A.G. Schneiderman Sues Fentanyl Maker Insys Therapeutics, Inc. For Dangerous And Deceptive Promotion Of Prescription Opioid Subsys

Complaint Alleges that Insys Deceptively Promoted Subsys In New York For Unsafe Uses, Violated State Law By Downplaying Drug’s Addictive Risks

In Addition To Penalties, Suit Seeks To Disgorge Insys’ Illegally Earned Revenue—Up To $75 Million

Suit Marks Latest Action In AG Schneiderman’s Multi-Pronged Strategy To Tackle The Opioid Epidemic

  Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced that his office has filed a lawsuit against Insys Therapeutics, Inc., a company that sells a highly addictive fentanyl drug called Subsys. Although Subsys was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat excruciating cancer-related breakthrough pain, the complaint alleges that Insys recklessly marketed the drug for much wider use, covering a much broader set of patients. Additionally, the company allegedly engaged in a pattern of deceptive and illegal conduct by downplaying the drug’s risks of addiction, bribing doctors to prescribe the drug, and lying to healthcare providers to skirt their authorization process. As a result, the Attorney General’s office is seeking penalties and disgorgement of all revenues accumulated during the period of misconduct—up to $75 million.

“At a time when the opioid epidemic was ravaging New York, Insys Therapeutics allegedly marketed a drug illegally by blatantly disregarding the grave risks of addiction and death that opioids pose,” said Attorney General Schneiderman. “As we allege, Insys showed a wanton disregard for the law and the lives of New Yorkers and we will hold them accountable. My office will continue to fight the opioid crisis at every level and hold corporations that prioritize profits above New Yorkers’ health and wellbeing to account.”

Read the full lawsuit here.

In late 2012, the FDA approved Subsys for the specific, limited treatment of breakthrough cancer pain in opioid-tolerant patients. Its purpose was to provide relief to cancer patients who were suffering from excruciating pain. Beginning in 2012, Insys allegedly ignored this limited approval and instead broadly targeted many types of providers and patients, and represented that the drug was appropriate for flares of mild pain. Insys also downplayed Subsys’ risk of addictiveness. The company further directed its sales representatives to urge providers to prescribe Subsys in high doses, which were more expensive than lower doses. A 30-unit prescription of the lowest strength medicine costs approximately $700, while a prescription for the highest strength costs over $3500.

Additionally, the complaint alleges that Insys sales representatives called on medical offices that employed providers who had been arrested for illegal opioid distribution.

In furtherance of their deceptive and illegal scheme, Insys allegedly formed a business unit devoted solely to securing prior authorization from health plans for as many patients as possible. Insys trained its prior authorization staff to imply that patients had cancer pain, even when they did not. Additionally, Insys allegedly bribed prescribers to write prescriptions for Subsys. The company paid certain providers between $3000 and $5000 to act as “speakers,” at sham promotional events and implored its sales staff to obtain a “return on investment” on those payments by increasing prescription numbers.

The lawsuit announced today is the most recent action the Attorney General’s office has taken to combat the opioid crisis. Attorney General Schneiderman’s multi-levered strategy to tackle New York’s evolving opioid epidemic includes:

