ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — News10NBC has learned Monroe County prosecutors have issued subpoenas to people they want to question in their investigation into allegations of campaign finance violations against Mayor Lovely Warren.
WXXI's Evan Dawson confirmed to News10NBC he received a subpoena to appear before a Grand Jury on Sept. 17.
Prosecutors are interested in comments the mayor made on his show in July of 2017.
Dawson was told prosecutors want to make sure her comments on the program were not edited.
Back then, News10NBC reported the District Attorney's Office was looking into what happened to the money donated to two campaign-related committees during the mayor's re-election race last year.
During the campaign, the mayor's two challengers filed official complaints about the money to the state board of elections.
Now, Mayor Warren says she wants people to understand that this is coming back up right before she gets ready to run for re-election.
“I just think that this is a complaint that was done in my re-election campaign from 2017, we’re now in 2020 and this has just come to fruition,” Warren said. “Ask yourself why. Come January I’ll be running for reelection and I believe this is a political witch hunt. I think that it's wrong and I think that people have overstepped here. And I plan on and my attorneys plan on defending me to the fullest extent of the law. I think that it is imperative that the people in this community understand what is going on here and I would hope that our media will go and do their research and look into this. We are talking about something that happened or [was] alleged to happen four years ago all of a sudden now has come to fruition right before I get ready to run for re-election. Ask yourself: Who’s running against me? And who are they tied to? Thank you.”
News10NBC heard from Joe Damelio, counsel for Friends of Lovely Warren, last Wednesday. He sent the following statement:
“Today, for the third separate time since the end of May, we received notification of leaks to the media regarding an alleged report from the State Board of Elections and the District Attorney’s office about political finance accounts associated with the Mayor's campaign. Still after three separate news stories at no time have I, the Mayor’s attorney, been contacted by the District Attorney’s office about this investigation.
Since 2017, news stories have been reported about similar alleged communications between the State Board of Elections and the District Attorney’s office. It is now 2020. We look forward to the conclusion of the DA's investigation.
The Mayor in her official capacity, and as a private person, did absolutely nothing wrong. And, when this investigation is done, it will be shown that no money is missing."
As of now, no charges have been filed against Mayor Warren
The end of Medicaid Fraud in Child Welfare begins.
A Brooklyn man was sentenced to 156 months in prison today for his role in a vast multimillion-dollar health care kickback and money laundering conspiracy, the Department of Justice announced today.
Aleksandr Pikus, 45, of Brooklyn, New York, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ann M. Donnelly of the Eastern District of New York. Judge Donnelly also ordered Pikus to pay $39.4 million in restitution and to forfeit $2,614,233. On Nov. 15, 2019, after a two-week trial, Pikus was convicted by a jury of one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, two counts of money laundering, one count of conspiracy to pay and receive health care kickbacks and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States by obstructing the IRS.
“For nearly a decade, Aleksandr Pikus stole millions of dollars from the federal Medicare and Medicaid programs in a major healthcare kickback, money laundering and tax fraud scheme,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian C. Rabbitt of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “This significant sentence holds Pikus accountable for his leadership role in this scheme and reflects the Department’s commitment to protecting our valuable federal healthcare programs and their beneficiaries from this kind of fraud.”
“The defendant’s key role in an elaborate scheme to steal and conceal tens of millions of dollars from the Medicare and Medicaid programs, was staggering in scope and deserving of the significant punishment he received today,” stated Acting U.S. Attorney DuCharme. “This office takes very seriously its obligation to protect government funds that provide vital medical coverage counted upon by individuals and families who qualify because of their low income, disability or advanced years.”
“Pikus was the kingpin running a massive money laundering and kickback health care fraud syndicate,” said Scott J. Lampert, Special Agent in Charge for the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “Now, like others who plot to steal from government health programs, he is paying a heavy price for his crimes. Along with our law enforcement partners, we will continue to root out individuals who steal vital taxpayer-provided health funds.”
“The defendant’s greed and desire for money drove him to perpetrate crimes against our healthcare system and prey upon the vulnerable in our society.,” stated IRS-CI Special Agent in Charge Larsen. “Justice has been served and IRS-CI will continue to work alongside our counterparts to uncover these schemes to hold these criminals accountable for their actions.”
According to evidence presented at trial, Pikus and his co-conspirators perpetrated a scheme through a series of medical clinics in Brooklyn and Queens over the course of nearly a decade, which clinics employed doctors, physical and occupational therapists, and other medical professionals who were enrolled in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. In return for illegal kickbacks, Pikus referred beneficiaries to these health care providers, who submitted claims to the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
Pikus and his co-conspirators then laundered a substantial portion of the proceeds of these claims through companies he controlled, including by cashing checks at several New York City check-cashing businesses. Pikus then failed to report that cash income to the IRS. Instead, Pikus used the cash to enrich himself and others and to pay kickbacks to patient recruiters, who, in turn, paid beneficiaries to receive treatment at the medical clinics. The evidence further established that Pikus and his co-conspirators used sham shell companies and fake invoices to conceal their illegal activities.
More than 25 other individuals have pleaded guilty to or been convicted of participating in the scheme, including physicians, physical and occupational therapists, ambulette drivers, and the owners of several of the shell companies used to launder the stolen money.
This case was investigated by the HHS-OIG and IRS-CI, and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, under the supervision of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. Assistant Chief A. Brendan Stewart and Trial Attorneys Sarah Wilson Rocha and Andrew Estes of the Fraud Section are prosecuting the case.
The Fraud Section leads the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, which is part of a joint initiative between the Department of Justice and HHS to focus their efforts to prevent and deter fraud and enforce current anti-fraud laws around the country. Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, which maintains 15 strike forces operating in 24 districts, has charged more than 4,200 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for approximately $19 billion. In addition, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.
