Factual Summary
Factual Summary
In January 2005, Mr. Lee began employment as a NYPD police officer in the Brooklyn / East Flatbush precinct.
In August 2013, Mr. Lee was promoted to police sergeant within the Brooklyn / East Flatbush precinct.
In September 2013, Mr. Lee transferred to the 109th Precinct following his promotion to police sergeant. The 109 precinct covers the Flushing / Chinatown area.
Mr. Lee’s held prestigious positions while serving as Sergeant of the 109 Precinct. Mr. Lee served on various teams, including Crime Analysis, Anti-Crime Team and Conditions Team, and Business Enforcement.
Inspector McGuire was the Commanding Officer of the 109th Precinct. Inspector McGuire was often described as a hot-tempered individual.
In late 2013, Thomas Conforti (“ Conforti”) was appointed to Commanding Officer of the 109th Precinct by influence of the NYPD Police Benevolent Association (“PBA”).
Several Lieutenants left the 109th Precinct after Conforti was appointed.
Lieutenant Robert Sung ( “Sung”) became Mr. Lee’s direct supervisor.
Sung was known to be racist towards Blacks and sexist towards women.
Sung did not like Conforti and wanted to get rid of him.
Sung and Mr. Lee policed karaoke lounges located in the 109th Precinct.
Some karaoke lounges served as human trafficking, drugs (mostly ketamine), and, prostitution rings, where patrons would pay to have sex with women known as “Public Relations” or “PR girls”.
Sung told Mr. Lee that he planned to fabricate a story that Conforti sexually assaulted a PR girl at a karaoke lounge in the 109th Precinct and get Conforti fired.
Mr. Lee told Conforti about Lt. Sung’s plan to frame Conforti.
Conforti then reported the allegations to NYPD Internal Affairs.
Internal Affairs is a subsidiary of the NYPD and also reports to the Mayor of New York City.
Internal Affairs wanted Mr. Lee to go undercover to obtain a recorded statement from Sung admitting the allegations.
Mr. Lee agreed to the undercover operation.
Lieutenant Seeger (“Seeger”) and Sergeant Owens (“Owens”) from Internal Affairs, Group 26 met with Mr. Lee at his home and obtained a written statement.
Shortly after, Seeger and Owens returned with Inspector Pena from Internal Affairs.
Pena asked Lee to sign a document. Mr. Lee stated that he did not know what the document was, and Mr. Lee did not receive a copy of the signed document.
Mr. Lee agreed to the undercover mission.
In early 2014, the undercover investigation of Sung began.
Internal Affairs provided Mr. Lee with several types of recording devices. The recording devices would pick up audio, and the audio is then downloaded on a drive.
During the first few months of the undercover operation, Mr. Lee attempted to get Sung’s statement about the planned sexual assault by Conforti on recording while on duty, but Mr. Lee was unsuccessful.
When Mr. Lee asked Sung about finding a PR girl for Conforti, Sung made non-verbal cues or did not respond at all.
Internal Affairs then asked Mr. Lee to go out with Sung at the karaoke off duty and after hours.
While Mr. Lee was unable to obtain a recorded statement from Sung, Mr. Lee’s devices recorded statements from other police officers engaging in illegal activity, such as protecting individuals engaging in prostitution, rape, human trafficking, voiding arrest, taking out competitors or using illegal drugs.
When Mr. Lee submitted the recordings to Internal Affairs, Internal Affairs would either lose the recordings or claim the recordings were inaudible.
For two months, Mr. Lee submitted recorded statements from police officers engaging in illegal activity to Internal Affairs.
Internal Affairs continued to tell Mr. Lee that the recordings were inaudible and not recoverable for various reasons, such as the music in the karaoke lounges was too loud, or the devices did not record because they were not charged.
Mr. Lee was concerned about Internal Affairs responses to the recordings, so he informed the Commanding Officer.
No action was taken by the Commanding Officer.
About two months into the undercover operation, Mr. Lee discovered an internal leak into the undercover operation.
Officer Chunning Robert Young (“Young”) informed Mr. Lee that Conforti was aware of Sung’s allegations and the undercover operation.
Mr. Lee informed Internal Affairs of Young’s statements.
In mid 2014, Mr. Lee discovered drugs on a patron while during an inspection of Li’s karaoke lounge.
Mr. Lee placed the patron under arrest and contacted Internal Affairs.
Internal Affairs told Mr. Lee let the patron go in order to build trust with karaoke lounge patrons and Lt. Sung.
Officer Yatu Yam (“Yam”) patronized the Chinese karaoke lounges located in the 109th Precinct.
Mr. Lee obtained a recorded statement of Yam discussing illegal activity and submitted the statement to Internal Affairs.
Internal Affairs agreed to investigate Yam.
