Philly Democrat campaign consultant Tracy Hardy accused of misusing $2 million in pandemic relief programs

A Philadelphia campaign consultant accused earlier this year of using stolen union funds to illegally support political candidates has been hit with a novel federal case — this time for allegedly defrauding nearly $2 million for pandemic aid programs.

Prosecutors say Tracy Hardy – a former aide to former Mayor John F. Street and later chief of staff to state Sen. Sharif Street – lied on government-backed loan applications about the revenues his companies owned and their wages while paying their employees.

Just one of Hardy’s businesses – Lou & Choo’s Lounge, a North Philadelphia nightspot that he and his wife took over in 2014 – brought in nearly $1.8 million in fraudulently obtained loans, according to court records released this week in the period from July 2020 to April 2022. Investigators say that instead of using the money to keep the company afloat, Hardy spent it on cars, real estate, sports tickets and travel.

Hardy, 51, faces multiple counts of wire fraud and filing false claims against the United States in connection with the fraud. Court records show he is expected to plead guilty at a hearing next month and could serve prison time.

His attorney, Brian McMonagle, did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.

But this isn’t the first time Hardy has found himself on the wrong end of a criminal investigation.

More than a decade ago, he was the star witness in a scandal – and subsequent federal prosecution – involving violations of campaign finance rules during the Mayor of Washington’s weaker 2010 attempt to remove his predecessor, Mayor Vincent Gray.

Prosecutors in this case alleged Hardy led a secret campaign to get Gray off the ballot supported by a $660,000 donation from a wealthy businessman who insisted that his contributions go unrecorded.

Although Hardy was never charged, state prosecutors in Pennsylvania charged him in another election-related scheme that took place earlier this year.

Attorney General Michelle A. Henry has charged Hardy and Chris Woods, the former head of one of Philadelphia’s largest unions, District 1199C of the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Workers, with stealing more than $150,000 from union members to support candidates in the May election campaign. in Philadelphia 2019 Democratic Primary Elections.

Prosecutors handling the case said Woods hid the missing money as payment for renovating a bar at his union headquarters in Old Town. They allege that Hardy overbid the union for the work on behalf of another company he owned, Manayunk Construction & Development Corp., by at least $45,000.

He allegedly submitted two other fictitious bids with higher prices, purporting to be from other companies, to give the impression that the bidding process was competitive. But authorities say Hardy and Woods used excess project funds to support their political agenda.

State campaign finance laws prohibit unions from donating directly to political campaigns from their general funds. Instead, these contributions must come from affiliated political action committees, which are funded by voluntary contributions from members’ salaries.

But according to campaign finance records, in the two months before the May 2019 primary, the District 1199C PAC never had more than $3,500 in the bank.

Investigators did not identify the candidates who benefited from this. However, that year, District 1199C endorsed several candidates, including Jim Kenney, who was then running for a second term as mayor, and City Council member Isaiah Thomas, who won the general election and secured a seat on the board.

The union’s endorsement also helped elect crime victims advocate Movity Johnson Harrell to the House seat representing the 190th District in West Philadelphia during a special election this March. She pleaded guilty to charges of embezzlement from the nonprofit organization she ran and resigned within eight months of taking the oath.

Woods’ lawyers described prosecutors’ testimony about his actions as a “limited, one-sided view.” His case is still pending in state court.

But the federal lawsuit filed this week against Hardy incorporated some of the allegations from the state case and charged him with one additional count of wire fraud in connection with bills he sent to District 1199C for bar renovations.

Woods, who has not been charged, was identified in court documents only as “Individual 5.”