Judge Valerie Caproni sent a powerful message to New York office holders on public corruption, but, will she heed her own wisdom, considering the fact that she was mean to my Sweetie?
"This was corruption pure and simple,” the judge said while sentencing the man who was once one of the three most powerful state officials.
NEW YORK — Former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was sentenced Monday to 6 1/2 years in prison in the corruption case that drove him from power as a judge said she hoped to “send a message to Albany.”
U.S. District Judge Valerie E. Caproni sentenced Silver, 76, for the third time, acknowledging that a man who was once one of the three most powerful state officials came closer than ever before to properly expressing remorse.
But she said it remained unclear as to whether “he really gets it,” and she shaved only six months off the seven-year prison sentence she announced in 2018, ignoring claims by Silver’s defense lawyer that he could die if he contracts COVID-19 in prison. She also fined him $1 million.
“This was corruption pure and simple,” Caproni said.
"But, everyone was doing it."
She said she hoped the sentence was “long enough to send a message to Albany,” though she added that the 17 to 22 years in prison called for by federal sentencing guidelines was “draconian.” Caproni said Silver must report to prison Aug. 26.
She described how Silver had changed his statements to her at each sentencing, going from an insistence that he did no harm at his first to a “self-pitying” approach at the second and finally to acknowledging his wrongful conduct this year.
Before Caproni announced the sentence, Silver stood and repeated parts of a handwritten letter he had written to the judge, though not the part in which he told her to spare him a sentence that might cause him to die in prison.
He said he had done a lot of good things over the decades as his power grew in state government, where he spent 21 years as Assembly speaker.
“I destroyed that legacy that I built over 35 years,” he said, blaming his downfall on “improper, selfish and ethically indefensible” behavior that grew from a sense of entitlement.
Last week, Caproni denied Silver’s request to be sentenced remotely because of the coronavirus. Masked spectators were kept apart in a large courtroom which they entered only after undergoing a temperature check and answering COVID-related questions at the courthouse entrance.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Richenthal urged Caproni to impose the same seven-year sentence she levied for bribery and extortion crimes before a federal appeals court ordered a new sentencing after tossing out three counts.
Silver was ousted as speaker in 2015 and convicted later that year, but appeals have so far kept him out of jail. His original conviction was overturned on appeal but Silver was convicted again in 2018.
In court papers, Silver’s lawyers had asked for leniency, saying Silver was an obese man in his 70s with a history of cancer, chronic kidney disease and other health problems that make him among those most at risk of dying from COVID-19.
Caproni, though, said the death rate of the population outside prison was approaching the death rate inside and it seemed that prisons were improving at adjusting to the threat of the illness.
“I do not want Mr. Silver to die in prison either,” she said.
In the part of the case that survived the appeal process, Silver was convicted in a scheme that involved favors and business traded between two real estate developers and a law firm. Silver supported legislation that benefited the developers. The developers then referred certain tax business to a law firm that paid Silver fees
The Supreme Court on Friday announced it will postpone arguments scheduled for April because of the coronavirus pandemic, but the court didn’t rule out hearing some arguments within months.
The announcement means a total of 20 arguments scheduled for March and April, including fights over subpoenas for President Donald Trump’s financial records, have now been postponed. The court said in a statement that it would consider rescheduling some cases before the end of the term “if circumstances permit in light of public health and safety guidance at that time.”
“The Court will consider a range of scheduling options and other alternatives if arguments cannot be held in the Courtroom before the end of the Term,” statement said.
The high court previously announced it would postpone 11 arguments that would have been heard over the past two weeks.
On Friday it postponed the remaining nine arguments scheduled for late April. Those arguments include a case about whether presidential electors must support the popular vote winner in their states or can choose someone else.
In another case, the justices were to decide whether to allow the Trump administration to enforce rules that let more employers deny insurance coverage for contraceptives to women. A lower court ruling had blocked the administration from enforcing the rules.
Like other cultural organizations and performing arts centers around the country, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has been negatively impacted by the current coronavirus pandemic. Because the Center was created by an Act of Congress and we exist as a living presidential memorial, the Center’s economic model is different than most arts organizations. As we fulfill our congressional mandate, we rely on ticket revenues and contributions to offset nearly every aspect of our business, including presenting live (often free) performances and offering education programs for millions across the country. Additionally, the Center is a job creator, providing employment for nearly 3,000 people and compensation for more than 1,000 guest artists. Our workforce includes artists, programmers, administrative and production staff, ushers, bartenders, food service employees, parking attendants, and many more, all of whom have been impacted or will soon be impacted by the closure of the Kennedy Center. The ability to deliver on our mandated mission is at risk. As a result, federal relief funding is the only way we will be in a position to reopen the nation’s cultural center when our government officials tell us it is safe to do so.
The Kennedy Center is extraordinarily grateful that Congress has recognized our institution’s unique status and has included funding in its economic stimulus legislation to ensure that we can reopen our doors and stages as soon as we are able. We will continue to work for and seek the support of our patrons to ensure the programming continues.
In the meantime, as our concert halls and arts venues are closed across the country, the Kennedy Center’s programmers and its family of artists have come together to produce and offer free “at-home programming” at https://www.kennedy-center.org/at-home/.
The State of New York is now using Child Protective Services to open child abuse under educational neglect.
The States are diffusing Parental Rights legislation, again, but this time they are using immunizations of children platform to trigger that default to the grant of the rights to custodianship and guardianship, to be transferred to a corporate parent, who is privatized and foreign, which means there are no civil rights.
Medicaid is the cost-reimbursement source, which means there are lots of revenue maximization schemes being constructed and pitched.
The following is the testimony of Brooke Jordan on medical and religious exemptions for childhood immunizations.
Child welfare shall be a presentation to crush many spirits and rip many souls from the shadows of life, because no one wants to talk about the residuals of the peculiar institution.
Praise the lord because this is about Parental Rights and it started in Detroit.