Li began to gain trust with Mr. Lee.
In late 2014, Internal Affairs devised a plan for Li to continue to pay Mr. Lee to overlook illegal activity.
While working on duty at the karaoke lounges, Mr. Lee was paid $2,000 month by karaoke owner Jimmy Li (“Li”) to not shut down the karaoke lounges for illegal activity.
Internal Affairs knew about Li’s payments to Mr. Lee, they allowed the payments, vouchered and recorded all payments, because they wanted to arrest Li for bribery so they can then “flip” Li into a confidential informant so they could prove he was paying off other officers. (Det. Yam, and Lt. Sung)
Li and his colleagues at a tea house gave Mr. Lee drugs to plant at HR KTV a competitor of Mr. Li to shut them down and get their liquor license removed, and paid Mr. Lee $2000 for his monthly payment. This occurred while on duty in uniform with knowledge of IAB
Mr. Lee turned the drugs and money to Internal Affairs.
Internal Affairs did an Undercover Operation at HR KTV and arrest an Undercover who planted the drugs there in order to shut HR KTV down.
Li paid Mr. Lee $10,000 to for shutting down Li’s competition/competitor Karaoke Lounge (HR KTV)
Mr. Lee later found that he was not protected by Internal Affairs while on-duty during the undercover investigation.
Mr. Lee states that it is protocol to have officers in close proximity during the undercover operations to protect the undercover officer in case things went wrong.
However, Mr. Lee stated no officers were present during his undercover operation.
Mr. Lee also found out from an Internal Affairs officer outside of the 109th precinct to stay away from karaoke lounges because he was being watched.
Li was arrested by Internal Affairs and flipped as an informant.
Li was used in several operations to pay off Det. Yam and Lt. Sung.
Li told Sung and Yam of the undercover operation and comprised the undercover work, putting Lee in further danger.
In December Lee was told that Deputy Commissioner Reznik along with other chiefs from IAB wants to end the operation.
Lee informed them that was not a good idea because it would defeat the purpose of him infiltrating the Officers involved in this Corruption Enterprise.
Lee also informed Lt. Seeger and Sgt Owens that he was getting close to getting further evidence on high ranking officers such as Chief Pizzuti and others.
IAB ignored Lee’s plea and moved forward with shutting down the operation.
In December 2015, Yam was arrested after investigations by Lee and Internal Affairs.
In January 2016, Sung was arrested after investigations by Lee and Internal Affairs.
Retaliation Claims
In early 2016, Inspector Moore (“Moore”), the lead officer of the undercover operation retired.
After Moore retired, Mr. Lee’s overtime application submitted for overtime occurred during the 2 year undercover operation was denied and told to reduce the hours on 3 submissions.
When Mr. Lee worked overtime hours, he was compensated with comp time instead of “cash” pay like usual.
After the investigation concluded, every officer involved in the investigation was promoted except Mr. Lee. One officer, Yue was fired for misuse of government property in relation to the undercover operation. Yue was the only officer who told the truth during the disciplinary process.
Yam fired after the undercover investigation.
Sung retired after the undercover investigation.
Yam and Sung were supposed to receive Felony charges and 1 year jail time but due to the poor record keeping of evidence by IAB the DA officer (ADA James Liander) was forced to offer them both a deal of Misdemeanor and 1 year condition discharge.
During the investigation, 109th Precinct Integrity Control Officer Lieutenant Dolphin was transferred to the 111th Precinct.
Mr. Lee resides in the 111th Precinct.
After the investigation Mr. Lee began to notice that his home was being monitored by police. Prior to the investigation, Mr. Lee did not see many police in the area, as he lives in a suburban neighborhood with minimal to none police presence.
In 2016, Mr. Lee was transferred to Internal Affairs Group 26. Group 26 investigates Queens officers.
Mr. Lee served as a Sergeant in Internal Affairs Group 26 January 2016 till Mid 2016.
Mr Lee was then transferred into Internal Affairs Group 52 which is located in the same building as Group 26.
Internal Affairs Group 52 are comprised of Undercover Detectives and Officers that does undercover operations investigations of uniformed and non uniformed officers city wide, who are below the rank of Captain and non IAB officers.
During a performance review, Mr. Lee received a score of 2.5 on a 5 point scale. 2.5 is considered poor performance. Mr. Lee contested the review.
Mr. Lee was also harassed for using his cell phone and headphones while on duty. Other police officers used their cell phone and headphones while on duty without being harassed.
During Mr. Lee’s tenure at Internal Affairs group 52, his tour of duty changed frequently, which made it difficult for Mr. Lee to maintain a consistent schedule.
In 2018, Mr. Lee obtained private counsel as a result of whistleblowing and his lawyer submitted a Notice of Claim in district court.
