Monday, January 8, 2018

VISION ZERO: MAYOR DE BLASIO ANNOUNCES PEDESTRIAN FATALITIES DROPPED 32% LAST YEAR, MAKING 2017 SAFEST YEAR ON RECORD


Fourth consecutive year of declining traffic fatalities under Vision Zero, fewest New Yorkers lost since 1910—strongly countering national trends

  Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that New York City saw the fewest traffic fatalities on record last year, driven by a 32 percent drop in pedestrian fatalities. This marks the fourth consecutive year of declining traffic deaths under Vision Zero. Since 2013, fatalities have dropped 28 percent. Pedestrian deaths have plummeted by nearly half—45 percent. These mark the lowest levels since record keeping began in 1910.  The Mayor made the announcement at an event at NYPD’s Central Garage in Woodside, Queens where he thanked City workers responsible for implementing Vision Zero.

In 2017, 214 people, 101 of them pedestrians, were lost in traffic crashes. This compares to 231 total fatalities and 148 pedestrians in 2016. These reductions are sharply bucking the national trend. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), traffic fatalities nationwide have increased more than 13 percent from 2013-2016.

“Vision Zero is working. The lower speed limit, increased enforcement and safer street designs are all building on each other to keep New Yorkers safe. Now we must deepen this work. Not even a single tragedy on our streets is acceptable, and we’ll keep fighting every day to protect our people,” said Mayor de Blasio.


“Thanks to the incredible work of everyone at DOT, the NYPD, and our agency partners, the first four years of Vision Zero have been the safest ever on our city streets.  Vision Zero has truly saved lives — of family members, friends, neighbors and fellow New Yorkers,” said DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg. “In 2017, under the Mayor’s leadership, DOT's work helped fuel a historic drop in pedestrian fatalities, including through a record number of street safety redesigns and turning treatments, and by reprogramming a record number of traffic signals to give pedestrians a head start in crosswalks.  However, the number of lives lost on our streets is still too high, including the increases in fatalities we saw this year among cyclists, drivers and motorcyclists.  We know we have much more work to do to fully achieve Vision Zero.”

“These year-end Vision Zero statistics show that, since the initiative began, our combined efforts have significantly reduced traffic-related fatalities. We’ve made the streets of our City safer, and that has saved lives,” said NYPD Commissioner James P. O’Neill. “But the stats also show us that there’s more for the members of the Vision Zero Task Force to do, and we will – together.” 

Among notable Vision Zero achievements in 2017:

 A Steep Decline in Pedestrian Deaths: As part of Vision Zero, New York City committed to strategies to protect pedestrians, the most vulnerable street users.  In 2017, the 32 percent decline in pedestrian fatalities was the steepest-ever one-year percentage decline in the City’s recorded history. For decades, pedestrians usually made up the majority of New York City’s traffic fatalities. The 101 pedestrian fatalities in 2017 comprised 47% of all fatalities, the smallest-ever proportion of traffic deaths in New York City.

A Single Fatality Among School-Aged Pedestrian Children (aged 5-17): No family should ever have to feel the tragic loss of a child from a traffic crash. This year, the City continued to redesign corridors and intersections, strengthened automated enforcement around schools and taught the Cross This Way curriculum in public schools.  On August 16th, a 13-year-old boy was tragically struck on an East Harlem street, and became New York City’s only child pedestrian fatality for the entire year.  While still too many, one fatality is the fewest ever among children under 17. The previous five years had seen an average of 7 schoolchildren killed per year. As recently as 2004, 17 children were killed.

Fewest Ever Fatalities in Queens:  Traffic fatalities were down in all boroughs except Brooklyn, with Queens leading with a new record low in traffic deaths.  In Queens, 2017 saw 59 fatalities compared to 65 in 2016, a 9 percent decline.  The previous record low in Queens was 63 fatalities in 2011.

