Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs Announce Launch of We Speak NYC with New Season of English Language Learning Programs

Previously known as We Are New York, We Speak NYC Builds on Emmy Award-Winning Educational Videos with Seven New Episodes

New Independent Evaluation of We Speak NYC Shows Learners Achieving Increased English Proficiency and Familiarity with City Services

  Today, the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs announced the new season of We Speak NYC, the City’s Emmy Award-winning free English language learning program helping immigrant New Yorkers build language skills and become more familiar with City services. The de Blasio Administration invested over $3 million in the launch of new videos and learning tools for We Speak NYC’s second season, previously known as the We Are New York program. This season will tackle important issues facing New Yorkers, including mental health, workers’ rights, and early childhood education.

MOIA also released a new independent evaluation of We Speak NYC, which demonstrates that the program is effectively offering instruction to English language learners, not only on improving their English proficiency but also helping them to navigate the City’s resources and opportunities. Providing New Yorkers learning English with more educational and civic tools for success is part of the City’s continued drive to make New York City the fairest big city in the country.

“Effective English learning programs like We Speak NYC open new doors for New Yorkers,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “Though we are a city that proudly speaks over 150 languages, many residents want to improve their English language skills, and we want to meet them with the tools to do it. Empowering immigrant communities with the skills and knowledge to take advantage of more opportunities is how we make the ultimate city of immigrants an even better place for all of our residents.”

“Providing educational resources for all New Yorkers, at all stages of life, opens more opportunity across our city,” said Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives Phil Thompson. “We Speak NYC builds on the City’s strong track record of delivering proven curriculum to English language learners with new episodes, innovative study materials, and more. With We Speak NYC, the City is bringing New Yorkers with limited English proficiency more tools for success. ”

“We Speak NYC is here to support our city’s community of English language learners. Creating high-quality episodes focused on issues critical to immigrant New Yorkers, like mental health and early childhood education, for independent study or classes facilitated by trained volunteers makes language learning more approachable,” said Commissioner Bitta Mostofi of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs. “Many We Speak NYC facilitators are graduates of the program, creating leadership opportunities within immigrant communities and helping spread the word about important City programs available to all New Yorkers. Our new independent evaluation is evidence of We Speak NYC’s effectiveness, showing that 85 percent of students obtained a stronger vocabulary after only 20 hours of instruction. The new season will help us reach even more English language learners on their journey, both through new classes and by bringing We Speak NYC into the homes of more New Yorkers.”

Civil Rights Icon Claudette Colvin Honored at Parkchester NAACP Meeting

During the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement in 1955 there was a young 15 year old girl who stood up for her right to sit on a bus in Montgomery Alabama. Her name was Claudette Colvin who happened to be colored (the term used back then), and she became an unsung hero of the Civil Rights Movement after being taken off the bus by police for refusing to give her seat up to a young white woman. 

As Ms. Colvin told the audience Sunday, "I paid my bus fare and it is my constitutional right to sit here." That lasted only until police officers boarded the bus to arrest Ms. Colvin. She said that she had been inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King who was seeking equality in the south by the Civil Right's Movement. Ms. Colvin went on to say that her colored friends who were with her and gave up their seats stayed away from her. 

Ms. Colvin mentioned that a male classmate who was friendly with a white girl wound up being lynched a few years later after six white claimed that he raped them. Life was very tough for a young colored girl growing up in the south during her childhood. Life was tough for all colored people who were treated as second class citizens in the south. 

While Ms. Claudette Colvin's event on a Montgomery Alabama bus preceded Rosa Parks, Ms. Colvin did not receive the media coverage that Ms. Parks was given. That was because the Civil Rights Movement had progressed, and the time the Rosa Parks incident came about it was then news. Ms. Colvin did testify before the Supreme Court in the case that determined that bus segregation in Alabama was unconstitutional. That then began the desegregation movement in Alabama and the rest of the south.

