Alec Brook-Krasny (born March 2, 1958) is an American politician serving in the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Assem ...

representing the 46th district. He was a member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

, and was elected on November 7, 2006, to represent the 46th District, which covers the neighborhoods of

Bath Beach Bath Beach is a neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York City, United States. It is located at the southwestern edge of the borough on Gravesend Bay. The neighborhood borders Bensonhurst and New Utrecht to the northeast across 86th Street; Dyker Beach ...

Bay Ridge Bay Ridge is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by Sunset Park to the north, Dyker Heights to the east, the Narrows and the Belt Parkway to the west, and Fort Hamilton Army Base and ...

Brighton Beach Brighton Beach is a List of Brooklyn neighborhoods, neighborhood in the southern portion of the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn, within the greater Coney Island area along the Atlantic Ocean coastline. Brighton Beach i ...

Coney Island Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, Manhattan Beach to its east, L ...

Dyker Heights Dyker Heights is a predominantly residential neighborhood in the southwest corner of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City. It is on a hill between Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, Borough Park, and Gravesend Bay. The neighborhood is bounded by 7th and ...

, and Seagate, in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. He resigned on July 7, 2015. Brook-Krasny was arrested on charges of felony

healthcare fraud Quackery, often synonymous with health fraud, is the promotion of fraudulent or ignorant medical practices. A quack is a "fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skill" or "a person who pretends, professionally or publicly, to have skill, ...

in 2017, but was not convicted. In 2022, Brook-Krasny announced that he was joining the

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

party and running for the State Assembly once again. He was elected and is again a member of the Assembly.

Early life and career

Brook-Krasny immigrated to the United States in 1989 from Moscow, where he had graduated from the Moscow Institute of Consumer Technology (currently the Russian State University for Tourism and Services) in 1983. After several years in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, he became a manager and started a children's entertainment and community center called Funorama, in

, Brooklyn.

Political career

Brook-Krasny's first

political campaign A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, by which representatives are chosen or referend ...

was in 2000 for the New York State Assembly. In 2001, he ran for the

New York City Council The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five Borough (New York City), boroughs. The council serves as a check against the Mayor of New York City, mayor in a may ...

. Although he won the endorsement of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', he lost the election to Domenic M. Recchia, Jr. In 2006, State Assemblywoman

Adele Cohen Adele H. Cohen (born July 19, 1942) is an American lawyer and former politician. She is a 1964 graduate of Brooklyn College. Participation in politics 1991 race for New York City Council After having failed in her first attempt to run for offi ...

retired and Brook-Krasny declared his candidacy for her position. He won the Democratic primary election, with 3,101 votes to Kagan's 2,958, and then won the general election over the Republican candidate, Patricia B. Laudano, 10,423 to 4,139 votes. Brook-Krasny was reelected to his assembly seat in 2008, 2010, 2012, and 2014. During his tenure, he served on the Housing, Aging, Cities, Election Law, and Governmental Employees Committees. On June 11, 2015, he announced his resignation from the assembly effective July 7, to work in the private sector. He was succeeded by Pamela Harris, who was selected as the Democratic nominee by a party committee and then won the special general election in November. Harris, like Brook-Krasny, would later face criminal charges and she was succeeded by

Mathylde Frontus Mathylde Frontus (born December 1, 1977) is an American politician. A Democrat, Frontus represented the 46th district in the New York State Assembly. Her district includes portions of southern Brooklyn, including Coney Island, Brighton Beach, B ...

in 2018. In the year 2022, Brook-Krasny announced that he is joining the Republican Party and ending his membership with the Democratic Party. He ran for the New York State Assembly again as a Republican, successfully defeating Frontus.

Criminal charges

Arrest

In 2017, as part of "Operation Avalanche", Brook-Krasny was arrested on charges of

. He was indicted along with eight other individuals and corporate entities with schemes to illegally sell prescriptions for over 3.7 million opioid painkillers, to defraud

Medicaid Medicaid in the United States is a federal and state program that helps with healthcare costs for some people with limited income and resources. Medicaid also offers benefits not normally covered by Medicare, including nursing home care and pers ...

and Medicare of millions of dollars and to commit money laundering through two Brooklyn medical clinics owned by Lazar Feygin. Feygin pleaded guilty to 16 charges including conspiracy, criminal sale of a prescription and health care fraud.

Acquittal, hung jury and dropped charges

After a trial that lasted two months, on July 25, 2019 Brook-Krasny was found not guilty of five felony charges of conspiracy, health care fraud, and scheming to defraud the state. A

mistrial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, w ...

was declared on the other three misdemeanor commercial bribery charges after the jury could not reach a verdict. Remaining charges against Alec Brook-Krasny were dismissed on Dec 2, 2019 on the grounds that New York's Special Narcotics Prosecutor lost jurisdiction over the case after it no longer had drug-related charges.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brook-Krasny, Alec 1958 births Jewish American state legislators in New York (state) American people of Russian-Jewish descent Russian Jews Democratic Party members of the New York State Assembly Living people Politicians from Brooklyn New York (state) politicians convicted of crimes Soviet emigrants to the United States 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American Jews