Continued Strong Traffic Enforcement:  As part of ongoing Vision Zero enforcement, NYPD Traffic officers issued more than 50,000 summonses to drivers who failed to yield to pedestrians or cyclists in 2017 -- more than four times the pre-Vision Zero annual average. Over the same period, officers issued nearly 150,000 speeding summonses, and automated speed cameras issued nearly 1.2 million Notices of Liability in 2017, with more than 50% issued at Vision Zero Priority Locations. Continuing trends from prior years, the Taxi & Limousine Commission increased traffic safety enforcement in 2016, focusing on behaviors like speeding and distracted driving.  The agency partnered with the NYPD to increase LIDAR speed enforcement training among TLC officers, allowing the agencies to work together to respond to speeding complaints.

Dusk and Darkness Initiative: In 2017, DOT continued to partner with the NYPD and the Taxi & Limousine Commission on a second annual Dusk and Darkness enforcement and education campaign during the fall and winter evening hours that are most dangerous to pedestrians. Before the first campaign launched in October of 2016, severe crashes involving pedestrians increased by nearly 40 percent in the early evening hours compared to crashes outside the fall and winter.  Already, over the first two months of the current Dusk and Darkness initiative, pedestrian fatalities have decreased to 17 from 30 over the same period in 2016, which in turn was a decrease from 41 over the same pre-initiative period in 2015.

A Safer NYC Fleet: In 2017, the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) completed its Safe Fleet Transition Plan (SFTP) – updating specifications with an eye towards safety for all City fleet vehicles.  Through the SFTP, 160 types of vehicles will be procured with improved safety outfitting, including 450 new vehicles now using automatic braking.  In 2017, the City spent more than $370 million on vehicles and expects the new safety specifications will help influence a national marketplace for safer vehicles and trucks.  The initiative was completed in partnership with the US DOT Volpe Center, which had also assisted DCAS in its pioneering requirements for rear and side under-ride protection (“side guards”) for all City trucks.  Side guards have been shown to reduce cyclist fatalities by 60% and pedestrian fatalities by 20% in side-impact collisions with trucks.

Safer For-Hire Vehicles: In October, the Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) honored 420 drivers and 25 businesses for their exemplary safety records, the highest number of honorees in all four years of the event.  Safety Honor Roll drivers have no crashes involving an injury or fatality, no moving violations, and no TLC rule violations for at least four years.  In February the TLC also approved the final version of its fatigued driving prevention rules, which set daily and weekly hour limits for drivers to help keep tired drivers off the road. TLC continued to hold driver outreach meetings at licensed For-Hire Vehicle (FHV) bases and taxi garages throughout the city, highlighting protected bike lanes, high-risk driving behavior that can lead to crashes, and the crucial role that professional drivers play in promoting a culture of safe driving. 

Safety Improvement Projects: The City completed 114 street safety engineering projects in 2017, more than double the pre-Vision Zero annual average, with 76 projects at Priority Locations. More than 350 safety engineering projects have been completed since the start of Vision Zero, with more than 250 at Priority Locations.
Leading Pedestrian Intervals (LPIs): As has been reported, DOT this year installed 832 new LPIs to give pedestrians a “head start” in crosswalks and protect them from turning vehicles. More than half of the new LPIs are in Senior Pedestrian Focus Areas. The City has now installed 2,334 LPIs, increasing their number by seven-fold since the start of Vision Zero.

Turning Safety Improvements: In 2016, Mayor de Blasio had announced the use of new left-turn safety treatments as part of Vision Zero.  In 2017, 110 intersections received improvements to reduce the speed of left-turning drivers, with nearly 220 intersections since the start of Vision Zero. 53 locations received Turning Safety Signal Treatments last year, including Split Phases to give pedestrians, cyclists and drivers dedicated times to proceed through intersections. Since the start of Vision Zero, DOT has installed more than 150 new Turning Safety Signal Treatments.