Hundreds for and against state vaccination legislation rally at the Capitol
A public hearing on the state's proposed vaccination legislation draws hundreds of supporters and opponents
The state's plan is to eliminate the current religious exemption for schoolchildren.
The debate over childhood vaccinations wrapped up shortly after 8 a.m. Thursday after raging more than 20 hours and through the night, sustained by upset moms from around the state who recoil at the prospect of government telling them how to take care of their children.
The public health committee next meets on Friday in Room 2D at the Legislative Office Building, said its chairwoman, state Sen. Mary Daugherty Abrams. The committee is not expected to vote at that time, however.
Drafted around the time measles was starting to make a comeback in a Jewish community in New York state, the bill would prohibit parents from citing religious or philosophical beliefs in refusing to vaccinate their children. It drew the ire of thousands at the state Capitol Wednesday, some of whom pulled their children out of school to join them.
One child was in the hearing room with her mother during testimony early Thursday. It wasn’t clear if the child was there all night; some of those at the hearing said they had gone home before rejoining fellow speakers.
Some speakers were emotional, with one mom unable to hold back tears. There were more than a dozen people in the hearing rooming at dawn.
On Wednesday, thousands of concerned parents gathered at the state Capitol to speak out against the bill, which would prohibit them from citing religious or philosophical beliefs as a reason for not immunizing their school-age children.
Parents with small children and posters reading “Parents call the shots" packed the Legislative Office Building, waiting for hours to get into a public hearing on vaccines, or one of several overflow rooms needed to contain the crowd, which was by far the largest at the Capitol this year.
Hundreds more vaccine skeptics gathered outside, chanting and holding signs that stated “Kill Bill 5044” and “I am informed, I do not consent."
Vaccine Public Hearing
Hartford, CT - 2/19/20 - Hundreds of protesters rally against mandatory vaccination across from the Legislative Office Building Wednesday as a public hearing regarding state vaccine legislation takes place inside. Photo by Brad Horrigan | bhorrigan@courant.com (Brad Horrigan)
Legislators on the public health committee heard hours of testimony from those on both sides of the issue, but the committee’s co-chairs said early in the day that it was unlikely the primary purpose of the bill, to eliminate the religious exemption, would change.
“We know what we’re talking about is highly controversial, but we’re confident that what we’re doing is in the best interest of the state of Connecticut,” said Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, D-Westport. “Though it may not be perfect and may go through some little tweaks between now and the time it reaches the floor, I am confident [the bill] addresses the current circumstances.”
In the 2018-2019 school year, about 96% of kindergarteners in Connecticut were vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella. But the state Department of Public Health, following a record-breaking measles outbreak last year, has expressed concern about a small, but growing, percentage of religious exemptions that could create pockets of vulnerability to the virus throughout the state.
Between the 2017-18 and 2018-19 school years, the number of kindergarten students with a religious exemption jumped from 2% to 2.5%, a 25% year-over-year increase. The department estimated that 7,800 children had religious exemptions in the 2018-2019 school year.
Hartford, CT - 2/19/20 - Opponents and supporters of mandatory vaccination crowd the halls of the Legislative Office Building for a public hearing regarding state vaccine legislation Wednesday. Photo by Brad Horrigan | bhorrigan@courant.com (Brad Horrigan / Hartford Courant)
“We’re going in the opposite direction,” state public health Commissioner Renee D. Coleman-Mitchell told legislators. “What’s to say that next year the religious exemptions won’t continue to skyrocket ... and we had a chance to prevent that from happening?”
But opponents said the bill was an example of governmental overreach. James Turkosz, a father from Woodbridge, said it removed his choice as a parent not to vaccinate his children.
In his testimony, Turkosz said he had spent countless hours and sleepless nights thinking about the vaccination issue. Under the current version of the bill, students without proper vaccines would be blocked from enrolling in school starting this fall. Exemptions would be granted only for specific medical reasons.
“People are scared,” Turkosz said, calling the 25% increase cited by the department a “misleading statistic.”
His wife, Kristen Turkosz, a public school teacher, called the bill “discriminatory” against children who are not vaccinated due to a religious exemption.
Vaccine Public Hearing
Hartford, CT - 2/19/20 - Television producer and anti-vaccination activist Del Matthew Bigtree testifies at a public hearing regarding state vaccine legislation at the Legislative Office Building Wednesday. Photo by Brad Horrigan | bhorrigan@courant.com (Brad Horrigan)
Other opponents raised concerns about the safety of vaccines, which doctors repeatedly addressed in their own testimony.
“I want to clearly, vociferously, state that vaccines are highly effective and safe,” said Dr. Saad Omer, director of the Yale Institute for Global Health.
“I believe individual parents come from the right starting point," he said. "It’s perfectly reasonable to seek information around vaccines or anything else. It is therefore our responsibility to make sure that information is correct.”
Vaccine Public Hearing
Hartford, CT - 2/19/20 - Hundreds of protesters rally against mandatory vaccination across from the Legislative Office Building Wednesday as a public hearing regarding state vaccine legislation takes place inside. Photo by Brad Horrigan | bhorrigan@courant.com (Brad Horrigan)
Omer asked legislators and families to take seriously the medical consensus that vaccines are safe.
“We have to do something about his,” he said. “We cannot sit around and not act in face of a real prospect of a resurgence of major disease.”
One health professional warned legislators that the large crowds at the Capitol Wednesday were not representative of how the majority of parents fell.
“You’re hearing from a very vocal minority,” said Dr. Linda Niccolai, professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health, urging lawmakers to “listen to the experts, people who are professionally trained and have science on their side.”
Most Americans support mandatory vaccination for schoolchildren, according to public opinion polls. A 2016 Pew Research Center study found more than 80% of adults support the notion that healthy children should be required to receive vaccines in order to attend school because of potential risk to others.
