Metropolis Councilman Yusef Salaam — one of many exonerated Central Park 5 — owes lots of of hundreds of {dollars} in unpaid federal taxes, regardless of making massive cash from talking charges, The Publish has realized.
The anti-cop councilman owes between $100,000 and $250,000 to the IRS, his 2024 annual monetary disclosure to the town Conflicts of Curiosity Board reveals.
Salaam, 51, insisted within the varieties he’s “in the process of repaying all taxes” for the previous two years.
The Harlem pol gained his seat in 2023, then took workplace firstly of 2024 — so it’s not clear when the taxes owed date again to.
His workplace declined to remark, and the IRS is barred from disclosing tax return info.
Salaam maintains his mountain of debt regardless of making a killing in talking charges since his shock victory in 2023.
He prices round $31,000 a pop for a digital occasion — and nearer to $40,000 to return discuss legal justice in individual.
He’s had at the least 36 talking engagements since saying his run in 2023.
Since taking workplace final yr, he raked in as much as $250,000 in charges alone, data present — on prime of the $148,500 wage he will get for his Council gig.
The daddy of 10 additionally declared getting “$500,000 or more” yearly from a belief, property or different useful curiosity, probably the phrases of his 2014 settlement with the town.
NYC ended up paying $40.75 million to the members of the Central Park 5 to settle a civil rights swimsuit. Salaam’s share was $7.125 million.
This isn’t the primary controversy for the councilman, who’s additionally chairman of the Public Security Committee overseeing the NYPD.
Final yr he was caught motoring across the Massive Apple with out-of-state license plates and alleged illegally tinted home windows. He was residing in Georgia for six years earlier than working for workplace within the Massive Apple and nonetheless had his Peach State plates.
Salaam has been a vocal critic of the NYPD since being elected and among the many lawmakers who pushed the controversial “How Many Stops Act” that buries cops in paperwork.
He was one in all 5 Black and Latino youngsters wrongly accused, convicted and imprisoned for the assault and rape of a girl jogging in Central Park in 1989.
After his arrest at age 15, Salaam served practically seven years behind bars, earlier than a re-examination of the case led to his conviction being tossed in 2002 — after profession legal Matias Reyes confessed to the assault and DNA proof confirmed Reyes’ involvement.
Reyes had confessed throughout interrogation to being on the Central Park crime scene, however the admission was later decided to be coerced.