• Obtaining settlements with major national and global health insurers including Cigna and Anthem, which insure over 4 million New Yorkers, to remove barriers to life-saving treatment for opioid use disorder. The agreements put an end to the insurers’ policy of requiring prior authorization for medication-assisted treatment (“MAT”), which can lead to significant delays for patients seeking relief from addiction.
• Creating the Internet System for Tracking Over-Prescribing Act (“I-STOP),a series of enhancements to New York’s prescription drug monitoring program that provide doctors with patient’s up-to-date controlled substance prescription history and established a safe disposal program providing a place for New Yorkers to get rid of expired and unneeded drugs—thus reducing the likelihood of stolen and forged prescriptions being used to obtain controlled substances from pharmacies. I-STOP reduced “doctor shopping,” a practice in which an individual attempts to obtain the same or similar prescriptions from multiple physicians, by 90% since 2014.
• Launching the Community Overdose Prevention (“COP”) program, a life-saving initiative that enabled state and local law-enforcement officers in the state of New York to carry naloxone, the extremely effective heroin antidote that can immediately reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. Since the program’s implementation in April 2014, more than 100 overdoses were reversed using kits provided by the COP program, which distributed over 27,000 kits across the state.
• Obtaining an agreement with Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to cut and cap the price of naloxone for all agencies in New York State, reducing the price of naloxone by nearly 20 percent.
• Enforcing Mental Health Parity Laws to reach agreements with six health insurance companies, requiring them to implement sweeping reforms in their administration of behavioral health benefits, in particular relating to medical management practices, coverage of residential treatment for substance abuse, and co-pays for outpatient treatment, and to submit regular compliance reports. The agreements ultimately provided millions of dollars in penalties and over $2 million in restitution for members whose claims for were improperly denied.
• Successfully prosecuting more than ten licensed prescribers including operators of “pill mills” and other unlawful practices for crimes related to improper opioid prescriptions.
• Cracking down on drug trafficking networks that traffic opioids into communities around the state. The Attorney General’s Organized Crime Task Force (OCTF) has now taken down 25 large drug trafficking gangs, made more than 580 felony narcotics arrests, and seized more than $1.5 million and more than 2,000 pounds of illegal drugs since 2011. In the past several months alone, Attorney General Schneiderman’s SURGE (Suburban and Upstate Response to the Growing Epidemic) Initiative has resulted in 260 alleged traffickers and dealers taken off the streets.
• Urging health insurance companiesto review their coverage and payment policies that contribute to the opioid epidemic, as well as sending letters to the country’s three largest pharmacy benefit managers requesting documents, data, and other information regarding how they are addressing the opioid crisis.

DOI INVESTIGATION RESULTS IN ARRESTS OF 17 CERTIFIED ASBESTOS INVESTIGATORS FOR FRAUDULENT INSPECTIONS

 Investigative Report Issued Today Recommends Reforms, Many Already Being Implemented, to Strengthen Asbestos Investigations in NYC

  Mark G. Peters, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Investigation (“DOI”); Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., Manhattan District Attorney; Richard A. Brown, Queens District Attorney; Michael E. McMahon, Richmond County District Attorney, and Vincent Sapienza, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (“DEP”), jointly announced the arrest of 17 Certified Asbestos Investigators (“CAIs”) on charges of falsely filing documents certifying that planned construction at dozens of properties in Manhattan and Staten Island would not disturb asbestos. The arrests were announced at a press conference today and stem from concerns brought to DOI by DEP asbestos enforcement staff. A subsequent investigation found an array of charged illegal conduct that occurred from 2016 through 2017, including asbestos investigators misrepresenting the content of lab reports regarding the presence of asbestos on inspected premises and asbestos investigators falsely representing to DEP that a location was free of asbestos when the investigator had not personally inspected the premises as required by law. These false reports potentially exposed unassuming workers to life threatening asbestos. DOI also issued a Report documenting this investigation, the vulnerabilities found, and the reforms necessary to protect and strengthen the integrity of asbestos investigations. This investigation is ongoing. 

DOI Commissioner Mark G. Peters said, “This criminal investigation and today’s arrests again show the widespread dangers of construction fraud. Working with our law enforcement partners and DEP, DOI exposed professional asbestos investigators who were certifying that sites were asbestos free without ever checking to see if the sites were actually safe, according to the charges. Instead, the defendants pocketed a fee, walked away, and potentially exposed multiple unsuspecting workers to serious health risks. DEP worked hand-in-hand with this team and has taken seriously the reforms DOI has recommended to strengthen and improve the integrity of asbestos inspections. We thank our partners in the Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island DA’s offices for their hard work and commitment to fighting fraud in all its forms and making New York City a safer place.” 

Before a construction permit is issued by the City Department of Buildings (“DOB”), the property owner must retain a Certified Asbestos Investigator, a professional licensed by DEP and the New York State Department of Labor, to inspect a property for the presence of asbestos. As part of an inspection, a CAI will conduct a visual examination of the location to determine if any asbestos-containing material may be present. If the CAI determines that there may be asbestos-containing material, the CAI will take samples of that material from the site and send the samples to a lab for testing. Once the CAI receives the lab results, they are submitted to DEP as an asbestos assessment report. If the lab results indicate there is no asbestos-containing material; there is asbestos-containing material that will not be disturbed during the work; or there are minor amounts of asbestos-containing material that will be abated prior to the work commencing, the CAI files a form known as an ACP-5. On this form, the CAI documents the location, date, and time of the inspection; signs and affixes his or her CAI seal; and then signs the document verifying that “the information provided herein is true and complete.” Once filed with DEP, the ACP-5 is assigned a control number. The property owner then submits that ACP-5 as one part of a package submitted to DOB to obtain a construction permit.