February of 2018 a request for 50-H was received
In 2018, Mr. Lee was transferred to the NYPD Police Academy Security Unit.
Conforti’s brother, Frank Dichristina, was also an officer at the NYPD Police Academy Security Unit.
At first, Mr. Lee liked his position in the Police Academy Security Unit, but things quickly changed.
Mr. Lee was remanded for taking a break in an “unauthorized” location and was required to forfeit 10 vacation days as punishment for the incident. The said location was told by his supervisor Lt. Sala that is where members of the unit take their breaks on occasions.
Following the incident, Mr. Lee’s tour of duty was changed to the midnight shift. Mr. Lee also received a heavier workload than other police officers.
In April of 2019 a Summons and Complaint was filed with the Queens Supreme Civil Court
Court: Queens Supreme Court
Index Number: 707014/2019
Case Name: LEE, STEVEN vs. CITY OF NEW YORK ETAL
Case Type: Tort-Other
In 2020, Mr. Lee ran for Representative of the New York State Assembly.
During the election season, Mr. Lee attended Black Lives Matter and Stop Asian Hate rallies in New York City.
Mr. Lee went on several youtube podcast to expose the corruption and retaliation.
Mr. Lee lost the election.
Mr. Lee was subjected to investigation for the YouTube podcasts done and was told they wanted to fire him for it.
Mr. Lee was subjected to more workplace harassment after the election due to his presence at the rallies.
February of 2021 The claim was dismissed for statute of limitations.
Mr. Lee contemplated suicide, he but decided against it after contemplating his family’s wellbeing.
Following the incident, Mr. Lee contacted the anonymous police hotline and received treatment and medication for depression and anxiety.
While visiting an employer-provided physician for an unrelated issue, Mr. Lee informed the physician that he was using medication to treat depression and anxiety.
The physician revoked Mr. Lee’s firearm possession as a result of using medication to treat depression and anxiety.
To date, Mr. Lee has not regained firearm possession privileges.
In 2021, Mr. Lee was removed from his supervisory duties in the Police Academy Security Unit, and he was demoted to Front Desk Officer at the Police Academy.
Following his demotion, Mr. Lee suffered embarrassment after being ridiculed by police officers.
Throughout 2021 Mr. Lee was working with Government Accountability Project to file a Whistleblower Lawsuit
Mr. Lee filed Foil request of all investigative work done during the undercover work and all disciplinary actions taken on Mr. Lee
Mr. Lee’s bar incident and arrest
In July 2021, Mr. Lee was arrested on three counts of felony gang assault following a physical altercation at the Marquee nightclub in Manhattan.
Mr. Lee went to the Marquee to celebrate a friend’s birthday.
While at the nightclub, an unknown male sexually assaulted Mr. Lee’s female friend by grabbing her breasts and buttocks.
Mr. Lee witnessed the assault and informed security personnel, security failed to remove the individual, the individual then got into a physical altercation with said female, which resulted in Mr. Lee striking the unknown male on the head.
The incident was posted on social media.
After the incident Mr. Lee suffered a severe anxiety attack and took a few days off work to rest.
The arresting officer stated Mr. Lee was arrested for striking the male and for failure to render aid.
Internal Affairs did not notify the Police Academy that Mr. Lee was in police custody and could not report to work.
The 109 Precinct responded to Mr. Lee residence for not reporting to work on the day of the arrest and told his wife that “he may have killed himself and that they could not locate Mr. Lee and he did not show up for work.”
Mrs. Lee was in fear of her and their son’s safety and was prepping to leave to a safe location. Mr. Lee returned home before her doing so.
The criminal charges are currently still pending.
Mr. Lee was suspended for 30 days as a result of the incident.
IAB order Mr. Lee be transferred to Manhattan Court Section, Mr. Lee informed Lieutenant of Personnel of the Conflict of Interest and possible altercation due to his arrest and the ADA prosecuting him was in Manhattan Court house.
In August 2021, Mr. Lee was transferred to the Bronx Court Section, which was about two hours away from his home.
Mr. Lee served in the Bronx from August 2021 to December 2021.
In December 2021, Mr. Lee was transferred to Brooklyn Court Section, which was further from his home than the Bronx Court Section.
Mr. Lee experienced workplace harassment from police officers at the Brooklyn Court House.
One workplace incident involved “Sergeant Lee is a rat” being written on a wall in the men’s restroom.
Mr. Lee suffered embarrassment as a result of this incident.
December 22,2021 Mr. Lee was introduced to Inspector Edward Caban in regards to connecting him and newly elected Mayor Adams to Retired Whistleblower Det. Frank Serpico
December 31, 2021 Caban was promoted to 1st Deputy Commissioner of the NYPD
March 22, 2022 Mr. Lee asks to meet with Caban to bring attention to the retaliation for being a whistleblower.
