Sources say a former prosecutor and longtime ally of former mayor Rudy Giuliani will likely be named the federal monitor for New York City's public housing next week, tasked with addressing the failures in public housing and improving conditions for hundreds of thousands of tenants.

Bart Schwartz has a long history of conducting investigations. Almost 20 years ago, he was looking into the city buildings department for Giuliani.

Now he is on the verge of being selected as the new federal monitor for the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA).

Schwartz is currently the chairman of Guidepost Solutions LLC, a compliance consulting firm.

When NY1 reached him by phone Thursday, he told us he couldn't comment. Neither the U.S. Attorney's office nor the federal housing department would comment for this story.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said the decision was not yet final. "The process of naming the monitor and all the specifics terms and conditions that go with that is not complete. So until there is a formal announcement, you should not consider it done," the mayor said at an unrelated news conference. "From what I've seen, he is an impressive guy with a lot of pertinent experience."

We were told de Blasio and Ben Carson, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), interviewed just a handful of people for the job. The monitor post is the key part of an agreement signed by the federal government, the U.S. attorney's office, and the mayor to reform the housing authority, which, for years, has been plagued by scandals as its buildings crumble.

Schwartz has a long history of investigating scandal. Gov. Andrew Cuomo appointed him to review the "Buffalo Billion," and Schwartz was the independent monitor for General Motors.

He worked for Giuliani in the U.S. attorney's office and has since gained other interesting political connections. He sits on the board of the All Stars Project, a youth organization founded by Lenora Fulani, the controversial former leader of the state Independence Party. In fact, in 2012, that group honored Schwartz.

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