Housing Agency Spent Thousands of Dollars on Belly Dancers, Luxury Bags

The nation’s fourth-largest housing authority spent lavishly on gifts for managers and a party with belly dancers, and its executive secretly spent more than $500,000 in housing authority funds to settle sexual harassment claims, but it allegedly ignored complaints of unsanitary conditions that nearly killed a 12-year-old resident.

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In Philadelphia, under the leadership of former executive director Carl Greene, the local housing authority spent $17,000 for a 2006 event, including $1,200 for a troupe of belly dancers. Photos of the event, obtained by ABC News, show Greene dancing with the exotically dressed women. A Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) spokeswoman said the event, which also included yodelers and karaoke, was a part of the housing authority’s “diversity awareness” training.

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Greene also used housing authority funds to buy gifts, including a $16,000 purchase from Nordstrom for $800 Tumi travel bags for himself and 19 of his top managers in 2009.

“For 12 years, 13 years he’s had free reign at the housing authority, and I can’t explain it,” said Michael Pileggi, a former housing authority attorney who now represents former PHA employees suing Greene and the housing authority. “It appears there was no fiscal oversight.”