Traffic Signal Retiming: DOT adjusted traffic signal phases around the city to discourage speeding and align with the safer 25MPH citywide speed limit.  When signals are retimed, drivers exceeding speed limits encounter more red lights. DOT retimed signals along more than 135 miles of streets in 2017, and has retimed them on more than 400 miles of City streets since the start of Vision Zero.
Making Cycling Safer:   The City installed 25 miles of protected bike lanes in 2017, the most of any year and more than triple the pre-Vision Zero annual average. More than 180 miles of dedicated cycling space (conventional and protected bicycle lanes) have been installed since the start of Vision Zero, with a bicycle network now nearing 1,200 miles.  This year, DOT released its Safer Cyclingreport, which found that the rapid growth in the number of New Yorkers cycling – doubling in the last decade -- has made bicycling safer in New York City. This year’s increase in fatalities among cyclists was nevertheless troubling; the study’s findings about cycling deaths and serious injury are helping guide DOT’s ambitious plans for cycling infrastructure in 2018, including Manhattan’s first-ever two-way protected crosstown bike lane on 13th Street (opening in advance of the 2019 L train shutdown) and consideration of additional protected bike lanes along other Manhattan crosstown streets.

Transforming Queens Boulevard and Woodhaven/Cross Bay Boulevard: This year, DOT completed its third phase of street redesign along Queens Boulevard in Rego Park and Forest Hills with numerous safety improvements, including 2.6 protected bike lane miles. Once known as “the Boulevard of Death,” Queens Boulevard in 2017 had a third consecutive year without a single pedestrian or cyclist fatality.  Meanwhile, in November, DOT and the MTA unveiled Select Bus Service along Woodhaven and Cross Bay Boulevards; in addition to faster and more reliable bus commutes, the transformation of one of Queens’ most crash-prone streets includes dramatic pedestrian safety improvements.

“Vision Zero’s substantial impact on public health and safety is a testament to our City agencies and community partners coming together to solve a critical urban challenge,” said Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams. I commend Mayor de Blasio, DOT Commissioner Trottenberg, and NYPD Commissioner O’Neill for their efforts to make Brooklyn’s roads safer for everyone. As pedestrian deaths have substantially decreased, we should be mindful of the continued threats to cyclists across the borough, particularly in heavily trafficked areas without bicycle paths. I look forward to continue working with our partners across the City as well as transportation advocates to ensure our borough remains a safe place for drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians alike.”

For more information about the de Blasio Administration’s Vision Zero initiative, please see www.nyc.gov/visionzero.

Traffic Fatalities by Year
Year Pedestrians Bicyclist Motorcyclist      Motor      Vehicle             Total
2017  101 23 33  57  214
2016 148 18 19 46 231
2015 139 14 22 59 234
2014 140 20 37 62 259
2013 184 12 42 61 299



Sunday, January 7, 2018

Minimum Wage Increases New York City, New York State, and California


The new $15.00 minimum wage chart in New York State, with New York City first.

New York State Minimum Wage Increase
New York City10 or fewer employees11 or more employees
December 31, 2016$10.50$11.00
December 31, 2017$12.00$13.00
December 31, 2018$13.50$15.00
December 31, 2019$15.00
The current minimum wage rate in New York is $10.40 per hour. This listed rate is for most employers in New York State. The minimum wage in New York City is $13.00 per hour for large employers and $12.00 per hour for small employers. The minimum wage for Long Island and Westchester Counties is $11.00. Tipped wages in New York may vary, by firm size, industry and amount of earned tips. The tipped wage ranges from $7.50 to $11.05 per hour. Current minimum wage rates for Fast Food Workers in New York State is $11.75 per hour and in New York City is $13.50 per hour. There are regular increases in the state through 2021 and in New York City through 2018.The scheduled increases for Fast Food Workers will continue as follows:
  • New York State: $ $12.75 (12-31-18), $13.75 (12-31-19), $14.50 (12-31-20), $15.00 (12-31-21)
  • New York City: $15.00 (12-31-18)

The minimum wage will rise to $10 an hour in Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties. Outside the metropolitan area, the wage will be raised to $9.70 an hour.
On Long Island and Westchester, the wage will hit $15 by the end of 2021.
For the rest of the state, the wage will grow to $12.50 at the end of 2020 and go on a schedule toward $15 set by the state Budget Division and Department of Labor

Editor's Note:

That means that the $15.00 minimum wage may not really be a $15.00 minimum wage if you read the fine print. Since the cost of living is higher in New York City the $15.00 minimum wage will go into effect quicker than the rest of New York State.