Congressman Joe Crowley was on hand to present to Ms. Colvin a flag which flew over the U.S. Capital, and said that Ms. Colvin is a fine example of greatness and what is good in this country. Congressman Crowley added that he is honored to commend Ms. Colvin for her Courageous achievements.

Ms. Colvin also received a proclamation from State Senator Luis Sepulveda. Senator Sepulveda spoke of his grandfather who taught him about the Civil Rights Movement, and that Ms. Colvin's act should be in the history books also. he added that it took courage for a 15 year old black girl to do what you did by saying "no I have a constitutional right to sit here." He finished by saying "Ms. Colvin - you are history."

Ms. Colvin stayed to take questions from members of the audience, and take photos with them. 

State Senator Luis Sepulveda, Ms. Claudette Colvin, Congressman Joe Crowley, and the President of the Parkchester NAACP Ms. Beverly Roberts. 

Ms. Colvin taking questions from members of the audience. 

The officers and committee members of the Parkchester NAACP with Ms. Colvin.

Shoprite Supermarket Coming to Bruckner Commons

  A brand new Shoprite Supermarket will be replacing the former Key Food next to K Mart in the newly named Bruckner Commons Shopping Center on Bruckner Boulevard. This Shoprite Supermarket under the corporate name of Village Supermarkets should open in July as the 30th store owned by the Sumas family based in South Jersey. It will be the first Bronx Shoprite Store. Councilman Ruben Diaz Sr. and Assemblyman Luis Sepulveda joined members of the Sumas family and others from the corporate Shoprite office based in Wakefern New Jersey. 

  The occasion was the opening of the Shoprite hiring center. There will be 250 jobs created by the opening of this Bronx Shoprite store that will bring a wide variety of products and services that were not available to the area residents before. Shoprite is also a price and quality leader in the supermarket industry based in New Jersey, but with stores in several regional east coast states. In New York, Shoprite has stores on Long Island, Westchester and other northern counties, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and now the Bronx. The store will be run by store manager Mr. Al Cimmino. More details about this new Shoprite Supermarket (and its features) will follow as the opening date draws close. 

Councilman Ruben Diaz Sr. introduces the new Shoprite store manager Mr. Al Cimmino.

Working Families Party Officially Nominates Cynthia Nixon for Governor

Cynthia Nixon calls for end to school-to-prison pipeline in Harlem as progressive activists commit to contact millions of voters to elect first female governor of New York

  In a show of massive grassroots power, the Working Families Party voted today to give Cynthia Nixon their ballot line and formally nominate her as their candidate for governor of New York.

“I am proud to officially accept the nomination for Governor of New York from the Working Families Party,” said Nixon. “I’m ready to work alongside the thousands of WFP members and activists who will knock on doors and organize in their communities for a New York that belongs to all of us, not just the few.”

Nixon outlined her progressive populist agenda for New York state and called for finally funding NY’s public schools in compliance with the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, strengthening and expanding rent laws across the state, enacting single-payer health care, and making New York a true sanctuary state.

“Racial segregation, chronic underfunding and the over-policing of our public schools are an unholy trinity that are making too many majority black and brown schools more like jails than institutions of learning,” said Nixon. “Let’s just imagine the outcry if this was happening in predominantly white schools.”

With active grassroots supporters in all corners of the state, the Working Families Party will help bring a broad base of support to Cynthia's campaign. Since its inception, the WFP has worked to pull the Democratic Party closer to its voters rather than its big corporate donors. The WFP has successfully campaigned for paid sick and family leave, a $15 minimum wage, criminal justice reform, and making millionaire’s pay their fair share.

“New York is a 2 to 1 Democratic state, and we need a Governor that is as true and blue as it’s people. Governor Cuomo has $31 million in the bank and counting, but we have each other, we have the power of the people. The calvary is not coming to save us, we are the calvary," Nixon said to a fired up crowd.