Another study conducted by Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health last year found broad support for school vaccination requirements but more limited trust in the safety of vaccines themselves and in public health agencies.
Hartford, CT - 2/19/20 - Renee Coleman-Mitchell, Connecticut Commissioner of Public health, speaks at a public hearing regarding state vaccine legislation at the Legislative Office Building Wednesday. Photo by Brad Horrigan | bhorrigan@courant.com (Brad Horrigan / Hartford Courant)
In 2019, the World Health Organization named vaccine hesitancy as one of the top 10 threats to global health, Coleman-Mitchell told legislators. Much of the skepticism surrounding vaccines is due to misinformation, she said.
Common arguments against immunization include claims that vaccines are linked to autism or infect children with disease. Multiple experts testified Wednesday that neither of these claims are true.
Some opponents to the bill expressed concerns that eliminating religious exemption would be a violation of constitutional rights. In an opinion issued last May, Attorney General William Tong said the proposal was constitutional.
“There is no serious or reasonable dispute as to the State’s broad authority to require and regulate immunizations for children: the law is clear that the State of Connecticut may create, eliminate or suspend the religious exemption ... in accordance with its well-settled power to protect public safety and health," Tong wrote in his seven-page opinion.
Vaccine Public Hearing
Hartford, CT - 2/19/20 - Jaspar Prescott, 4, of New Milford draws a sign that reads "Parents Call the Shots" in an overflow room at the Legislative Office Building public Wednesday during a public hearing regarding state vaccine legislation. Photo by Brad Horrigan | bhorrigan@courant.com (Brad Horrigan)
Tong said the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed the authority of states to “require and regulate immunizations for children.” The Connecticut Supreme Court has also upheld mandatory school immunizations, he wrote.
Gov. Ned Lamont Wednesday also voiced his support for removing the religious exemption.
“When it comes to the health and safety of our kids, it is our responsibility to act out of an abundance of caution,” he said, in a written statement. “Vaccinations are safe. They are the reason dangerous diseases disappeared for decades.”
BEHOLD! The Residuals of the Peculiar Institution. We still cite law under the Thirteenth Amendment Exception Doctrine. You will see in the parental rights movement that they used "to further a compelling government interest", more intuitively understood as Child Protective Services, otherwise known as "gerrymandering".
This case involves the validity, under the Constitution of the United States, of certain provisions in the statutes of Massachusetts relating to vaccination. The Revised Laws of that Commonwealth, c. 75, § 137, provide that "the board of health of a city or town if, in its opinion, it is necessary for the public health or safety shall require and enforce the vaccination and revaccination of all the inhabitants thereof and shall provide them with the means of free vaccination. Whoever, being over twenty-one years of age and not under guardianship, refuses or neglects to comply with such requirement shall forfeit five dollars." An exception is made in favor of "children who present a certificate, signed by a registered physician that they are unfit subjects for vaccination." § 139. Proceeding under the above statutes, the Board of Health of the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, on the twenty-seventh day of February, 1902, adopted the following regulation: "Whereas, smallpox has been prevalent to some extent in the city of Cambridge and still continues to increase; and whereas it is necessary for the speedy extermination of the disease that all persons not protected by vaccination should be vaccinated, and whereas, in the opinion of the board, the public health and safety require the vaccination or revaccination of all the inhabitants of Cambridge; be it ordered, that Page 197 U. S. 13 all the inhabitants of the city who have not been successfully vaccinated since March 1, 1897, be vaccinated or revaccinated."
The New York DA’s office has said they “will begin a preliminary review of the matter,” in light of a new Netflix documentary which casts doubt on who killed Malcom X 55 years ago.
Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Peter C. Fitzhugh, Special Agent in Charge of the Department of Homeland Security’s (“DHS”) Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”) in New York, and Dermot Shea, the Commissioner of the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”), announced today the arrest of TRACY REYNOLDS, a/k/a “Sara,” and IZHAK COHEN, for money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection with their ownership and operation of VIP Escorts, a nationwide multimillion-dollar business offering high end prostitution services, as well as the seizure of bank accounts and 391 websites related to the VIP Escorts business. REYNOLDS was arrested this morning at Tampa International Airport while boarding a flight to Mexico and was presented today in Tampa federal court. COHEN was arrested by Israeli authorities in Hadera, Israel. The United States Attorney’s Office will seek COHEN’s extradition to stand trial in the United States.
According to the allegations in the Complaint sworn out in Manhattan federal court:[1]
From at least 2012 to the present, REYNOLDS and COHEN have operated an online high-end prostitution business through their company and its affiliates known as “VIP Escorts.” VIP Escorts maintains a website, http://wvvw.vipescorts.com (the “VIP Escorts Website”), which it used to promote its prostitution services and was registered to COHEN. VIP Escorts also operates an array of affiliated escort websites, which also advertised its prostitution services, with names such as “Prestige Escorts,” “American Escorts,” “Russian Escorts,” and “Manhattan Exotics,” all of which are registered to COHEN.
As part of their prostitution business, REYNOLDS and COHEN arranged for escorts to meet clients in Manhattan and in numerous other locations for prostitution services, charging them thousands of dollars. REYNOLDS and COHEN required escorts to deposit the proceeds of their commercial sex acts into a large number of bank accounts that they controlled, many of them in the name of fake entities. REYNOLDS and COHEN then laundered the money through thousands of domestic and international financial transactions. In total, over $10 million passed through various personal and business accounts controlled by REYNOLDS during the course of this conspiracy, and over $1 million was sent from REYNOLDS in the United States to COHEN in Israel in thousands of small transactions designed to conceal the nature, location, source, ownership, and control of the proceeds.
REYNOLDS and COHEN then used the proceeds of the prostitution scheme for personal gain and to further their illegal prostitution business. They paid, for example, over $295,000 from bank accounts under their control to advertise the VIP Escorts business on a known advertising platform for the prostitution industry.