DEP brought DOI concerns regarding the assessments of certain CAIs, worked with and trained investigators, provided asbestos inspection records, and is implementing the reforms DOI recommended. In addition, DEP has already suspended and begun the process of revoking the CAI licenses of each of the defendants.

In 2017, DEP nearly doubled the number of inspectors auditing asbestos assessments. DEP has also been more aggressively suspending and revoking the certifications of CAIs who have submitted reports that were found to contain factual errors.

Joint investigation with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office

Two years ago, DOI and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office’s Financial Frauds Bureau began looking at fraud involving asbestos investigations, analyzing an array of records, including asbestos inspection records provided by DEP, and examining that list with other data, such as travel and cell phone records of the defendants, and audit results from labs where the CAIs brought building samples for asbestos testing. As a result of this investigation, nine defendants have been arrested and charged by indictment today. The charged crimes include:

 CAIs who falsely certified that construction at the property would not disturb asbestos even though the samples the CAI had submitted to the lab tested positive for asbestos; 

 CAIs who claimed to have conducted inspections when travel or other records show that the investigator was out of the country or out of the state. 

The nine defendants charged by indictments obtained by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office are being unsealed today in Manhattan Supreme Court as each defendant is arraigned.

Joint Investigation with the Queens District Attorney’s Office 

DOI and the Queens District Attorney’s Office conducted sting operations that led to the arrests of seven CAIs today on charges of submitting an ACP-5 between June and July 2017, stating they conducted inspections when, in fact, they did not. The City requires that for an ACP-5 to be certified, a CAI must physically visit the location to survey for asbestos hazards. In each of these arrests, a certified ACP-5 form was purchased from a CAI stating there was no asbestos-containing material without that CAI physically conducting an on-site inspection, as required, and the CAI subsequently filed that ACP-5 with the DEP in Queens. Investigators conducted surveillance and monitored phone calls of the defendants in each case and found that the CAI never went to inspect the site. In one case, a CAI indicated he wrote about 50 ACP-5 forms for sites he never visited.

Joint Investigation with the Richmond County District Attorney’s Office

DOI and the Richmond County District Attorney’s Office found that in January 2017, FRANCIS OWOH filed an ACP-5 with DEP certifying that he performed an asbestos inspection at 102 Prall Ave. in Staten Island on December 28, 2016. Investigators reviewed records maintained by the United States Department of Homeland Security that showed the defendant exited the United States on December 12, 2016 and re-entered the United States on January 14, 2017. The investigation found that the defendant was in Nigeria when he said he had conducted an asbestos investigation at the site on Prall Ave. OWOH was arrested on Monday, January 29, 2018, released on his own recognizance, and is expected to return to Richmond County Criminal Court on April 13, 2018.

DOI’s Recommendations: 

DOI has made five recommendations to DEP to strengthen DEP’s regulatory oversight over CAIs. DEP has agreed to all recommendations and several have already been implemented, including:]

 DEP will conduct more thorough background checks of all new and renewing CAIs. DEP will also refer to DOI any new applicants where fraud and other misconduct is suspected. 

 DEP has drafted new rules that will now require that all CAI applicants have experience in building surveys for asbestos. This investigation revealed a lack of competence in asbestos investigations by certain CAI applicants, specifically registered design professionals, certified safety professionals and industrial hygienists, who under current rules are exempt from experience requirements. 

 DEP will prohibit CAIs from submitting bulk samples of suspect materials they collected in their investigations to laboratories that CAIs are affiliated with to avoid a potential conflict. Current state regulations do not prohibit CAIs from associations or ownership interests in a testing laboratory to which they send samples. 

 DEP will institute a more frequent and robust audit regimen to include a thorough review of the accuracy and authenticity of records associated with CAIs’ asbestos investigations and refer to DOI any suspect findings. This investigation revealed that even though CAIs are required to maintain business records associated with their investigations for a period of 30 years that these records were not properly maintained by many of the defendants. 

