Carl Greene barred from government work indefinitely

Federal housing officials on Thursday slapped former Philadelphia Housing Authority executive director Carl R. Greene with new penalties on top of his current three years' suspension from doing business with the U.S. government.

In a two-page letter, the Department of Housing and Urban Development told Greene he would be barred indefinitely from working with HUD or other federal agencies after he finishes his current suspension in 2017.

The indefinite suspension was ordered because Greene failed to pay a $75,000 fine levied last year, when HUD issued the three-year penalty.

The letter from HUD enforcement officer Craig T. Clemmensen also was sent to Philadelphia lawyer Thomas A. Bergstrom, who represented Greene in his most recent contacts with HUD. Bergstrom declined to comment.

Greene's original offense was violating HUD rules barring PHA from spending taxpayer funds for lobbying and for failing to disclose it.

Although Greene, who now lives in Georgia, signed federal documents stating that PHA had not been lobbying, HUD cited repeated incidents in which lobbyists working for PHA met with congressional staffers.

In March 2014, HUD barred Greene for three years. The sanction, called debarment, is HUD's stiffest civil penalty.

PHA's improper lobbying was first disclosed as part of an Inquirer investigation of the housing agency. Greene sued the newspaper, saying he was libeled, but the lawsuit was dismissed.

Greene was fired from PHA in September 2010 after almost 13 years as head of the nation's fourth-largest public housing agency. He was fired in part for settling sexual-harassment lawsuits with public funds and not informing the PHA board of what he was doing.