* * *
REYNOLDS, 45, of Alamosa, Colorado, and Cohen, 53, of Hadera, Israel, are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and two counts of money laundering, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by the judge.
Mr. Berman praised the outstanding investigative work of HSI, NYPD, and the El Dorado Task Force, and expressed his sincere gratitude to the Israel National Police and the Israel Ministry of Justice for their support and assistance with the investigation. He also thanked the Office of International Affairs of the U.S. Department of Justice for their assistance in the arrest of COHEN.
This case is being handled by the Office’s General Crimes Unit. Assistant United States Attorney Michael R. Herman is in charge of the prosecution.
The charge contained in the Complaint is merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
[1] As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the text of the Complaint and the description of the Complaint set forth herein constitute only allegations, and every fact described should be treated as an allegation.
This would mean that there was mortgage fraud, and probably property tax fraud, and TARP.
I speculate that if you squint your eyes really, really hard, then look at the financials, you will see the Detroit Land Bank Authority, but, hey, what do I know?
Jona Rechnitz was arrested on corruption charges in New York and then became a star witness. His testimony led to the conviction of several officials.
Jona Rechnitz & DeBlasio
Jona Rechnitz, center, made large donations to the campaigns and causes of Mayor Bill de Blasio, right, as a way to gain access.
Mayor Bill de Blasio called him a “liar and a felon.”
The man, Jona S. Rechnitz, was a wealthy real estate scion who made large donations to the mayor’s political campaigns and causes, gaining access to key officials, including Mr. de Blasio.
But Mr. Rechnitz became an instant pariah in City Hall after pleading guilty in 2016 to corruption-related charges. He admitted that those contributions — as well as direct bribes given to police officials — were a means to gain influence.
His admissions formed the core of a cooperation agreement in which he became a key government witness in three federal corruption trials, leading to the convictions and guilty pleas of half a dozen people, including a powerful correction officers’ union boss, a hedge fund mogul, a police official and a Brooklyn businessman.
Mr. Rechnitz became, according to federal prosecutors in Manhattan, “one of the single most important and prolific white-collar cooperating witnesses in the recent history of the Southern District of New York.”
On Thursday, Mr. Rechnitz was sentenced to five months in prison and five months of house arrest, followed by three years on parole, an outcome that contrasted sharply from the possible 20 years in prison he faced when he was first arrested and charged. The start of his sentence has been suspended pending the outcome of an appeal.
Before he was sentenced, Mr. Rechnitz apologized to Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein for his “criminal and moral” behavior, and asked the judge for leniency.
“I cannot express, your honor, how distraught I am at how I desecrated my religion,” he said, acknowledging that he had “made many poor choices, and many people suffered because of them.”
Mr. Rechnitz had endured intense public scrutiny as a government witness, federal prosecutors said. He met with prosecutors more than 80 times, often traveling to New York City from the West Coast, where he lived.
His testimony in one of the trials helped expose years of sordid and petty corruption within the New York City Police Department — officials who had provided favors in exchange for junkets, prostitutes and expensive gifts — that reached the highest echelon of the department.
Mr. Rechnitz’s testimony, the government wrote, had “exposed the sordid underbelly of multiple New York City institutions, exposed serious crimes and held powerful people who fell short of their obligations to the broader public to account.”
The cases cast a cloud over City Hall and the mayor, who was never accused of wrongdoing. Mr. Rechnitz asserted that he had bought access to City Hall with his donations to Mr. de Blasio’s campaigns and causes; the mayor said that Mr. Rechnitz was “exaggerating in many, many ways,” characterizing him as a “horrible human being.”
Mr. Rechnitz had undoubtedly hoped to make a different kind of impact when he moved to New York City from Los Angeles in 2008 to follow in his father’s footsteps in real estate.
He got his start with Africa Israel USA, an international real estate development firm owned by Lev Leviev, an Israeli real estate and diamond mogul. Mr. Rechnitz wanted badly to be a “big shot,” federal prosecutors said during one of the trials.
Mr. Rechnitz eventually met Jeremy Reichberg, an enterprising Brooklyn businessman who had built a reputation as a “fix-it guy” who used his police connections to help friends and associates with moving and parking violations for a fee. (He was sentenced to 48 months in prison in May.)
The men bonded, it seemed, over a shared desire to secure access to New York City’s most powerful and influential officials.
“He had all these connections to police,” Mr. Rechnitz testified. “I didn’t know many people that had connections with police, growing up in Los Angeles, and I thought this would be an awesome tool for me personally and for my business.”
The men became partners, federal prosecutors said, trading gifts with police officials for favors. Mr. Rechnitz testified that he spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on meals at luxury restaurants, sporting events, on private jets, jewelry, hotel stays, all-expense paid trips and prostitutes for officers.
The men used their connections to officers in one instance to shut down a lane in the Lincoln Tunnel to allow a police escort to take Mr. Leviev, Mr. Rechnitz’s boss, to his Manhattan hotel.
Jeremy Reichberg
Jeremy Reichberg, center, was Mr. Rechnitz’s partner; he was convicted earlier this year on bribery and conspiracy charges.
“This will earn me lots of points,” Mr. Rechnitz recalled thinking.
Three years later, he launched his own firm, JSR Capital, in midtown on Fifth Avenue.
By 2013, their police connections included four deputy chiefs in commands throughout the city.
Emboldened, they chartered a $60,000 jet to Las Vegas in February 2013 with a prostitute on board for an all-expense-paid Super Bowl weekend with two police officials.
On Christmas Day that year, they dressed as Santas and delivered expensive gifts to high-ranking police officials. In exchange, they got favors and police escorts.