Indictments and criminal complaints are accusations. Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

LAW ENFORCEMENT PARTNERS ANNOUNCE CHARGES IN CITYWIDE ASBESTOS INSPECTION FRAUD CASES

Inspectors Accused of Failing to Conduct Proper Inspections, Falsely Claiming Inspection Sites Were Asbestos-Free

  Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., New York City Department of Investigation (“DOI”) Commissioner Mark G. Peters, New York City Department of Environmental Protection (“DEP”) Commissioner Vincent Sapienza, Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown, and Staten Island District Attorney Michael E. McMahon today announced the arrest of 18 defendants for submitting false paperwork corresponding to fraudulent asbestos inspections occurring at approximately 40 sites across the city, including Manhattan. Nine of the defendants are charged in New York State Supreme Court indictments with Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree.^[1]

“When it comes to development, safety must come first—this rule applies to our construction sites, businesses, and homes,” said District Attorney Vance. “Whether a building is going up, being renovated, or coming down, it’s crucial to abide by the safeguards that exist to protect New Yorkers from harm. To do otherwise is a dangerous—and sometimes criminal—practice. In this case, the defendants are charged with falsifying paperwork about citywide asbestos inspections, potentially threatening the health of all those who live and work near these properties, and highlighting the need for more oversight in this area. I thank our partners for their commitment to this issue and encourage the implementation of additional measures to ensure the integrity of future inspections such as those recommendations noted in DOI’s report. I would also like to recommend that investigators be required to append lab results to their reports—something that is not currently mandated—in order to combat fraud and decrease the risk of exposing others to serious health hazards.”

DOI Commissioner Mark G. Peters said: “This criminal investigation and today’s arrests again show the widespread dangers of construction fraud. Working with our law enforcement partners and DEP, DOI exposed professional asbestos investigators who were certifying that sites were asbestos free without ever checking to see if the sites were actually safe, according to the charges. Instead, the defendants pocketed a fee, walked away, and potentially exposed multiple unsuspecting workers to serious health risks. DEP worked hand-in-hand with this team and has taken seriously the reforms DOI has recommended to strengthen and improve the integrity of asbestos inspections. We thank our partners in the Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island DA’s offices for their hard work and commitment to fighting fraud in all its forms and making New York City a safer place.”

The indictments are the result of long-term, joint investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, DOI, DEP, Queens District Attorney’s Office, and Staten Island District Attorney’s Office into asbestos inspection fraud. 

In New York City, the Department of Buildings (“DOB”) requires property owners to retain a Certified Asbestos Investigator (“CAI”) to perform an inspection prior to obtaining a construction permit. CAIs, who are licensed by DEP, must prove that asbestos is not present at a property through a process of collecting bulk samples on site, submitting the samples to a laboratory, and reviewing the test results. CAIs are then required to submit an asbestos assessment report to DEP that documents the location, date, and time of the inspection. 

According to the indictments and documents filed in court, between 2016 and 2017, nine CAIs, including JOHN ANUFORO, 69, PAOLA CANO, 41, DAVID CHANG, 49, DOMINICK CICCARELLI, 37, JULIO CORPORAN, 50, ANTONIO JARAMILLO, 37, LONG RIGG, 36, KENG LEE SO, 36, and ERIC TELEMAQUE, 55, falsely filed documents certifying that asbestos inspections were performed at approximately 40 locations in Manhattan and that construction would not disturb asbestos at those sites. In fact, in some cases, the CAIs who claimed to have conducted the inspections were absent from the collection sample site, and instead, were out of the city, state, and sometimes even country at the time of the inspection. In other cases, CAIs falsely certified that certain properties were free of asbestos, in spite of possessing lab reports containing positive asbestos tests and evidence to the contrary. 

In order to improve industry-wide accountability and integrity, DOI also issued a detailed report documenting the vulnerabilities discovered through the investigation, as well as important recommendations for reform in this area. 

^[1] The charges contained in the indictments are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. All factual recitations are derived from documents filed in court and statements made on the record in court.
Defendant Information:

JOHN ANUFORO, D.O.B. 6/15/1948
Elmsford, NY

Charged:

•    Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree, a class E felony, 2 counts

PAOLA CANO, D.O.B. 1/21/1977
Passaic, NJ

Charged:
•    Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree, a class E felony, 4 counts

DAVID CHANG, D.O.B. 6/8/1968
New York, NY

Charged:
•    Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree, a class E felony, 1 count

DOMINICK CICCARELLI, D.O.B. 3/27/1980
Staten Island, NY

Charged:
•    Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree, a class E felony, 1 count

JULIO CORPORAN, D.O.B. 8/17/1967
Bronx, NY

Charged:
•    Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree, a class E felony, 2 counts

