Attorney General Tish James faces criticism over alleged $100 million charity misuse in Harlem

Columbia University contributed $100 million to the West Harlem Development Corp. in 2009 to drive economic growth and fund $20 million of affordable housing in Harlem. Instead, the nonprofit is alleged to have become a conduit for political patronage, distributing grants to minor arts and youth groups, paying large salaries to well-connected insiders, and assisting the Council on American Islamic Relations with a strategy after the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks.

Chair Milton Tingling, a retired judge, was recently appointed to Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s advisory panel, while executive director Zead Ramadan, also a CAIR-New York board member, is the target of a federal lawsuit filed by former housing director Vincent Morgan, who recorded Ramadan’s purported racist tirades. Attorney General Tish James, whose portfolio includes oversight of tax-exempt charities, has been occupied with lawsuits against the Trump administration and other groups and has not pursued an investigation into the WHDC’s alleged waste and self-dealing. Observers view the WHDC as a prime example of the broader neglect and inefficiency in New York’s so-called economic-development initiatives.