City Councilman Yusef Salaam — one of the exonerated Central Park Five — owes hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid federal taxes, despite making big money from speaking fees, The Post has learned.
The anti-cop councilman owes between $100,000 and $250,000 to the IRS, his 2024 annual financial disclosure to the city Conflicts of Interest Board shows.
Salaam, 51, insisted in the forms he is “in the process of repaying all taxes” for the past two years.
The Harlem pol won his seat in 2023, then took office at the start of 2024 — so it’s not clear when the taxes owed date back to.
His office declined to comment, and the IRS is barred from disclosing tax return information.
Salaam maintains his mountain of debt despite making a killing in speaking fees since his surprise victory in 2023.
He charges around $31,000 a pop for a virtual event — and closer to $40,000 to come talk about criminal justice in person.
He’s had at least 36 speaking engagements since announcing his run in 2023.
Since taking office last year, he raked in up to $250,000 in fees alone, records show — on top of the $148,500 salary he gets for his Council gig.
The father of 10 also declared getting “$500,000 or more” annually from a trust, estate or other beneficial interest, likely the terms of his 2014 settlement with the city.
NYC ended up paying $40.75 million to the members of the Central Park Five to settle a civil rights suit. Salaam’s share was $7.125 million.
This isn’t the first controversy for the councilman, who’s also chairman of the Public Safety Committee overseeing the NYPD.
Last year he was caught motoring around the Big Apple with out-of-state license plates and alleged illegally tinted windows. He was living in Georgia for six years before running for office in the Big Apple and still had his Peach State plates.
Salaam has been a vocal critic of the NYPD since being elected and among the lawmakers who pushed the controversial “How Many Stops Act” that buries cops in paperwork.
He was one of five Black and Latino teenagers wrongly accused, convicted and imprisoned for the assault and rape of a woman jogging in Central Park in 1989.
After his arrest at age 15, Salaam served nearly seven years behind bars, before a re-examination of the case led to his conviction being tossed in 2002 — after career criminal Matias Reyes confessed to the attack and DNA evidence confirmed Reyes’ involvement.
Reyes had confessed during interrogation to being at the Central Park crime scene, but the admission was later determined to be coerced.
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