ANTONIO JARAMILLO, D.O.B. 10/28/1980
Queens, NY

Charged:
•    Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree, a class E felony, 3 counts

LONG RIGG, D.O.B. 11/28/1960
Mt. Vernon, NY

Charged:
•    Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree, a class E felony, 13 counts

KENG LEE SO, D.O.B. 10/2/1981
Brooklyn, NY

Charged:
•    Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree, a class E felony, 10 counts

ERIC TELEMAQUE, D.O.B. 7/2/1962
Setauket, NY

Charged:
•    Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree, a class E felony, 6 counts

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo invites you to "New York Stands with Puerto Rico"

BOROUGH PRESIDENT DIAZ TO JOIN GOV. CUOMO CALLING ON GOVERNMENT CONTINUE SUPPORT OF PUERTO RICO

Please check out this very important message from Governor Andrew Cuomo, about an important event that will help shed light on the plight of affecting our American citizens of Puerto Rico, in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, taking place this Saturday in The Bronx:

Fellow New Yorker, 

New York has a long and proud history of helping those in need, and with millions in Puerto Rico still suffering, we must continue the fight to help our neighbors recover.

Please join me this Saturday to call on the Federal Government for continued support in Puerto Rico. I will be joined by Governor Rosselló to show representatives in Washington, D.C. that New York stands with our fellow Americans in Puerto Rico.

Click here to RSVP.

What: Governor Cuomo to Call on the Federal Government for Continued Support in Puerto Rico

When: Saturday, February 3rd at 10:00 AM

Where: Casita Maria Center for Arts and Education, 928 Simpson St., Bronx, NY 10459

Public Transport: 6 train to Hunts Point Avenue

2 / 5 train to Simpson Street

BX6 Bus to 163rd and Simpson Street

BX19 to Southern Boulevard and 163rd Street

Thank you for your support, hope to see you on Saturday.

Ever Upward,

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo

LGBTQ Film Series in the Bronx at BAAD

BAAD! - THE BRONX ACADEMY OF ARTS & DANCE PRESENTS

GET TOUGH, GET BAAD!

A FILM SERIES CELEBRATING QUEER POWER, DIVERSITY, VISIBILITY AND DEFIANCE INCLUDES THE NEW GROUNDBREAKING FILM SATURDAY CHURCH, A SHORT FILM FROM BANGLADESH

and A VIDEO DANCE PARTY

February 10-24, 2018

BAAD! Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance presents GET TOUGH, GET BAAD!, an annual series of films and events celebrating queer power, diversity, defiance, strength and visibility. The series was initiated in 2010 to take a stand against violence, and to counter negative and victimized images of queer people in the media from homophobic attacks in the Bronx and New York City. GET TOUGH, GET BAAD! presents narrative films that are empowering to the LGBTQ community that feature queer, people of color as the protagonists, and also offers events that celebrate queer strength and value. This year’s installment presents seven empowering narrative films and webseries and a video dance party. GET TOUGH! GET BAAD! runs from February 10-24, 2018 at BAAD!, 2474 Westchester Avenue in the Bronx’s Westchester Square neighborhood. All events are free. For reservations, directions and further information call (718) 918-2110 or visit www.BAADBronx.org.

The events are as follows:

Saturday, February 10 at 7pm/Free

BROWN GIRLS

This new web series by Fatimah Asghar follows two friends navigating the messiness of their mid-twenties. Leila is a South Asian-American writer owning her queerness and her best friend Patricia, a sex-positive Black-American musician who struggles to commit to her job, art and relationships.

​​BRUJOS

Brujos is Ricardo Gamboa’s supernatural series about gay, Latino doctoral students who are also witches trying to survive the semester and a witch hunt led by a secret society of the straight, wealthy, white male descendants of the first New World colonizers.

Saturday, February 10 at 9pm/Free

THE HANDMAIDEN

This erotic psychological thriller is set in 1930s Korea, in the period of Japanese occupation.  A new girl (Sookee) is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress (Hideko) who lives a secluded life on a large countryside estate with her domineering Uncle (Kouzuki). But the maid is part of a sinister plan until Sookee and Hideko discover some unexpected emotions. Directed by Park Chan-wook.

Friday, February 16 at 9pm-1am/Free

MIGHTY REEL DANCE PARTY

This year’s series includes a dance party with streaming music videos featuring QTPOC. The music videos are by mainstream popular artists, independent artists, and local artists who produce danceable songs and music videos that highlights QTPOC in an empowering light.

