Did Green aide profit from sheriff sales?

WITH PUBLIC concern rising about mortgage foreclosures, the city's chief fiscal watchdog is poised to release a major audit blasting the Philadelphia Sheriff's Office's handling of the sales of distressed homes.

Part of the roughly 300-page report leaked last week when 6ABC reported that a top aide to former longtime Sheriff John Green, who resigned earlier this year, also ran a side business and profited from the sale of homes.

The TV report said that Tyrone Bynum, director of finance under Green for nearly a decade, may have run afoul of ethics laws by operating a business that sold distressed homes at the same time he was overseeing sales of the properties.

Officials in the office of City Controller Alan Butkovitz declined to comment last night on the report, which is expected to be released in its entirety on Wednesday.

The report is also said to look into the role of "finders" who pocket substantial fees for tracking down people who've lost their homes to hand over proceeds from the sheriff sales. 6ABC said one "finder" who boasted of his ties to Green's office earned $1 million.

Green resigned in January after auditors began raising questions about his handling of bank accounts totaling some $53 million. Last Tuesday, voters elected state Rep. Jewell Williams as the city's new sheriff. He takes office in January.

- Will Bunch