Former executive staff members of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC) improperly used state funds to procure and employ online reputation management services to further their own online reputations, and suppress negative information, implicating provisions of the New York Public Officers Law Code of Ethics.
These, and additional findings, were detailed in a report released today by New York State Inspector General Lucy Lang, who outlined the methods used by the RIOC executive team to manipulate search engine results, including flooding the internet with paid-for positive pieces to drown out negative coverage, in stark contrast to the State’s public policy goals of transparent government.
“Government exists to serve the people, and without transparency there can be no trust,” said Inspector General Lucy Lang. “At a time when trust in government is touching historic lows, New York should stand as a bastion for free expression. That state funds were spent to suppress negative coverage of local officials, drowning out constituents’ ability to be heard, undermines that core democratic value.”
More specifically, the Inspector General’s investigation revealed that members of RIOC’s executive staff, including then-President Shelton Haynes, and then- Assistant Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs, Akeem Jamal, offended by what they perceived to be unfair public criticisms of their performance being published online, engaged a digital reputation management firm. This effort, overseen by Jamal, resulted in a $168,680 contract with Status Labs for search engine optimization (SEO) and online reputation management (ORM), an amount that fell just below the threshold requiring RIOC board approval.
Purportedly designed to enhance the public image of RIOC, the Inspector General’s investigation found that any such efforts were secondary to the true purpose of Status Labs’ engagement – to suppress negative press about Haynes, Jamal and other RIOC executive staff members through artificial reputation management tactics and search engine result manipulation. Strikingly, during the pendency of the engagement, Status Labs’ success was measured by analyzing the positive search results returned on searches for certain executive staff names, as opposed to RIOC as an organization, and its progress reports focused on the search engine performance of local blogs considered hostile to Haynes and his team.
The Inspector General also determined that Jamal’s management of the Status Labs contract posed a conflict, due to his personal interest in the suppression of negative articles about himself, many of which involved matters that predated and were unrelated to his employment with RIOC. Additionally, while the other members of RIOC executive staff were not tasked with managing the contract, they were involved in reviewing draft articles about themselves and participating in interviews with Status Labs staffers who were creating artificial positive articles.
“Engagement with New Yorkers will only make state government stronger,” said Inspector General Lang, “and while there is no one answer on how best to accomplish that goal, the use of taxpayer resources to silence critics is never the right one. The Offices of the New York State Inspector General remains steadfast in ensuring that public funds are used appropriately and in alignment with the public interest.”
The Inspector General thanked members of her team for their work on this investigation and today’s report, including Investigative Counsel Thomas Collery, Senior Investigator Ilene Gates, and Senior Investigative Counsel & Director of Report Writing Jonathan Masters, working under the supervision of Chief Deputy Inspector General Michele Bayer, Deputy Inspector General for the New York City Region Ken Michaels, and Chief of Investigations for the New York City and Long Island Regions Ben Defibaugh.
Read OIG’s complete report HERE.
The Inspector General is the integrity watchdog that investigates corruption, fraud, and abuse in New York State government and the Workers’ Compensation and Welfare systems. To report wrongdoing, call 1-800-DO-RIGHT (367-4448) or visit ig.ny.gov. Follow the office’s work on social media at @NewYorkStateIG.
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