Department of Education Spent $745K in One Brooklyn Restaurant

This is real, not satire, and not fake news. Taxpayer money meant for education went to one Brooklyn restaurant last year to the tune of $745,000. The restaurant, Fusion East, offers Caribbean and soul food dining.

They were allegedly pushing funds to minority and women-owned businesses.

According to the New York Post:

Comptroller Brad Lander’s office raised the alarm about the hefty spending earlier this year, asking the DOE about the shocking figures, according to a May 30 letter obtained by The Post.

About $1.17 million has been spent since 2022 with nearly $750,000 this past year on Fusion East, according to the comptroller’s numbers.

They were very effective in sending business at taxpayer expense to the minority business.

The DOE only spent about $5,300 in 2022 at Fusion East, but that number skyrocketed the following year to more than $81,000, according to the May correspondence between the comptroller and DOE.

The figure then jumped to $470,686 before reaching the massive new amount in 2025.

Fusion East’s owner, Andrew Walcott, is described by the New York Post as “politically connected.” And they are not lying.

Walcott serves on the mayor’s Small Business Advisory Commission and Veterans Advisory Board, and he also serves on the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce executive board, but the restaurateur denied his civic involvement has anything to do with his restaurant’s big payday.

Oh, sure.

The schools used some orders for staff meals, school lunches, and events, but the costs are as crazy as a New York bedbug.

Why are we paying for staff meals? I know why. Walcott is well-connected.

Some thought the Department of Education was spending your money on education.