Around the same time, they began courting Philip Banks III, a former chief of the department. They bought him a ring that once belonged to Muhammad Ali, took him to cigar bars and on trips to Israel, the Dominican Republic, Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
In return, they asked Mr. Banks for a parking placard, and to promote a police official — which Mr. Banks did. Mr. Banks was not charged with a crime. He resigned in 2014 citing unspecified personal and professional reasons.
Mr. Banks introduced Mr. Rechnitz to Norman Seabrook, the longtime leader of the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association, who was one of the most politically connected figures in the city.
Mr. Rechnitz played a key role in the prosecution of Mr. Seabrook, who was convicted last year on bribery and conspiracy charges. Mr. Seabrook had steered $20 million from the union into a risky hedge fund in exchange for a promised kickback worth more than $100,000. The union lost $19 million of its investment.
Still riding a wave of “unbridled ambition,” prosecutors said Mr. Rechnitz turned his attention to City Hall.
“We’re going to become significant contributors, but we want access,” Mr. Rechnitz told Mr. de Blasio’s chief fund-raiser. “When we reach out for things, we want them to get done.”
Over the next several months, Mr. de Blasio received more than $150,000 in contributions for his political campaigns and causes. In return, Mr. Rechnitz had the mayor’s personal cellphone number and email, which he used to invite the mayor to a Knicks game.
At his sentencing, Mr. Rechnitz who now operates a jewelry store in Los Angeles that is frequented by celebrities, told the judge that if he were given a lengthy prison sentence, he doubted that he could “start over a third time.”
Judge Hellerstein cited the Seabrook case in how he determined what sentence to give Mr. Rechnitz. He ordered Mr. Rechnitz to pay $10 million in restitution for the correction officers’ union’s loss.
“All of us do bad things,” the judge said. “Some of those bad things are criminal acts for which we must account.”
Hedge Fund Founder Pleads Guilty To Fraud In Connection With Bribery Of Former Correction Officers Union Leader
Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today the guilty plea of MURRAY HUBERFELD to wire fraud conspiracy in connection with funds used to bribe the former president of the nation’s largest municipal correction officers union. Specifically, HUBERFELD, founder of the Platinum Partners hedge fund (“Platinum”), pled guilty to conspiring with an intermediary, Jona Rechnitz, to cause the fund to pay $60,000 to Rechnitz’s company by falsely representing that the money was payment for courtside tickets to eight New York Knicks basketball games. Instead, as HUBERFELD knew, the actual purpose of the payment was to reimburse Rechnitz for having paid Norman Seabrook, then-president of the Correction Officer’s Benevolent Association (“COBA”), for Seabrook’s efforts to get COBA to invest millions of dollars in Platinum. HUBERFELD pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said: “Murray Huberfeld caused his former hedge fund to pay tens of thousands of dollars to a criminal partner in order to enable another crime – paying off the head of the correction officer’s union for the investment of millions of its members’ funds. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to fight fraud and corruption.”
According to the Superseding Information, Superseding Indictment, Indictment, and Complaint filed in this case, other public filings, statements made during the plea proceeding, and evidence and testimony presented at trial proceedings in October and November of 2017:
HUBERFELD was the founder of Platinum, a hedge fund that he continued to help operate unofficially even after his formal affiliation with the fund had ceased. In late 2013, HUBERFELD and Rechnitz, a real estate businessman who was an acquaintance of HUBERFELD, sought to attract public and institutional investors to the fund. At or around that time, Rechnitz told HUBERFELD that a contact of his – COBA President Norman Seabrook – would likely invest COBA’s money in Platinum. Over the next few months, Seabrook caused COBA to invest approximately $20 million of its funds into Platinum, including $15 million from a retirement benefits program funded by the City of New York that invests money for correction officers’ retirements.
In or around December 2014, arrangements were made to pay Seabrook personally for the millions of dollars the Union had invested over the course of that year. Rechnitz paid Seabrook $60,000 in cash, delivered to Seabrook in a men’s luxury handbag. HUBERFELD and Rechnitz then arranged for Platinum’s management company to receive a fraudulent invoice for $60,000 – generated by Rechnitz – that, on its face, billed Platinum for eight pairs of courtside tickets to New York Knick games given to Platinum by Rechnitz, who owned Knicks season tickets. In truth, and as HUBERFELD knew, the reason given to Platinum was false, and no Knicks tickets had changed hands. The real purpose of the payment was to reimburse Rechnitz, who had paid Seabrook for his efforts in securing COBA’s investments. Three days later, Platinum issued Rechnitz a $60,000 check.
HUBERFELD, 57, of Lawrence, New York, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The charge carries a maximum term of five years in prison. HUBERFELD is scheduled to be sentenced on September 14, 2018. The maximum potential penalty is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.
Trial against Seabrook, on charges of (i) conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, (ii) the substantive offense of honest services wire fraud, and (iii) the substantive crime of wire fraud with respect to COBA’s right to control its assets, is scheduled to commence on July 30, 2018, before Judge Hellerstein. As to Seabrook, the charges in the various charging instruments are merely allegations, and Seabrook is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Mr. Berman praised the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New York City Police Department, Internal Affairs Division.
This case is being handled by the Office’s Public Corruption Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys Martin S. Bell, Russell Capone, and Lara Pomerantz are in charge of the prosecution.
Another "Elected One of the Fashion Show Selfies" to celebrate in February.
Former New York City Police Department Officer and Supervisory Committee Member Also Charged With Embezzlement, Fraud, and Controlled Substance Offenses
Sylvia Ash
Geoffrey S. Berman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that SYLVIA ASH, presiding judge of the Kings County Supreme Court, Commercial Division, and former chair of the board of directors of Municipal Credit Union (“MCU”), was charged in Manhattan federal court with conspiracy to obstruct justice and obstruction of justice, arising from a scheme to seek to influence and impede an ongoing federal investigation into fraud and corruption at MCU, a non-profit, multibillion-dollar financial institution. U.S. Attorney Berman also announced today that Joseph Guagliardo, a/k/a “Joseph Gagliardo,” a former New York City Police Department Officer and former member of MCU’s supervisory committee, was charged separately with embezzlement, fraud, and controlled substance offenses arising from abuse of his position as a member of the supervisory committee. Guagliardo was arrested in Brooklyn, New York, yesterday afternoon and was presented before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ona T. Wang in Manhattan federal court. ASH was arrested at LaGuardia Airport this morning and is expected to appear before Magistrate Judge Wang in Manhattan federal court this afternoon.