If you live outside of New York City you will be paid more if you work in New York City. It also means that if you live in New York City, but work elsewhere in New York State you will be paid less than if you worked in New York City at the minimum wage.

Here is how California is raising the minimum wage to $15.00 

 The California minimum wage will increase to $10.50 per hour on January 1, 2017 for businesses with 26 or more employees, and then increase each year until reaching $15 per hour in 2022.
Once the minimum wage reaches $15 per hour for all businesses, wages could then be increased each year up to 3.5 percent (rounded to the nearest 10 cents) for inflation as measured by the national Consumer Price Index.
Rate (Jan. 1)26 Employees or More25 Employees or Less
2017$10.50$10.00
2018$11.00$10.50
2019$12.00$11.00
2020$13.00$12.00
2021$14.00$13.00
2022$15.00$14.00
2023$15.00$15.00
2024Indexed*Indexed*


Saturday, January 6, 2018

As New Yorkers Face Sub-Zero Conditions, Comptroller Stringer Announces New Audit of NYCHA Heating Systems


Preliminary Stringer analysis finds NYCHA has boilers with a defect rate at five times the citywide average
Comptroller Stringer to launch 9th NYCHA audit
Stringer letter to NYCHA demands answers for tenants
  As New Yorkers continue to endure sub-zero conditions, and after widespread reports from tenants of heating outages at NYCHA developments, New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer today announced his office will launch a new audit of NYCHA heating systems.
“Across the city, tenants are suffering without heat and hot water. That’s not an inconvenience – it’s a crisis. NYCHA tenants are being left in the cold, in their own homes, by their own government. It’s unacceptable,” said New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer. “We cannot be a city in which those with luxury towers are living in comfort, while those across the street in NYCHA complexes are deprived of heat and hot water. Unfortunately, heating breakdowns happen year after year – and the bureaucracy continues to play whack-a-mole with short-term fixes instead of permanent solutions. We need to address this maintenance mess now, because our seniors, children, and families are struggling. That’s why we’re going to be looking under the hood at NYCHA. This is about safety – and equity.”
The Comptroller’s Office’s initial review of the Buildings Department’s annual compliance filings for high and low pressure boilers reveals that, since July of last year, inspection data has shown that NYCHA has a reported rate of defective boilers that is five times the citywide average – 39.5 percent of NYCHA inspections reported defects compared to 7.9 percent citywide.
The new audit announced today will be Comptroller Stringer’s ninth probe of NYCHA – more than any other Comptroller in at least the last 27 years. It comes after Comptroller Stringer yesterday sent a letter to NYCHA Chairwoman Shola Olatoye seeking data because tenants are facing inadequate or nonexistent heat and hot water, even as temperatures plummet to record lows. It also comes after a 2015 audit on NYCHA maintenance that showed problems with maintenance of boilers and heating systems.
In the last several days, complaints and reports about non-functioning heat and hot water have come from tenants at over 30 NYCHA developments across the city, including:
Manhattan
  • Taft Houses
  • Fred Samuels Houses
  • Jacob Riis Houses
  • Laguardia Houses
  • Harborview Terrace Houses
  • Jefferson Houses
  • Lower East Side Rehab
  • Wise Towers
  • WSUR (Site C)
Queens
  • Redfern Houses
  • Woodside Houses
Brooklyn
  • Farragut Houses
  • Reid Hosues
  • Tilden Houses
  • Pink Houses
  • Rutland Towers
  • Independence Houses
  • Bushwick II Houses
  • Red Hook West Houses
  • Howard Houses
Bronx
  • John Adams Houses
  • Millbrook Houses
  • Clason Point Gardens
  • Melrose Houses
  • Sedgwick Houses
  • Patterson Houses
  • Soundview Houses
  • Sonia Sotomayor Houses
  • Randall Avenue – Balcom Avenue
  • South Bronx Area (Site 402)
  • West Tremont Ave – Sedgwick
Staten Island
  • West Brighton II
To read Comptroller Stringer’s July 2015 audit, click here.
To read Comptroller Stringer’s letter to NYCHA Chairwoman Shola Olatoye, click here
EDITOR'S NOTE:
Why is it that of the NYCHA housing developments listed above one third are in the Bronx? 

