Federal and N.Y.C. Investigators Eye Queens Library Spending

The FBI, federal prosecutors, and New York City’s Department of Investigation are looking into how the head of the nonprofit Queens Library system spent millions of taxpayer dollars on library renovations, according to the New York Daily News.

Citing unnamed library sources, the newspaper says the inquiry centers on ties between director Thomas Galante and Frank Marino, the system’s construction management consultant. Mr. Marino’s Long Island firm has been contracted to run 15 library-improvement projects since 2008, among them works at the central branch that included a $140,000 reworking of Mr. Galante’s executive offices, the Daily News writes.

Queens Borough President Melinda Katz has asked City Hall to suspend the library system’s ability to independently spend any city capital funds on renovations, citing a “troubling lack of oversight” of its finances. Queens Library officials and Mr. Galante did not respond to requests for comment.