An audit detailing the misuse of state grant funds by Blue Hills Civic Association is prompting calls for more oversight of state aid for nonprofits.  

Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) Commissioner Daniel O’Keefe said the agency has already put more controls in place.  

“I think what the audit details is–it seems that people were taking advantage of a process,” O’Keefe said Thursday.  

Those changes include requiring more information from nonprofits before grants are dispersed.  

Still, lawmakers expect to talk about further changes.  

“Obviously, the audit report raises many issues of concern in many areas, including state oversight of grants being given out,” Sen. Martin Looney (D-President Pro Tem) said.  

Republicans want further changes to create transparency about which nonprofits receive grants and whether the funding is achieving the intended results.  

DECD retained CliftonLarsonAllen LLP to conduct a forensic audit after BHCA notified the department last year that it never received a $300,000 wire transfer.  

In their findings, CLA said there were “pervasive governance failures, systemic internal control weaknesses, and patterns of conduct that strongly suggest potential fraud and misappropriation of public funds.” 

It also alleged that Sen. Doug McCrory (D-Hartford) wielded significant influence over how BHCA dispersed roughly $15 million in grants to other community organizations in recent years.  

“Available documentation and email correspondence indicate that funding allocations were largely determined by Senator McCrory, with BHCA executing disbursements without consistent adherence to required procedures such as obtaining signed MOUs or projected budgets prior to payment,” the audit said. “The prevalence of backdated MOUs, missing agreements, and passthrough arrangements lacking transparency further underscores significant governance and compliance deficiencies within BHCA. These practices raise concerns about BHCA’s accountability, proper oversight, and adherence to legislative grant requirements.” 

O’Keefe said the DECD now requires nonprofits to provide documentation of how they disburse funds, including proof of checks and balances to ensure funds are spent properly.  

The policy changes were put in place by the Office of Policy and Management for all statewide agencies.  

The rules were already in place for competitive grants under DECD’s discretion, but BHCA’s grants were secured in the budget through a process that gives broad discretion to lawmakers.  

The FBI has been investigating how Hartford-area nonprofits have used grant funding, including issuing subpoenas naming McCrory multiple times.   

The subpoenas asked the state for records that, among other information, reference a possible personal relationship between McCrory and Sonsera Cicero, owner of the nonprofit consulting firm Society of Human Engagement and Business Alignment.   

O’Keefe said he was particularly concerned that auditors identified “$208,000 in unsupported disbursements that either violated conflict of interest best practice standards or were used to pay for services that were not performed.”  

The audited states $168,000 of that money went to Cicero or SHEBA. The state is also now working on a policy to pause payments when there are concerns about misuse.  

McCrory issued a statement denying any wrongdoing but also acknowledged the need for greater control and transparency.   

“First, the DECD audit makes clear that stronger oversight is needed to ensure that public funds are managed responsibly and effectively,” he said. “I agree with this goal and will be supportive of reasonable measures to achieve it.” 

McCrory has not spoken to the media since an exclusive interview with NBC Connecticut last week, in which he announced his intention to seek re-election.  

Harding said lawmakers need to look at changes around how grant decisions are made. He said the process lacks transparency and allows lawmakers to award grants in the budget in exchange for support on the budget or other legislation.  

“Democratic leadership goes to their legislators, asks them what organizations they want to receive taxpayer money, and then we vote on it,” he said. “That’s unacceptable.”  

Gov. Ned Lamont (D-Connecticut) said the problem is not exclusive to his party.  

“First of all, they have their own earmarks,” he said. “We can talk about earmarks if you want to.”  

At the State Capitol, Rep. Larry Pemberton Jr. (D) is sworn into the Connecticut General Assembly representing the 139th District on Wednesday.

The Norwich native is the first Native American to hold this position.

Pemberton Jr. was elected in a special election due to the death of previous Rep. Kevin Ryan.

State leaders and members of Connecticut’s tribal communities were in attendance.

Pemberton Jr. says he’s “looking forward to doing work for the district.”

Bye-bye, Banksy.

A Brooklyn family is about half a million dollars richer after selling a mural of a little robot that the iconic graffiti artist Banksy painted on their Coney Island building for 13 years ago.

The Ruoccos decade-long effort to cash in on “The Tagging Robot” ended last month, when an arts company took down an entire section of their Stillwell and Neptune avenues brick wall and shipped it off to a trendy brewery in Connecticut, the family said.

“Brooklyn family strikes gold!” Richard Ruocco, of Bergen Beach, joked to The Post Wednesday.

The Ruoccos had been trying to pawn off the famous mural since they effectively hit the art world lottery, when the enigmatic graffiti legend painted the bot on their building in the middle of the night back in October 2013, shortly after Superstorm Sandy.

The piece, which the family lovingly calls “Mr. Robot,” depicted the android spray painting a barcode, and was one of several barcode murals that Banksy blanketed across the globe that fall.

The Ruoccos initially had no idea that the graffiti was by a famous artist until swarms of gawkers came to witness the viral sensation.

They immediately protected Mr. Robot behind a roll-down gate and hired a security guard — and started looking to make a bundle off the work in the arts market.

“Why not? What are we going to do with it? Leave it on the wall and lose the money,” said Ruocco, who is cousins to the Russo family behind Gargiulo’s in Coney Island.

Unfortunately, the hype around Banksy died down and buyers were hard to come by until Ruocco’s older brother, Anthony, read that a Connecticut beer garden had acquired another Banksy mural that was left in The Bronx during the same era as “Mr. Robot.

Foolproof in Bridgeport last February installed a massive wall showing a young boy spray painting the words “Ghetto 4 Life” on a brick wall while a butler in formal attire stands beside him holding a tray of spray paint cans — which initially caused an unwelcome stir for “insulting the neighborhood,” CT Post reported at the time.

Anthony Ruocco called the brewery over the summer and “brokered the deal” to pass along the Robot mural, Ruocco said.

“We didn’t sell it for what we originally wanted. We lowered our price and he went for it. Not too many people were willing to buy a brick wall,” said Ruocco, adding that the buyer also had to pay about $75,000 for art shippers to remove and transport the mural.

Representatives for Foolproof did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.

An incredible video shows Fine Art Shippers meticulously shoring up a portion of the brick wall into steel framing and jackhammering it out into one piece before shipping it off to Bridgeport, a journey first reported by Coneyologist.

Ruocco did not want to share how much cash the family received for the piece, but teased that it was for “less than half a million bucks.”

“That’s too personal. No one needs to know that, except my accountant,” he said.

He and his five siblings evenly split the sale, which leaves “enough to buy a nice car each.”

“We’re a very fair family. I know that’s what our parents would have wanted us to do. We shared everything right to the penny,” said Ruocco.

One of the siblings has already treated themselves to a cruise and Ruocco dreamed about buying a new car for his collection, though he admitted his wife would make him get rid of one before adding another.

The Ruocco siblings, now all in retirement, are planning to sell the building where the Banksy mural once lived. It had once been the site of Aiello’s catering, which the family ran from the 80s to the 90s.