In October 2010, Monserrate was indicted on federal corruption charges which alleged that, as a sitting member of the City Council, he had used staff members of a nonprofit organization—the Latino Initiative for Better Resources and Empowerment—to perform tasks related to his unsuccessful 2006 State Senate campaign. In 2006 and 2007, then-Councilmember Monserrate allocated $300,000 in discretionary city funding to LIBRE, and the indictment charged that approximately one-third of that funding went toward paying LIBRE staff for their campaign-related work. After the court proceeding, he was freed after posting a $500,000 bond, secured by a home belonging to his parents. Millions of dollars in so-called discretionary member items had been allocated by members of the City Council to non-profit groups with ties to the members. The investigation of Monserrate was part of a broad federal investigation to determine if these funds had been used for the members' personal or political expenses.