Earlier this week, Our Revolution, the Staten Island Democratic Association, and the Coalition for a District Alternative all announced their endorsement of Cynthia's bid for governor. In the last few weeks, she has been backed by the Broadway Democrats, Village Independent Democrats, and Three Parks Independent Democrats. This adds to an even longer list of endorsements, including Democracy for America, Daily Kos, New Kings Democrats (NKD), Council Member Carlos Menchaca, the Working Families Party, Make the Road Action, Citizen Action, and the New York Progressive Action Network.

Israeli National Sentenced for Cocaine Conspiracy and International Money Laundering Charges

  An Israeli national was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston for conspiring to transfer $2.5 million worth of cocaine from Colombia to Israel via Boston and to money laundering charges. 

Jalal Altarabeen, a/k/a Glal El Tarbin, a/k/a Jalal Salamah, a/k/a Abu Rasheed, 34, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani to four years in prison and three years of supervised release. The government previously administratively forfeited from Altarabeen nearly $1 million. In February 2018, Altarabeen pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine and six counts of international money laundering. In February 2017, Altarabeen was extradited from Poland after being indicted with a co-conspirator. Altarabeen and the co-conspirator were previously charged in a federal criminal complaint in March 2016.

From October 2015 to April 20, 2016, Altarabeen and his co-conspirator conspired in Boston, Colombia, Poland, and elsewhere to distribute 50 kilograms of cocaine and to launder money internationally. They also negotiated to buy 50 kilograms of cocaine from an undercover officer posing as a drug trafficker. The undercover officer’s relationship with the co-conspirator began in 2008 and included a meeting in Nicosia, Cyprus.

Altarabeen and the co-conspirator agreed to pay the undercover officer $50,000 per kilogram to have the cocaine delivered in Israel. The undercover officer told the conspirators that the cocaine would be transported from Colombia to Boston and from Boston to Beersheba, Israel. Altarabeen agreed to make an advance payment of nearly $1 million to cover transportation costs, and he sent six wire transfers from Turkey totaling $999,972 to an undercover bank account in Boston. The undercover officer and Altarabeen agreed that Altarabeen would pay the $1.5 million balance after the receipt and sale of the 50 kilograms of cocaine.

Over several months, the undercover officer spoke with Altarabeen and the co-conspirator by telephone, WhatsApp, video Skype and in person.  They contacted the undercover officer using telephone numbers from Cyprus, Jordan, Israel, Palestine and Colombia, and discussed the drug transaction while in Bogota, Colombia, on Oct. 14, 2015, and Feb. 9, 2016. 

Speaker Corey Johnson, New York City Council Host “Call the Mayor” Fair Fares Digital Day of Action

  Speaker Corey Johnson and the New York City Council on Thursday hosted a digital day of action entitled “Call the Mayor” urging Mayor Bill de Blasio to include the Fair Fares proposal in the Fiscal Year 2019 budget. Fair Fares is a campaign to distribute MetroCards to low-income New Yorkers at a reduced rate. Fair Fares has the support of 47 out of 51 Council Members, the majority of citywide elected officials and borough presidents and over 60 community organizations.

Speaker Johnson, Council Members, advocates and fellow elected officials are showing their support on their social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram profiles using the hashtag #FairFares. The goal of the digital day of action is to accumulate hundreds of tweets and shares across multiple platforms, reaching a wide range New Yorkers, while pressuring the de Blasio administration to include this policy change in the executive budget. Shortly after the campaign launch, both #FairFares and MetroCard were trending on Twitter in New York City.

“We need to make New York City more affordable, and we can do that by reducing travel fares for low-income citizens. This digital day of action is a 21st century way to show support for this life-changing proposal. I thank my colleagues in the Council, the advocates and fellow elected officials for joining us in this movement and demanding the Mayor include Fair Fares in this year’s budget,” said Speaker Corey Johnson.

“Low-income New Yorkers need #FairFares now. The constant rise in subway and bus fares has had a tremendous negative impact on working families.  In this day and age, no one should have to choose between a MetroCard and rent or food.  The Mayor must take action and join the Council in funding #FairFares in the Fiscal Year 2019 budget,” said Council Member Daniel Dromm, Chair of the Council’s Committee on Finance. 