U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said: “The charges announced today reflect the latest in our ongoing work to uncover criminal conduct at the highest levels of MCU, a multibillion-dollar, federally insured credit union. As alleged, Sylvia Ash, a sitting state court judge, took repeated steps to obstruct a federal investigation into significant financial misconduct at MCU during Ash’s tenure as chair of the board of directors. Joseph Guagliardo allegedly abused his position as an MCU supervisory committee member to enrich himself and his family.”
According to the allegations contained in the two Complaints unsealed today in Manhattan federal court, publicly available information, and prior court filings:[1]
Municipal Credit Union
MCU is a non-profit financial institution headquartered in New York, New York, which is federally insured by the National Credit Union Administration (“NCUA”). MCU is the oldest credit union in New York State and one of the oldest and largest in the country, providing banking services to more than 500,000 members, and with more than $2.9 billion in member accounts, each of which is federally insured for at least $250,000 by the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund, which is administered by the NCUA. Membership in MCU is generally available to employees of New York City and its agencies, employees of the federal and New York state governments who work in New York City, and employees of hospitals, nursing homes, and similar facilities located within New York State.
At all relevant times, MCU was supposed to be overseen by a board of directors (the “Board”) and a supervisory committee (the “Supervisory Committee”), each of which was composed of volunteer members of MCU, who were not to be compensated. According to New York banking law, the Supervisory Committee’s duties included supervision of the actions of MCU’s Board and officers. MCU’s written conflict of interest policy, which was regularly distributed to Board members, Supervisory Committee members, and others, provided, among other things, that members of MCU’s “Board of Directors and Supervisory Committee may not do business with the Credit Union, either individually or as representative of any business entity.”
ASH
ASH is a New York State Supreme Court Justice in Kings County. ASH has served as a judge in the New York State court system since at least approximately 2006, first as a Kings County Civil Court Judge, and, commencing in 2011, as a Kings County Supreme Court Justice. In or about January 2016, ASH was appointed to be the presiding judge in the Kings County Supreme Court’s Commercial Division.
ASH served on MCU’s Board from in or about May 2008 until on or about August 15, 2016, when she resigned. ASH also served as a trustee of MCU’s pension plan, a position from which she resigned on or about October 31, 2016. From in or about May 2015 until her resignation from the Board, ASH served as the chair of the Board.
GUAGLIARDO is a former officer with the New York City Police Department, who retired in or about 1989. In or about 1993, GUAGLIARDO joined the Supervisory Committee of MCU, a volunteer position, and remained in that position until he was removed from that position by the New York State Department of Financial Services on or about May 24, 2018, except for a brief period of time when he served as a member of MCU’s Board in or about 2008. While he was a Supervisory Committee member, GUAGLIARDO sought to and did use his position to oversee aspects of MCU’s security and fraud department, including serving in the role of vice president of MCU’s security and fraud department while that position was vacant.
Kam Wong
From on or about at least 2007 until on or about June 12, 2018, Kam Wong served as MCU’s chief executive officer (“CEO”) and president. On or about May 8, 2018, Wong was charged and arrested by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, and, on or about June 12, 2018, Wong was terminated by MCU. On or about December 2, 2018, Wong pled guilty to a multimillion-dollar embezzlement from MCU, and acknowledged, in his written plea agreement, among other things, endeavoring to obstruct and impede and obstructing and impeding the administration of justice with respect to the criminal investigation into this matter, and agreeing with one or more others to do the same.
ASH’s Alleged Obstruction of Justice
From at least in or about 2012 through 2016, while serving as an MCU Board member and while Wong was CEO, ASH received annually tens of thousands of dollars in reimbursements and other benefits from MCU, including airfare, hotels, food and entertainment expenses for her and a guest to attend conferences domestically and abroad, as well as payment for phone and cable bills, and electronic devices. Even after her resignation from the Board, Wong continued to provide or cause MCU to provide ASH with benefits, such as Apple devices.
In or about January 2018, after Wong had been approached by federal law enforcement agents investigating potential financial misconduct by Wong involving MCU and in an attempt to protect Wong, ASH agreed to and did sign a false and misleading memorandum purporting to explain and justify millions of dollars in payments that Wong had received from MCU, which was then provided by Wong to law enforcement officers.
Subsequently, ASH agreed to and did continue to seek to influence and impede the federal investigation in multiple ways, including by (i) concealing and deleting relevant text messages and email messages and wiping her MCU-issued Apple iPhone in a further effort to destroy and impair the availability of evidence that had been sought by federal grand jury subpoenas, and (ii) making false and misleading statements to federal law enforcement officers in interviews conducted as part of a federal criminal investigation.
GUAGLIARDO’s Alleged Embezzlement, Fraud, and Unlawful Provision of Controlled Substances to Wong
GUAGLIARDO engaged in a long-running scheme to defraud MCU, with the agreement and assistance of, among others, Wong. Among other things, GUAGLIARDO defrauded and embezzled from MCU by causing it to direct more than $250,000 to a purported security company created and controlled by GUAGLIARDO, but operated in another’s name, which did little to no real work for MCU. GUAGLIARDO also defrauded and embezzled from MCU by over-billing for more than $200,000 for purported web advertising services provided by a non-profit organization that GUAGLIARDO also controlled.