Saturday, February 17 at 7pm/Free

SATURDAY CHURCH

Saturday Church tells the story of 14-year-old Ulysses, a shy and effeminate boy, who finds himself coping with new responsibilities as “man of the house” after the death of his father, struggling with questions about his gender identity and discovering his passion for the NYC ball scene, and voguing. Director Damon Cardasis creates a world of fantasy filled with dance, music and a vibrant transgender community.

Saturday, February 24 at 7pm/Free

SIGNATURE MOVE

Fawzia Mirza plays Zaynab, a Pakistani Muslim lawyer who finds inspiration in Lucha Libre wrestling and romance with Alma (Sari Sanchez), the sassy, confident Mexican-American woman who’s winning her heart. Zaynab’s newfound passions challenge her soap-opera—loving mother’s expectations of finding her a husband. This comedic and sexy film is directed by Jennifer Reeder.

PERFECT IDEA

Made in Bangladesh, K D Islam’s short film is a romantic comedy about a gay couple preparing for a visit by one of the partners' father.

Saturday, February 24 at 7pm/Free

BODY ELECTRIC

This fun and racy movie, directed by Marcelo Caetano, follows carefree Elias who works at a textile factory, juggles long shifts, dreams of the sea, and has animated nights-out with no-strings sexual encounters. After another night of working overtime, he and his coworkers go out for a bit of fun that ultimately leads to new encounters and unexpected desires.

Crowned “a funky and welcoming performance space” by The New York Times, BAAD! is a performance and workshop space that presents cutting-edge works in dance and all creative disciplines empowering to women, people of color and the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community. BAAD! is home to Arthur Aviles Typical Theatre (AATT), the Bronx Dance Coalition and the AATT Academy, and was founded by Arthur Aviles and Charles Rice-Gonzalez in 1998 in Hunts Point. BAAD! moved to Westchester Square in October 2013 to a gothic revivalist building on the grounds of St. Peter’s Church.

MAYOR DE BLASIO INVESTS $200 MILLION TO REPLACE BOILERS AND UPGRADE HEATING SYSTEMS AT 20 NYCHA DEVELOPMENTS

Part of the Mayor’s unprecedented investment in NYCHA including $2.1 billion in capital infrastructure and $1.6 billion in operating funds  

  Mayor Bill de Blasio announced today a $200 million investment to replace boilers and upgrade heating systems at 20 NYCHA developments experiencing chronic outages. This funding will go towards replacing outdated boilers, and modernizing heating system controls and hot water-making technology. These renovations will be finished by 2022, and will benefitting approximately 45,000 residents. Furthermore, these upgrades will help NYCHA save approximately $5 million per year in energy costs.

This latest investment brings the Mayor’s total commitment to NYCHA’s capital infrastructure to $2.1 billion from Fiscal Year 2014 to Fiscal Year 2027 and $1.6 billion in NYCHA’s operations from Fiscal Year 2014 to Fiscal Year 2022.

“Like our investment to replace aging roofs, this commitment to new heating systems cuts right to the heart of the biggest problems NYCHA residents face, and will make a difference thousands of them will feel,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “The record-setting cold this winter has hit these aging boilers and pipes hard. We’re coming to the table with real resources to attack these problems, and urge our federal and state partners to do the same.”

“The Mayor has demonstrated through his previous commitments that when NYCHA has the funding, residents get real improvements to their quality of life,” said NYCHA Chair and CEO Shola Olatoye. “While the city faced one of the coldest spells in over a half century, NYCHA staff worked around the clock to keep its aging boilers running. This new investment will help us improve service to our residents and provide them with the safe, warm homes they deserve.”

Starting in Fiscal Year 2019, the $200 million will be invested over three years to do the following:

• Replace Outdated Boilers at 10 developments with chronic outages. Developments are often comprised of multiple buildings, with multiple boiler plants, and this funding will go towards installing more than 39 new boilers. The heating upgrades at the 10 additional sites below will help complement previously allocated federal funding for boiler replacements.

• Modernize Hot Water Systems at 12 developments by separating hot water from the heating boilers to reduce the strain on boilers. This will allow NYCHA staff to make repairs on the boiler system during the spring and summer without jeopardizing tenants’ access to hot water. Decoupling these systems also reduces the likelihood that tenants will simultaneously lose heat and hot water during outages.