“Subway access is a necessity for all New Yorkers, rich and poor. We must help our friends and neighbors who can’t afford a MetroCard. We must support Fair Fares. The time is now,” said Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez, Chair of the Council’s Committee on Transportation.

Former Mobile Phone Industry Manager Sentenced In Manhattan Federal Court To 30 Months In Prison For Role In Multimillion-Dollar Consumer Fraud Scheme

  Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that CHRISTOPHER GOFF was sentenced today to 30 months in prison for his participation in a fraudulent scheme to charge mobile phone customers millions of dollars in monthly fees for unsolicited, recurring text messages without the customers’ knowledge or consent – a practice known as “auto-subscribing.”  The fraud committed by GOFF and his co-conspirators resulted in the theft of over $50 million from consumers throughout the United States.  In January 2018, GOFF pled guilty to one count of participating in a conspiracy to commit wire fraud.  GOFF was sentenced today in Manhattan federal court by the U.S. District Judge Katherine B. Forrest. 

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said:  “Christopher Goff conspired with others in an auto-subscribing scam that stole $50 million from unwitting consumers.  In return for lists of mobile phone users to victimize, Goff netted more than $350,000 in short-term gain – and a substantial term in prison.”

According to the Superseding Information filed in Manhattan federal court, trials in related proceedings, and statements made in connection with GOFF’s sentencing:

GOFF was an account manager for Mobile Messenger, a U.S. aggregation company in the mobile phone industry.  In the relevant time period, mobile aggregators like Mobile Messenger compiled, or “aggregated,” charges for premium text messaging services – such as monthly horoscopes, celebrity gossip, and trivia facts – on consumers’ mobile phone bills.  Between 2011 and 2013, GOFF and others engaged in a massive scheme to defraud ordinary consumers by placing unauthorized charges for premium text messaging services on their cell phone bills, through a practice known as auto-subscribing.

The auto-subscribing scheme involved two main players in the mobile phone industry: mobile aggregators, such as Mobile Messenger, and content providers, which sent consumers the unwanted text messages that ultimately resulted in them being billed for services they had not authorized.  Mobile Messenger worked with four different content providers in the scheme, each of which was essential to the scheme’s success.  GOFF participated in auto-subscribing through one of those content providers, Tatto, which was operated by co-conspirator Lin Miao. 

In or about 2010, Miao, who was the CEO of Tatto, decided to begin auto-subscribing mobile phone users to Tatto’s premium text messaging services in order to boost Tatto’s sagging revenues.  Miao and others built a computer program that could spoof the required consumer authorizations for premium text messaging services – i.e., a program that could generate the text message correspondence that one would ordinarily see if a consumer were genuinely signing up to receive the services, which was operational by in or about the middle of 2011.  In or about July 2011, Miao met with GOFF and asked him to provide large batches of phone numbers from Mobile Messenger’s databases in exchange for payment.  GOFF agreed to assist Miao and knew that Miao intended to subscribe consumers without their permission.  GOFF provided hundreds of thousands of mobile phone numbers to Miao by email from mid-2011 to mid-2012.  When sending the stolen phone numbers to Miao, GOFF hid his involvement in the scheme by using email addresses other than his work email address at Mobile Messenger.  Ultimately, Miao and other co-conspirators used the phone numbers that GOFF provided to auto-subscribe consumers.  In total, Miao and Tatto took more than $50 million from consumers via the scheme. 

GOFF received more than $350,000 from Miao for the phone numbers he provided.  GOFF used a shell company called 5 Tool Services and sent false invoices for consulting services that he never provided to Miao to hide his receipt of the money and role in the scheme.

In addition to the 30-month prison term, GOFF was sentenced to two years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit $352,799.56.

To date, seven defendants other than GOFF – Andrew Bachman, Miao, Michael Pajaczkowski, Erdolo Eromo, Jonathan Murad, Francis Assifuah, and Jason Lee – have pleaded guilty in connection with their participation in the fraud.  Two additional defendants, Fraser Thompson and Darcy Wedd, were convicted following three-week jury trials. 