In addition, during substantially the same period in which GUAGLIARDO was committing and concealing these offenses, GUAGLIARDO participated in a scheme to unlawfully distribute controlled substances to Wong, in the form of prescription drugs, some of which were obtained from GUAGLIARDO’s spouse, who worked as a doctor affiliated with a public hospital, and some of which were obtained from a doctor affiliated with the New York City Police Department.
* * *
ASH, 62, of Brooklyn, New York, is charged with one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison; and two counts of obstruction of justice, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
GUAGLIARDO, 62, of Brooklyn, New York, is separately charged with one count of conspiracy to embezzle from a federal credit union, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison; one count of embezzlement, one count of conspiracy to defraud a financial institution, and one count of defrauding a financial institution, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison; and one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, and one count of distribution of controlled substances, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
The maximum potential sentences in these cases are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by a judge.
U.S. Attorney Berman praised the outstanding work of the Special Agents of the United States Attorney’s Office. Mr. Berman also thanked the New York County District Attorney’s Office, the New York State Department of Financial Services, and the New York City Police Department Internal Affairs Bureau for their assistance.
The case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Public Corruption Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Eli J. Mark and Daniel C. Richenthal are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance of Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Alona Katz from the New York County District Attorney’s Office.
The charges contained in the Complaints are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
[1] As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the text of the Complaints, and the description of the Complaints set forth herein, constitute only allegations, and every fact described therein should be treated as an allegation.
Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., a 16-term congresswoman and chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee, announced Thursday that she will retire after the 2020 elections.
Lowey, who represents New York's 17th Congressional District, located in the southeastern part of the state – including Westchester, Queens and the Bronx – touted the record she built over her 31-year career and promised to continue representing her constituents through 2020.
"Thank you to the people of my district for the opportunity to serve," she said in a statement. "I will continue working as hard as ever – with the same optimism and energy – through the end of this term in Congress."
Lowey became the first-ever woman to chair the House Appropriations Committee and has championed legislation on drunk driving, gender equality and support for Israel.
"I am especially thankful for the dedication and wisdom of my current and former staff in New York, in Washington and on the House Appropriations Committee," she wrote. "I look forward to more time with my husband Steve and our family, who have strongly supported my career in public service."
Lowey's retirement comes as the number of House GOP members not running for reelection has mounted, especially in Texas, where Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, recently became the sixth Republican to decide not to seek another term. He is the 19th House Republican leaving Congress, including two members who resigned.
Lowey's district won't be in any danger of turning red as it's located in a Democratic stronghold and she won her most recent reelection 88 percent to 12 percent. There's previously been chatter that Chelsea Clinton, daughter of Bill and Hillary Clinton, might be interested in the seat.
Those news reports have speculated the youngest Clinton might run for the 17th District seat after Lowey's retirement, and the Clinton's hometown is Chappaqua, which is currently represented by Lowey. Clinton has been an outspoken critic of President Trump since her mother lost to him in the 2016 election and would likely have the highest name recognition of any Democratic candidate for the seat were she to run.
El Chapo returns in a tale of espionage, intrigue and some hard core playas.
This New York tale spans the globe, through the ages, but for now, we enjoy the possibilities of this New York Officer being a whistleblower, which is what an undercover officer is, not saying he is, nor am I saying El Chapo is a whistleblower, but I thought I would just present plausible scenario, considering the fact that Loretta Lynch was hard on the New York Police, and the New York Police had their psyoptic moments.
Ishmael Bailey, 36, was arrested Wednesday and arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on five counts
NYPD officer Ishmael Bailey gestures as he exits the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse, in the Brooklyn borough of New York, U.S., July 17, 2019.
A New York police officer who worked an off-duty job as a bodyguard for the wife of drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán faces felony drug charges after he was accused of accepting cash in exchange for police protection in a cocaine operation.
Ishmael Bailey, 36, was arrested Wednesday and arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on five counts, including criminal sale and possession of a controlled substance, receiving bribes and official misconduct. The 12-year veteran of the force was suspended without pay after his arrest. If convicted, he would face up to 15 years in prison.
Prosecutors at Bailey’s arraignment mentioned his work for the Sinaloa Cartel boss’s wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, earlier this year, escorting her to and from the Brooklyn federal courthouse in July, when her husband was sentenced for running the world’s largest narcotics trafficking group.
Bailey’s attorney, Jeffrey Cohen, said his client’s side jobs are “irrelevant.”
“He’s not being brought up on charges for that,” Cohen told The Washington Post. “What’s happening now is, he’s pled not guilty, and I’m investigating the matter.”
NYPD officer Ishmael Bailey escorts Emma Coronel Aispuro, the wife of Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman, from the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse, following the sentencing of Guzman in the Brooklyn borough of New York, U.S., on July 17, 2019.
Bailey’s prosecution involves conduct that postdates Guzman’s trial and does not involve the Sinaloa Cartel, according to the district attorney’s office.
According to the criminal complaint, Bailey met with an undercover officer last month, who he believed was a drug dealer. On two occasions, he agreed to provide security as packages of cocaine were transported from location to location; he was allegedly paid in cash per kilogram moved.
Bailey earned $2,500 on Sept. 4 for driving a duffel bag filled with drugs to a parking lot in Queens, prosecutors said. The following week, Bailey again acted as a security guard for the undercover officer, according to the complaint, and he was paid $10,000 to pick up two kilograms of cocaine.
The acting district attorney of Queens County, John Ryan, said Bailey “took an oath to enforce the law. Today, sadly, he is accused of taking part in an illicit drug operation.”
New York Police Commissioner James O’Neill also condemned Bailey’s alleged acts.
“There is no place for corruption within the NYPD,” O’Neill said at a news conference after the arrest. “When an individual officer intentionally tarnishes the shield worn proudly by thousands before him, he will be held to the highest account the law provides.”
Bailey is next scheduled to appear in court Oct. 3.