Scott Tucker Sentenced To More Than 16 Years In Prison For Running $3.5 Billion Unlawful Internet Payday Lending Enterprise


  Joan Loughnane, the Acting Deputy United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that SCOTT TUCKER was sentenced to 200 months in prison for operating a nationwide internet payday lending enterprise that systematically evaded state laws for more than 15 years in order to charge illegal interest rates as high as 1,000 percent on loans.  TUCKER’s co-defendant, TIMOTHY MUIR, an attorney, was also sentenced, to 84 months in prison, for his participation in the scheme.  In addition to their willful violation of state usury laws across the country, TUCKER and MUIR lied to millions of customers regarding the true cost of their loans to defraud them out of hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of dollars.  Further, as part of their multi-year effort to evade law enforcement, the defendants formed sham relationships with Native American tribes and laundered the billions of dollars they took from their customers through nominally tribal bank accounts to hide Tucker’s ownership and control of the business.

After a five-week jury trial, TUCKER and MUIR were found guilty on October 13, 2017, on all 14 counts against them, including racketeering, wire fraud, money laundering, and Truth-In-Lending Act (“TILA”) offenses.  U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel presided over the trial and imposed today’s sentences.

Acting Deputy U.S. Attorney Joan Loughnane said:  “For more than 15 years, Scott Tucker and Timothy Muir made billions of dollars exploiting struggling, everyday Americans through payday loans carrying interest rates as high as 1,000 percent.  And to hide their criminal scheme, they tried to claim their business was owned and operated by Native American tribes.  But now Tucker and Muir’s predatory business is closed and they have been sentenced to significant time in prison for their deceptive practices.”

According to the allegations contained in the Superseding Indictment, and evidence presented at trial:

The Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organizations (“RICO”) Crimes

            From at least 1997 until 2013, TUCKER engaged in the business of making small, short-term, high-interest, unsecured loans, commonly referred to as “payday loans,” through the Internet.  TUCKER’s lending enterprise, which had up to 1,500 employees based in Overland Park, Kansas, did business as Ameriloan, f/k/a Cash Advance; OneClickCash, f/k/a Preferred Cash Loans; United Cash Loans; US FastCash; 500 FastCash; Advantage Cash Services; and Star Cash Processing (the “Tucker Payday Lenders”).  TUCKER, working with MUIR, the general counsel for TUCKER’s payday lending businesses since 2006, routinely charged interest rates of 600 percent or 700 percent, and sometimes higher than 1,000 percent.  These loans were issued to more than 4.5 million working people in all 50 states, including more than 250,000 people in New York, many of whom were struggling to pay basic living expenses.  Many of these loans were issued in states, including New York, with laws that expressly forbid lending at the exorbitant interest rates TUCKER charged.  Evidence at trial established that TUCKER and MUIR were fully aware of the illegal nature of the loans charged and, in fact, prepared scripts to be used by call center employees to deal with complaints by customers that their loans were illegal. 

Fraudulent Loan Disclosures

TILA is a federal statute intended to ensure that credit terms are disclosed to consumers in a clear and meaningful way, both to protect customers against inaccurate and unfair credit practices, and to enable them to compare credit terms readily and knowledgeably.  Among other things, TILA and its implementing regulations require lenders, including payday lenders like the Tucker Payday Lenders, to disclose accurately, clearly, and conspicuously, before any credit is extended, the finance charge, the annual percentage rate, and the total of payments that reflect the legal obligation between the parties to the loan.

