Independent Candidate for Manhattan DA Diana Florence Releases Blueprint for Spending Public Money Responsibly and Tackling Crime as Alvin Bragg wastes asset forfeiture funds

As DA, Florence won’t surrender our parks and public spaces to drug abusers 

Divert people struggling with substance abuse to treatment programs – but impose consequences for those who do not comply with treatment

Solicit public input on how to spend public money through participatory vote

Florence: “We need to strike a balance between public safety and public health – which means never surrendering our parks to substance abusers or forcing children to dodge syringes.”

New York, NY–Independent Manhattan DA candidate Diana Florence vows today to balance public safety and public health by proposing a plan to spend asset forfeiture money responsibly, allowing for more community input. Her plan will never surrender Manhattan’s parks and public spaces to substance abusers. DA Bragg has been using forfeiture funds on a series of summer “art workshops,” which does not reduce crime or improve quality of life in Manhattan neighborhoods. 

“DA Bragg has focused on pursuing social experiments instead of prosecuting crime. We can’t surrender our parks to substance abusers and force our children to dodge syringes,” said Diana Florence. “It’s time to get serious and use asset forfeiture funds on key neighborhood priorities. The District Attorney’s office should stop wasting money.”

Florence’s blueprint will balance public safety and public health by diverting substance abusers to treatment programs — and will impose consequences if they refuse to comply with or fail out of their treatment programs. In addition, Florence proposes new guidelines for spending asset forfeiture money in a responsible fashion. These guidelines will lead to greater safety in public spaces and incorporate public input.

New Guidelines for Asset Forfeiture Investment Fund 

Florence believes that the money received from asset forfeiture in corporate resolutions should be used to benefit the residents of Manhattan. The current DA uses those funds on pointless pet projects, allowing no input from Manhattan residents.  

• Florence will discontinue spending forfeiture money on unproven gimmicks, or causes outside of New York, and reinvest it, with community input, into local programs in impacted communities.

• Florence believes that people should have a direct say on how money is spent in their communities. For that reason, Florence proposes to implement a participatory budget process, which will employ a democratic process where Manhattan residents offer input on how to spend the Manhattan DA’s asset forfeiture investment funds.

Florence said, “Asset forfeiture offers a tremendous opportunity for substantial neighborhood improvements, ensuring safer streets for Manhattan’s children and families, as well as for those who work or go to school in Manhattan or travel to visit it. We shouldn’t be paying for paint brushes and art supplies when pragmatic and proven programs and methods exist to make our neighborhoods safer.”

About Diana Florence:

Diana Florence started her career 30 years ago in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, after receiving both her BA (with honors and Phi Beta Kappa) and her law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Fluent in Spanish, Florence spent 25 years as a prosecutor. She focused on street crime, domestic violence, complex frauds, and corruption cases, ultimately creating and leading the nation’s first Construction Fraud Task Force. She won groundbreaking convictions against companies and individuals for corruption, domestic violence, defrauding 9/11 charities, wage theft, and deadly work conditions. Working side-by-side with community-based groups, unions, worker centers, and government agencies, Florence created an innovative prosecution model rooted in broad-based community participation. She taught trial advocacy for over two decades to lawyers in the DA’s Office and lectured investigators and lawyers from around the world on topics ranging from inter-agency cooperation to prosecuting fraud, racketeering, and workplace homicide. 

As an Assistant District Attorney (ADA), Florence held powerful interests accountable by prosecuting landmark cases on behalf of workers and taxpayers. She secured justice for the family of Carlos Moncayo, a 22 year-old construction worker who was buried alive at work. Using the existing criminal law, Florence obtained convictions against the corporations and site supervisors—who had been repeatedly warned of hazardous conditions—for manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide related to Moncayo’s death. Florence also secured a record-breaking wage theft conviction working alongside IronWorkers Local 361 to secure $6 million in stolen wages and back-pay from AGL Industries. Not only did Florence prosecute these cases, she authored two bills—Carlos’ Law and Wage Theft—that became New York State Laws. These successes led to her run for Manhattan District Attorney in 2021, with the support of 20 labor unions. 

The conclusion of Florence’s campaign coincided with the broad legalization of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) compensation for college athletes. Recognizing the parallels between immigrant construction workers and these young athletes—namely, that both groups were the often-overlooked engines of multi-billion-dollar industries—she transitioned her practice to collegiate athletics as an attorney and consultant. She is one of a handful of lawyers nationwide who has successfully sued the NCAA. She sued on behalf of a Division One basketball player at Manhattan College and won a preliminary injunction that granted him immediate eligibility. Florence also advocates for college athletes as a member of the board of Thriving Not Surviving, a nonprofit that supports college athletes who have been sexually assaulted. 

Born in Manhattan, Florence is a long-time resident of Kips Bay, where she lives with her husband and two children.

To learn more about Diana’s campaign, click here.