FORMER CEO AND BUSINESS PARTNER AT CITY-FUNDED NONPROFIT HOMELESS SERVICES PROVIDER PLEAD GUILTY TO CONSPIRACY TO DEFRAUD NYC OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS

  

Jocelyn E. Strauber, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Investigation (“DOI”), issued the following statement on the guilty pleas by THOMAS BRANSKY, 49, the former Chief Executive Officer of Childrens Community Services Inc. (“CCS”), and his business partner, PETER WEISER, 82, on charges relating to a scheme to defraud New York City in connection with the provision of temporary housing and homeless services. On October 17, 2025, WEISER pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1349 before U.S. District Judge Vernon S. Broderick of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York; he is scheduled to be sentenced on February 27, 2026. Today, BRANSKY pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Broderick to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 and is scheduled to be sentenced on February 25, 2026. DOI investigated this matter in partnership with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, which is prosecuting the case.

DOI Commissioner Jocelyn E. Strauber said, “These defendants exploited their nonprofit organization and the City’s need for services for homeless New Yorkers to commit fraud, causing the City to pay over $50 million to the nonprofit that it otherwise would not have, and that included inflated prices and unreasonable mark-ups for goods and services. Both defendants now have pled guilty and will be held accountable for their crimes. I thank the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, our partners in the fight to protect critical public resources from wrongdoers.”

According to the indictment and superseding information, BRANSKY was the Chief Executive Officer of CCS, a not-for-profit homeless services provider that had over $900 million in contracts with the City. As CEO, BRANSKY and others engaged in a scheme to defraud the City through CCS and a group of affiliated entities owned and controlled by WEISER, including by making and causing to be made false statements to the City of New York in order to obtain money. The scheme was furthered by electronic communications and bank wires and included submitting false statements and documents to the City to conceal WEISER’s role and ownership of the affiliated companies. CCS, and ultimately the City, paid over $50 million to WEISER’s companies for various goods and services—many of which were provided by other, legitimate companies and then simply marked up as much as three times their actual cost. Through this scheme, WEISER collected more than $7 million in illicit profits, while BRANSKY earned more than $1.2 million in salary.

View the release on the October 2023 indictment of the defendants here: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/ceo-and-business-partner-charged-massive-scheme-defraud-newyork-citys-homeless

Commissioner Strauber thanked Jay Clayton, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, for his office’s partnership on this case, which is being prosecuted by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys Nicholas Chiuchiolo, Ni Qian, and Matthew Weinberg are in charge of the prosecution. Commissioner Strauber also thanked the City Department of Social Services for its cooperation with the investigation.