ALBANY (AP) -- New York Inspector General Ellen Biben says a former deputy agriculture commissioner coerced subordinates into helping a land trust his wife consulted for win a $100,000 state grant.
In a report Thursday, investigators say Jeremiah Cosgrove told staff "heads are going to roll" after the New York Agricultural Land Trust initially failed to win the 2009 grant.
Biben says the grant program was suspended by the Department of Agriculture and Markets in 2010 when the inspector general's office started the investigation and Cosgrove was terminated.
Her report was referred to Albany County prosecutors and the state Commission on Public Integrity.
Cosgrove says he advised officials of his wife's position and says she didn't stand to benefit from the grant, which was deferred anyway.
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