• Install New Heating Controls at 15 developments to regulate boiler temperature. This will help NYCHA monitor performance more closely, detect possible faults earlier, reduce the strain on boilers and provide more consistent heat to tenants.

The following 20 developments will receive at least one of the aforementioned upgrades to their heating systems from City funding. The other parts of their heating system are funded by the federal government or energy performance contracts: 

• Morris I*
• Morris II*
• Taft*
• Cypress Hills*
• Farragut*
• Sotomayor Houses*
• Rangel*
• Fiorentino Plaza*
• Long Island Baptist Houses*
• Robinson*
• Astoria
• Baruch Houses Addition
• Baruch
• McKinley
• Melrose
• Pelham Parkway
• Pomonok
• Rutland Towers
• Soundview
• South Beach

These developments (*)  are receiving new boilers with City funding.

Since 2014, NYCHA has committed nearly $300 million in HUD funds to upgrade heating and plumbing at 100 boilers.  In addition, more than $100 million of the $3 billion FEMA grant for Sandy Recovery and Resilience will fund replacement of 67 boilers at 17 developments, and NYCHA’s three in-progress Energy Performance Contracts include more than $40 million in heating-related improvements.

The de Blasio Administration has made an unprecedented commitment to preserve and strengthen public housing. This latest investment brings the Administration’s total commitment to $2.1 billion to support NYCHA’s capital infrastructure from Fiscal Year 2014 to Fiscal Year 2027 and $1.6 billion to support NYCHA’s operations from Fiscal Year 2014 to Fiscal Year 2022. This investment includes $1.3 billion to fix over 900 roofs, over $500 million to repair deteriorating exterior brickwork at nearly 400 buildings, and $140 million to improve security at 15 NYCHA developments.  The City waived NYCHA’s annual PILOT and NYPD payments to the City, relieving NYCHA of nearly $100 million in operating expenses a year. In January 2018, the Mayor announced $13 million to improve NYCHA’s response to heating emergencies this winter.

EDITOR'S NOTE:

While this is a step in the right direction why has it taken four years to happen?

What are the other Approximately 130,000 other residents of NYCHA buildings suppose to do?

Wait until after 2021 when a new mayor comes in?

This is not acceptable Mayor Bill de Blasio. What has your head of NYCHA been doing the past four years other than signing off on false reports to HUD?

Engel Responds to President Trump's Out of Touch State of the Union Address

  Congressman Eliot L. Engel issued the following statement in response to President Trump’s State of the Union address:

“There were points during tonight’s State of the Union speech when I sat in the House chamber wondering, ‘what reality is President Trump living in?’

“His description of how his first year went in office, and his claims about how his policies have created a roaring economy, were pure fantasy. And his ideas to fix the issues plaguing our country—which, once again, included his ridiculous border wall—were even more out of touch.  

“The President’s belief that a soaring stock market is the direct result of his overzealous deregulation and disastrous tax bill is ludicrous. He’s also wrong to assume that the market alone is the best measure of how well our economy is doing for working families. Job growth was slower in 2017 than in any year since 2010. The trade deficit he swore to shrink actually grew. Many corporations, which enjoyed the bulk of the tax cuts given by this President and the GOP, used their tax savings to fund massive lay-offs instead of hiring new workers. Wages remain relatively stagnant and, despite what the President says, job growth in black and minority communities has slumped to its slowest pace in four years. These are hardly the markers of an economy working for everyone.

“I was also very disappointed by the President’s heated, xenophobic rhetoric regarding immigration. The President cannot claim that an immigration plan that separates families is in the best interest of America. And his insistence on building a massive, wasteful border wall will do nothing to help foster a deal between Democrats and Republicans in Congress before the March deadline for DACA. 

“On health care, the President’s message completely fell flat. He touted a policy that will cause health insurance premiums to rise 10 percent on average. That amounts to an extra $1,990 in health care costs each year for a family of four. And though he did mention the opioid crisis, he has yet to put his money where his mouth his. The President again failed to call for the funding needed to combat this public health crisis, and instead of working to solve the issue, he and his Republican cohorts spent the past year trying to repeal the law that guarantees substance abuse treatment for Americans.

“Then there were the issues the President didn’t even bother to address adequately, like disaster relief assistance. On this President’s watch, four months after a devastating hurricane, nearly half a million American citizens in Puerto Rico are still without electricity. He also spent a great deal of time touting an end to his phony ‘war on energy’ without once mentioning the dire challenges we face with climate change. And let us not forget that two members of Trump’s campaign team are currently under criminal indictment, and two more – including his former national security advisor – already pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. 