The Tucker Payday Lenders purported to inform prospective borrowers, in clear and simple terms, as required by TILA, of the cost of the loan (the “TILA Box”).  For example, for a loan of $500, the TILA Box provided that the “finance charge – meaning the ‘dollar amount the credit will cost you’” – would be $150, and that the “total of payments” would be $650.  Thus, in substance, the TILA Box stated that a $500 loan to the customer would cost $650 to repay.  While the amounts set forth in the Tucker Payday Lenders’ TILA Box varied according to the terms of particular customers’ loans, they reflected, in substance, that the borrower would pay $30 in interest for every $100 borrowed.

In fact, through at least 2012, TUCKER and MUIR structured the repayment schedule of the loans such that, on the borrower’s payday, the Tucker Payday Lenders automatically withdrew the entire interest payment due on the loan, but left the principal balance untouched so that, on the borrower’s next payday, the Tucker Payday Lenders could again automatically withdraw an amount equaling the entire interest payment due (and already paid) on the loan.  With TUCKER and MUIR’s approval, the Tucker Payday Lenders proceeded automatically to withdraw such “finance charges” payday after payday (typically every two weeks), applying none of the money toward repayment of principal, until at least the fifth payday, when they began to withdraw an additional $50 per payday to apply to the principal balance of the loan.  Even then, the Tucker Payday Lenders continued to assess and automatically withdraw the entire interest payment calculated on the remaining principal balance until the entire principal amount was repaid.  Accordingly, as TUCKER and MUIR well knew, the Tucker Payday Lenders’ TILA box materially understated the amount the loan would cost, including the total of payments that would be taken from the borrower’s bank account.  Specifically, for a customer who borrowed $500, contrary to the TILA Box disclosure stating that the total payment by the borrower would be $650, in fact, and as TUCKER and MUIR well knew, the finance charge was $1,425, for a total payment of $1,925 by the borrower. 

The Sham Tribal Ownership of the Business

In response to complaints that the Tucker Payday Lenders were extending abusive loans in violation of their usury laws, several states began to investigate the Tucker Payday Lenders.  To thwart these state actions, TUCKER devised a scheme to claim that his lending businesses were protected by sovereign immunity, a legal doctrine that, among other things, generally prevents states from enforcing their laws against Native American tribes.  Beginning in 2003, TUCKER entered into agreements with several Native American tribes (the “Tribes”), including the Santee Sioux Tribe of Nebraska, the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, and the Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma.  The purpose of these agreements was to cause the Tribes to claim they owned and operated parts of TUCKER’s payday lending enterprise, so that when states sought to enforce laws prohibiting TUCKER’s loans, TUCKER’s lending businesses would claim to be protected by sovereign immunity.  In return, the Tribes received payments from TUCKER, typically one percent of the revenues from the portion of TUCKER’s payday lending business that the Tribes purported to own.  

In order to create the illusion that the Tribes owned and controlled TUCKER’s payday lending business, TUCKER and MUIR engaged in a series of lies and deceptions.  Among other things:

 * MUIR and other counsel for TUCKER prepared false factual declarations from tribal representatives that were submitted to state courts, falsely claiming, among other things, that tribal corporations substantively owned, controlled, and managed the portions of TUCKER’s business targeted by state enforcement actions.

 * TUCKER opened bank accounts to operate and receive the profits of the payday lending enterprise, which were nominally held by tribally owned corporations, but which were, in fact, owned and controlled by TUCKER.  TUCKER received over $380 million from these accounts on lavish personal expenses, some of which was spent on a fleet of Ferraris and Porsches, the expenses of a professional auto racing team, a private jet, a luxury home in Aspen, Colorado, and his personal taxes.

 * In order to deceive borrowers into believing that they were dealing with Native American tribes, employees of TUCKER making payday loans over the phone told borrowers, using scripts directed and approved by TUCKER and MUIR, that they were operating in Oklahoma and Nebraska, where the Tribes were located, when in fact they were operating at TUCKER’s corporate headquarters in Kansas.