Mr. Berman praised the investigative work of the IRS-CI and the FBI, and expressed his sincere gratitude to the Federal Trade Commission for their support and assistance with the investigation.                                                                                                                  

If you believe you were a victim of this crime, including a victim entitled to restitution, and you wish to provide information to law enforcement and/or receive notice of future developments in the case or additional information, please contact the Victim/Witness Unit at the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, at (866) 874-8900.  For additional information, go to:

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nys/victimwitness.html.

Medical Supply Executive Sentenced To 36 Months In Prison For Her Role In A $30 Million Scheme To Defraud Medicare And Medicaid

  Geoffrey S.  Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that MARINA BURMAN was sentenced today to 36 months in prison. BURMAN, the former president of a medical supply company, submitted approximately $3.4 million in fraudulent bills to the New York State Medicaid Program, falsely claiming to have dispensed adult diapers and other medical supplies that were not medically necessary and, in many cases, not dispensed at all.  BURMAN was sentenced today by United States District Judge Lorna G. Schofield.

U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said:  “The Medicare and Medicaid programs are intended to provide essential medical care to the elderly and the needy, not to line the pockets of fraudsters and opportunists.  Ultimately, the real victims of Marina Burman and her co-conspirators’ crimes are U.S. taxpayers and needy patients with legitimate medical needs.  Today’s sentence sends a strong message that those who cheat Medicare and Medicaid will not go unpunished.”

According to the Indictment and other documents filed in federal court, as well as statements made during BURMAN’s plea proceeding and sentencing:

Between 2007 and 2013, BURMAN’s ex-husband and co-defendant, Aleksandr Burman, owned and operated six medical clinics in Brooklyn (the “Clinics”) that fraudulently billed Medicare and Medicaid approximately $30 million for medical services and supplies that were medically unnecessary or otherwise fraudulently billed.  Under New York State law, medical clinics must be owned and operated by a medical professional.  To circumvent this requirement, Aleksandr Burman, who was not a medical professional, hired doctors to pose as the nominal owners of each of the Clinics.  As part of the fraud, the doctors also signed medical charts falsely stating that they had examined patients, and wrote prescriptions and referrals for medically unnecessary tests and supplies, including the $3.4 million in adult diapers and other supplies dispensed by BURMAN’s medical supply company.  Instead of actually obtaining many of these supplies, patients exchanged their prescriptions for merchandise, such as bed linens, tablecloths, dishes, kitchen appliances, and other housewares.  In furtherance of the fraud, BURMAN also falsely held herself out to Medicare and Medicaid as the sole owner of the medical supply company and concealed the fact that she actually owned that company jointly with her then-husband, Aleksandr Burman.

In all, 11 defendants have been charged for their participation in this healthcare fraud scheme.  Aleksandr Burman pled guilty and on May 8, 2017, was sentenced to 120 months in prison. Two medical doctors (Mustak Y. Vaid and Ewald J. Antoine), two Clinic executives (Asher Oleg Kataev and Alla Tsirlin), and two individuals who helped run two of the Clinics and a related ambulette company (Ivan Voychak and Edward Miselevich) have pled guilty and are awaiting sentencing.  Three additional defendants – a doctor (Paul J. Mathieu), a physical therapist (Hatem Behiry), and an occupational therapist (Lina Zhitnik) – are scheduled to go to trial before Judge Schofield on November 26, 2018.  These three remaining defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

MARINA BURMAN, 55, of Manhattan, pled guilty to health care fraud and conspiracy to commit health care fraud, mail fraud, and wire fraud before Judge Schofield on November 14, 2017.  In addition to the prison term, Judge Schofield ordered BURMAN to forfeit six condominium apartments paid for with the proceeds of the healthcare fraud scheme, and to pay restitution of $3,415,363 to Medicaid.

Mr. Berman praised the outstanding investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the New York State Office of the Medicaid Inspector General (“OMIG”).