May 2022, Mr. Lee faced a Departmental Trial.
May 2022, Mr. Lee is out of work on worker’s compensation after suffering a shoulder injury while arresting a perpetrator.
Mr. Lee is still taking medications to treat depression and anxiety, and his health is being monitored by employer-provided doctors.
Mr. Lee has seen several Doctors for pain management and for his injuries.
July 2022 Mr. Lee filed for Accidental Disability
July 2022 Mr. Lee met with Caban again and updated Caban on his Department Trial.
August 2022 Had Meeting with Manhattan DA (Proffer)
September 2022 Mr. Lee ask Caban to check on the status of Police Commissioner’s decision and was told it was at the Police Commissioner Sewell’s office
October 2022 2nd Meeting with Manhattan DA (Proffer) Requesting my resignation and was told by DA Bureau Chief that he thinks NYPD is going to fire me anyway if I do not agree to resign.
November 2022 Mr. Lee was terminated from the Police Department.
May 2023 Mr. Lee was seen by the NYPD Medical Board and approved for Accidental Disability Retirement.
May 2023 FOIL lawsuit filed by Jack Jaskaran
Court: New York Supreme Court
Index Number: 154862/2023
Case Name: Lee, Steven vs. The City of New York et al
Case Type: SP-CPLR Article 78 (Body or Officer)
Track: Standard
RJI Filed: 05/30/2023
RJI Number: 2023-050993
January 2024, Police Pension Board refuse to take action claiming Lack of Jurisdiction.
May 2024 Article 78 filed to challenge the Pension Board Decision.
Court: New York Supreme Court
Index Number: 154319/2024
Case Name: Lee, Steven vs. Board of Trustees of New York City Police Pension Fund, Article II et al
Case Type: SP-CPLR Article 78 (Body or Officer)
Track: Standard
RJI Filed: 05/10/2024
May 2024 Mr. Lee's criminal trial begins.
Mr. Lee had 1 false charge added to his sentencing record, (Caregiver Abuser) staff and inmates at Rikers thought he was Child Abuser.
June 2024 Mr. Lee was transferred to Westchester County Jail (Vahallah)
September 2024 Mr. Lee was release from Rikers
November 21, 2024 Appeal filed for Criminal Case Caprice R. Jenerson, Esq., Office of the Appellate Defender, 11 Park Place, Suite 1601, New York, New York 10007, Telephone No. 212-402-4100, is assigned as counsel for defendant-appellant for purposes of the appeal.
February 2025 Article 78 Challenging Pension Board Decision was Denied
Currently Mr. Lee is still unable to work due to his work injuries, was approved for Social Security Disability and is still seeing doctors for his pain management, physical therapy, taking medication, sees therapist/psychologist for his diagnosed PTSD, Anxiety, and Depression. On Occasion Mr. Lee has to resort to drugs such as ketamine and marijuana for his pain and depression when it becomes unbearable.
Sought RemediesMr. Lee wants compensation for workplace harassment.
Mr. Lee would like his approved Accidental Disability Pension. Mr. Lee has been a police officer since 2005, and he would have had 20 years of service by January 2025.
Mr. Lee is requesting federal legislation to monitor police departments. Police departments report to the mayor, so he would like for independent agencies that do not report to the mayor to monitor police departments, unlike Internal Affairs which also reports to the mayor.
Mr. Lee is requesting compensation for pain and suffering,
Mr. Lee is requesting compensation for attorney’s fees.
Law and Analysis
New York State Civil Service Law prohibits a public employer from taking any disciplinary or adverse personnel action against an employee because the employee discloses information to a government body: "(1) regarding a violation of a law, rule or regulation which violation creates or presents a substantial and specific danger to the public health or safety; or (2) which the employee reasonably believes to be true and reasonably believes constitutes an improper government action." NY Civ. Ser. Law § 75(b)(2) (Lexis 2022).
New Articles and Podcast
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLb3vL52THHerIHsEblmZ3EPQNNXcvGNF7
Lucky boys podcast etc
https://nypost.com/2018/03/26/whistleblower-dishes-on-nypd-turning-blind-eye-to-drugs-hookers/amp/
https://queenseagle.com/all/cops-corruption-harassment-nypd-lawsuit-lee-murray
https://nypost.com/2021/03/14/whistleblower-nypd-cop-probed-by-iab-for-podcast-appearance/amp/
https://www.youtube.com/live/2dpIaN5gz3k?si=NyPrS-85_F5-MuL9
https://www.youtube.com/live/q2PRM9EaR_8?si=YwQjjDs96tLKqSwP
https://nypost.com/2024/05/25/us-news/whistleblower-cop-jailed-with-killers-at-rikers/
