An investigation is underway for former mayor of Philadelphia, John Street. The investigation is taking place due to allegations that Street awarded his son’s law firm with tons of work for the Philadelphia Housing Authority which totaled over a million dollars. Street’s brother, Milton, has been investigated recently for various legal issues involving money schemes as well.
While working at Wolf Block Schorr & Solis-Cohen, Sharif Street billed the Philadelphia Housing Authority with over $700,000 while assigned to their account. The law firm that Sharif Street worked for is no longer in existence.
The commission is currently responsible for investigating what took place during the time that John Street was mayor and Sharif Street worked at this law firm. The particular task of the commission is to know what public officials are doing. When they search for information, if they find out a public official has violated certain laws, they will be able to decide on a resolution. In most cases, the public official will have to pay a certain amount of fines or they may even be prosecuted in court for any criminal charges that may be pressed against them.
The general counsel of the Philadelphia Housing Authority, Sherry A. Swirsky, said that the commission is planning to look through records and find any e-mail messages that could provide insight as to what was going on and if any wrongdoing was taking place. Swirsky says, “Whatever they have asked me for I’m in the process of getting them.” The commission is looking to find out more information about the work that Sharif Street did while he was working at the firm. When asked about the commission, Swirsky says, “There’s no debate with them, no dispute. They will get whatever they are seeking.”
Sharif Street is no longer working at Wolf Block Schorr & Solis-Cohen because they are no longer in business. While Wolf Block Schorr & Solis-Cohen is no longer in business, Sharif Street is still working at a separate law firm in the Philadelphia area. When he was asked for comments about the ongoing investigation, he declined to comment and has not publicly released any statements about the investigation. It seems as though he will remain silent about the investigation, at least for now.
On the other hand, John Street, who was the mayor of Philadelphia for eight years from 2000 to 2008 has spoken out about the current investigation between him, his son, and the law firm. John Street claims that he has done absolutely nothing wrong and will be glad to assist the commission in finding out necessary information to prove that no wrongdoing took place. When asked about the investigation, John Street says, “Hopefully, Wolf Block or PHA will make all the relevant information available so we can move on.”