent $7,000 between 2018 and 2020 at the shop and spent another $9,000 in a single year on hair extensions, prosecutors claimed.
The feds have said that Dennis spent “$1,500 on Gucci. More than $1,300 on Burberry, and more than $1,000 each on Louis Vuitton, Moschino, and Prada.”
After he and his alleged co-conspirators messed up the pickup of a bag carrying three bricks of cocaine at JFK Airport at the end of 2019, Dennis was arrested in January for allegedly taking part in a scheme to import and distribute more than 500 grams of cocaine.
Customs Officers Eventually Found And Searched The Bag
Brooks-Dennis was not charged in the case with any offences. When he was arrested in January, she helped Dennis pay bail.
At the time, Heastie’s spokesman Michael Whyland said that the speaker does not know anything about this.
Dennis and Brooks-Dennis will make cash deposits into both of their bank accounts in the latest disclosure papers and indicate that the speaker’s assistant was breaking the rules with her husband.
In May 2019, in both their accounts, Dennis and Brooks-Dennis made various cash deposits, occasionally hundreds of dollars, sometimes thousands of dollars, the feds say.
“In total, during that two-day period, the defendant and his wife collectively deposited more than $15,000 in cash. This patterns suggests a calculated — and illegal — effort to evade reporting requirements,” Siegel wrote.
The feds filed Monday’s late-night motion attempting to present additional evidence of the suspected drug-dealing lifestyle of Dennis, including messages he sent to business associates.
In March 2019, according to the feds, an unknown entity sent Dennis a text inquiring about the “price” of a “brick.”
The feds said Dennis answered that one costs $35,000 and that half of one costs $17,500. Those values are approximately how much a kilogram and a half kilogram of cocaine costs, prosecutors said.
He told the entity that those were the prices. And according to prosecutors, the person would have to increase the costs to make a profit.
The feds are also looking to incorporate content from Dennis’s Instagram, including photo captions such as “Rich Rich Rich Rich Rich Rich Real Rich” in one. And “Cocaine white” in another that refers to the colour of the clothes he wears.
Jason Goldman, Dennis’ counsel, refused to comment on the cash deposits. And claims of the previous drug-dealing, saying instead that he would respond to the court motion.