“What we heard tonight does not reflect our true, shared American values. Like most of this Presidency so far, tonight’s speech was filled with plenty of bad ideas and empty double-speak.”

A.G. Schneiderman Announces $6.4 Million Settlement With Brooklyn Home Health Care Provider Over False Medicaid Billing And Cover Up

Home Family Care, Inc. Billed Medicaid for Services of Unqualified Care Providers and Aides on Vacation When They Were Supposed to be Caring for Elderly Medicaid Recipients – Then Falsified Records to Cover Up the Neglect

Supervisor Responsible for Neglect to Pay $100,000 in Separate Settlement

  Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced that Home Family Care, Inc. (“Home Family”) of Brooklyn, NY and its President, Alexander Kiselev, will pay $6.415 million to resolve allegations that they violated the federal and New York False Claims Acts by falsely billing the New York State Medicaid program for home health care services that were not provided or that were provided by unqualified staff.

The settlement resolves allegations in a complaint filed by the State of New York and the United States that Home Family routinely permitted its aides to circumvent verification procedures purportedly put in place by Home Family to ensure that its aides were providing scheduled services to Medicaid recipients who depended upon them. As alleged in the complaint, even after Home Family put in place an electronic attendance verification system which purportedly required aides to call a central number to “clock in” and “clock out” of their shifts before their services could be billed, Home Family aides routinely ignored this requirement and failed to clock in or out of their shifts – yet were still paid for them.

“New Yorkers place the highest level of trust in home care providers to care for their vulnerable family members,” said Attorney General Schneiderman. “My office will continue to make clear that there are serious consequences for neglecting vulnerable home care patients – and even further consequences for trying to cover it up before sending New Yorkers the bill.”

Medicaid is a jointly funded federal-state program that provides health care to vulnerable individuals. Home Family operates a Licensed Home Care Services Agency (“LHCSA”), which provides home health aide and personal care aide services to frail and elderly individuals, including Medicaid recipients, who need assistance with activities such as cooking, cleaning, dressing, and bathing. Home Family bills these services to Managed Long Term Care (“MLTC”) Plans and Certified Home Health Agencies (“CHHA”), which in turn bill the New York State Medicaid Program for these services. As a LHCSA, Home Family was obligated to ensure that the home health care services – which its clients depended upon to remain in their homes – were provided by qualified staff, and to maintain records documenting the services that were rendered.  

The Attorney General’s complaint alleges that the aides’ supervisors, known as Coordinators, in turn, modified or created call entries in the attendance verification system to make the records appear as if the aides had clocked in or out of their shifts. The complaint also alleges that Home Family then billed for these services, without even attempting to contact the aides or otherwise verify that the aides had visited their clients. As further alleged in the complaint, Michael Gurevich, a former Vice President of Home Family who had responsibility for supervising the Coordinators, was aware of the efforts of Home Family aides and Coordinators to circumvent Home Family’s attendance verification systems and took no measures to stop it. In a separate agreement, Mr. Gurevich has agreed to pay $100,000 to resolve the allegations against him. 

The complaint further alleges that, as a result of Home Family’s circumvention of its own attendance verification systems and procedures, Home Family on multiple occasions billed for services of aides who were traveling outside of the country during times when they were supposed to be caring for their clients. In one instance, Home Family billed for the services of an aide who was vacationing on the island of St. Maarten on the dates when Home Family claimed he was providing these services.   

In addition, as alleged in the complaint, Home Family employed numerous individuals who were not qualified to provide home health care services, and who utilized false identifies stolen from qualified individuals in order to obtain employment. Furthermore, even after Alexander Kiselev became aware that unqualified individuals were obtaining employment at Home Family using false identities, the complaint alleges that neither Mr. Kiselev nor anyone else at Home Family took any meaningful steps to ensure that Home Family’s clients were being properly cared for by qualified aides. 

The investigation was triggered by a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the federal and New York False Claims Acts, which allow private persons, known as “relators,” to file civil actions on behalf of the government and share in any recovery. The case is docketed with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York under number 10-CV-2490. The investigation and settlement were the result of a coordinated effort among the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, the New York State Attorney General’s Office, and HHS-OIG. The United States was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Elliot Schachner.