MTA official flirts with transit sales agent peddling her wares — and ends up costing taxpayers big-time: probe
The New York Transit Authority’s own procurement officer, Omar Messado, quietly began dating a saleswoman who supplied the agency’s hardware. After a series of private texts and calls that sometimes got flirtatious, a trip of increasingly expensive contracts followed. Messado signed off on dozens of deals that pushed buyers three‑ or four‑fold above the market value.
In a recent T‑Band explanation, Messado maintained that the couple never had a sexual affair—“I would’ve liked to,” he confessed to investigators. The officer nevertheless signed contracts for a six‑pack of brush‑sets that lost the agency $2 691 500, not to mention forklift and vest purchases that were marked up by roughly 60 %. Each time a family‑friendly employee raised a red flag, Metro‑North found a cheaper substitute instead of honoring the inflated bids.
“This procurement officer abused his authority to further his personal relationship with a sales agent, even though his job was to prevent wasteful spending and ensure a fair bidding process,” said Inspector General Daniel Cort. Messado was fired for violating a host of MTA and state conflict‑of‑interest, anti‑corruption and ethics statutes.
Relevant communications includes the quoted line the officer sent on August 11 2023: “Hey, you never know. You may have a skill I know nothing about. But it could be fun to discover.” He later sent the woman a bubbly “Oops, did I say that,” and she responded in a teasing tone a year later. While the officer claimed his chats covered mundane topics like cooking and childhood memories, investigators said they were actually “late‑night texts” that strayed far from professionalism. The T‑Band admonishment underscores the agency’s commitment to audit.
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