These deceptions succeeded for a time, and several state courts dismissed enforcement actions against TUCKER’s payday lending businesses based on claims that they were protected by sovereign immunity.  In reality, the Tribes neither owned nor operated any part of TUCKER’s payday lending business.  The Tribes made no payment to TUCKER to acquire the portions of the business they purported to own.  TUCKER continued to operate his lending business from a corporate headquarters in Kansas, and TUCKER continued to reap the profits of the payday lending businesses, which generated over $3.5 billion in revenue from just 2008 to June 2013 – in substantial part by charging struggling borrowers high interest rates expressly forbidden by state laws.

           
In addition to their prison terms, TUCKER, 55, of Leawood, Kansas, and MUIR, 46, of Overland Park, Kansas, were each sentenced to three years of supervised release.  Judge Castel ordered the defendants to forfeit the proceeds of their crimes.  TUCKER was remanded into custody. 

In pronouncing sentence, Judge Castel described the crimes as “a scheme to extract money from people in desperate circumstances” that “created heartbreak and sorrow . . . not just a financial loss.”

Mrs. Loughnane praised the outstanding investigative work of the St. Louis Field Office of the IRS-CI.  Mrs. Loughnane also thanked the Criminal Investigators at the United States Attorney’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Federal Trade Commission for their assistance with the case.

New Jersey Real Estate Broker Pleads Guilty To Role In Foreign Bribery Scheme Involving $800 Million International Real Estate Deal


  Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and John P. Cronan, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, announced that JOO HYUN BAHN, a/k/a “Dennis Bahn” (“BAHN”) pled guilty today to one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) and one count of violating the FCPA.  BAHN pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos, and is scheduled to sentence BAHN on June 29, 2018.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said:  “As he has now admitted, Joo Hyun Bahn schemed to bribe a foreign official to close an $800 million real estate deal for a skyscraper in Vietnam -- a deal that would have earned him a multimillion-dollar commission and much needed capital for his client, Keangnam Enterprises.  As Bahn’s conviction demonstrates, federal law enforcement stands ready to root out commercial bribery wherever it is found.”

Acting Assistant Attorney General Cronan said:  “Bribery and corruption undermine fair competition and the rule of law.  The fact that Joo Hyun Bahn’s intended scheme was thwarted by the greed and deception of one of his codefendants does not change the fact that he sought to steer an $800 million real estate deal by paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes.  The Department is committed to prosecuting those like Bahn who seek to corruptly tilt the playing field to their advantage.”

According to the allegations contained in the Indictment to which BAHN pled guilty, and statements made during the plea and other court proceedings:

Between February 2014 and May 2015, BAHN engaged in a scheme to pay bribes to a foreign official in a country in the Middle East in order to facilitate the sale of Landmark 72 in Hanoi, Vietnam, to the Middle Eastern country’s sovereign wealth fund.  In particular, BAHN, his father Ban Ki Sang, and others agreed to pay $500,000 upfront to the foreign official, whom BAHN believed made decisions about the acquisition of assets for the Middle Eastern country’s sovereign wealth fund, in order to corruptly influence him to cause the sovereign wealth fund to purchase Landmark 72. In furtherance of the scheme, BAHN and Ban transferred $500,000 to an intermediary in New York, Malcolm Harris, which BAHN believed Harris would pass on to the foreign official.  In related proceedings, Harris admitted that he double-crossed his codefendants, and simply stole the $500,000 bribe.


BAHN, 39, of Tenafly, New Jersey, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA and one count of violating the FCPA, each of which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.  The maximum potential sentences are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.   

On June 21, 2017, Harris pled guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of conducting monetary transactions in illicit funds.  On October 5, 2017, Judge Ramos sentenced Harris to 42 months in prison. 

The case against Ban, 70, of Seoul, South Korea, is still pending.  Ban is presumed innocent unless convicted beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Mr. Berman and Mr. Cronan praised the outstanding investigative work of the International Corruption Squad of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s New York Field Office.  Mr. Berman also thanked the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs for its ongoing assistance in this investigation.