Assemblymember Michael Blake - Tomorrow (6/3): Join Us for a Free Outdoor Concert!

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Rain or shine, we'll be hosting our free outdoor concert "Praise in the Park," tomorrow June 3rd!

We look forward to having you join us. If it rains, the event will be held indoors at the Cary Leeds Tennis Center for Tennis and Learning located at 1720 Crotona Ave. Bronx, NY 10457.

I hope to see you at this festive event with soul-stirring music and entertainment. It’s the perfect event for families and neighbors to come together and enjoy gospel music in the sunny outdoors.

Hear the joyful sounds from some of the most acclaimed choirs and musical ensembles in the Bronx. We are excited to have the choirs from Union Grove Missionary Baptist Church, Christ Church, Tremont United Methodist Church, and Gethsemane Baptist Church perform. 

This is an interfaith event that is open to the public. The power of music brings together communities and transcends generations.

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What: 

Praise in the Park Celebration

When: 

Sunday, June 3rd 3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Where: 

Shine Location:

Crotona Park Amphitheater

559 Claremont Parkway, Bronx, NY 10457

Contingency/Rain Location: 

Cary Leeds Tennis Center for Tennis and Learning,

1720 Crotona Ave. Bronx, NY 10457 

Will you join us for Praise in the Park? RSVP here!

Tell a friend or a neighbor and thank you for your support as we continue #BuildingABetterBronx.

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Michael Blake

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Husband And Wife Charged With Fraud Scheme Relating To Nursing Services At A Bronx-Based Hospital

  Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced the unsealing of a Complaint charging BETSY MONTALVO and EDWARD GONZALEZ with a wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft in connection with a fraudulent scheme to provide of nursing services at a Bronx-based hospital.  Both defendants were arrested yesterday in New York and presented before United States Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn in Manhattan federal court. 

According to the allegations in the Complaint[1]:

MONTALVO and GONZALEZ were principals of a Bronx-based nursing company (“Nursing Company-1”) that provided temporary nursing services to client companies in the New York City area.  From March 2015 to March 2017, one of Nursing Company-1’s clients was a Bronx-based hospital (“Hospital-1”), and Nursing Company-1 provided and scheduled registered and licensed practical nurses on a temporary basis to fill the staffing needs of Hospital-1. 

As alleged in the Complaint, in May 2015, a factoring company (“Factoring Company-1”) entered into a contractual relationship with Nursing Company-1 to purchase Nursing Company-1’s accounts receivable (invoices) owed to it by Hospital-1.  The Complaint alleges that MONTALVO, GONZALEZ, and a co-conspirator not named as a defendant in the Complaint engaged in a scheme in which they presented to Factoring Company-1 false, fraudulent, and inflated invoices that did not reflect the nursing services for Hospital-1 that had been performed by Nursing Company-1.  In some instances, the identities of nurses who performed no services for Nursing Company-1 or Hospital-1 were listed on the fraudulent invoices.  Relying on the fraudulent invoices, Factoring Company-1 paid Nursing Company-1 a percentage of the fraudulent invoices. 

The Complaint alleges that the attempted losses associated with the fraud scheme are $664,761. 

MONTALVO, 49, and GONZALEZ, 47, both of Bronx, New York, are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years; one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years; and one count of aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of two years.  The statutory maximum penalties are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant would be determined by the judge.

Mr. Berman praised the outstanding investigative work of the Special Agents with the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

The charges contained in the Complaint are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

[1]   As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the text of the Complaint, and the description of the Complaint set forth herein, constitute only allegations, and every fact described should be treated as an allegation.

Managing Partner And Principal Of Accounting Firm Charged With Aiding And Abetting Union Embezzlement Scheme And Making False Filings With The U.S. Department Of Labor

  Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Michael C. Mikulka, Special Agent-in-Charge, New York Region, U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) Office of Inspector General, announced today the arrests of SALVATORE ARMAO, the founder and managing partner of an accounting firm (the “Firm”), and KAREN AUER, a principal at the Firm, for aiding and abetting the embezzlement of over $100,000 from a labor union (the “Union”) and its employee welfare benefit plan (the “Plan”), and for making false filings with DOL to conceal the embezzlement scheme.  AUER was also charged with making false statements to a DOL agent during the investigation of the embezzlement scheme.  Both defendants surrendered this morning in Manhattan and are expected be presented today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn.

U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said:  “Salvatore Armao and Karen Auer are professional accountants who allegedly facilitated and concealed a long-running union embezzlement scheme by knowingly submitting false filings with the Department of Labor and the Internal Revenue Service.  Accountants and auditors like Armao and Auer are supposed to serve as safeguards against labor fraud, not facilitate it.”

DOL-OIG Special Agent-in-Charge Michael C. Mikulka said:  “The Office of Inspector General is responsible for identifying and reducing labor racketeering and corruption in employee benefit plans, labor-management relations, and internal union affairs. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to investigate these types of allegations.”

According to the allegations in the Complaint[1]:

From at least in or about 2010 through in or about 2014, the president of the Union, who also served as a trustee of the Plan (the “President-Trustee”), repeatedly used Union funds to pay for his personal expenses, including payments for spa treatments, a gym membership, a second car, medical charges, unrelated union dues for an actors’ union, purchases from retail establishments, payments to personal credit cards, and ATM cash withdrawals.  The President-Trustee used his Union credit card to pay for personal expenses and then “reimbursed” the Union with funds transferred from the Plan.  In total, the President-Trustee embezzled over $100,000 from the Union over approximately three years. 

During the period of the embezzlement, the Firm served as the accountant and auditor for the Union and the Plan.  To facilitate and conceal the President-Trustee’s embezzlement, ARMAO and AUER falsely classified as “loans” the personal expenses for which the President-Trustee paid using Union and Plan funds in accounting records and on DOL filings for the Union.  ARMAO falsely classified the President-Trustee’s personal expenses as loans for at least five years, while AUER did so for at least one year.  ARMAO and AUER also provided false information on DOL filings for the Plan, concealing from DOL the President-Trustee’s prohibited transfers of tens of thousands of dollars from the Plan to the Union which, in turn, facilitated and concealed the President-Trustee’s use of Union funds to pay his personal expenses.  ARMAO repeatedly caused these false filings to be made to DOL despite being a Certified Fraud Examiner. 

During the DOL’s investigation of the embezzlement scheme, ARMAO and AUER were interviewed by DOL.  ARMAO admitted that he was aware of the President-Trustee’s use of Union assets to pay for personal expenses based upon his review of records that showed that the President-Trustee used Union funds to pay for his family vacations and his wife’s car payments, and then used the Plan to reimburse the Union.  During her interview, AUER lied about a false response on a DOL form that AUER and ARMAO caused to be filed with the DOL.

SALVATORE ARMAO, 64, of Howard Beach, New York, and KAREN AUER, 47, of Bethpage, New York, are each charged with one count of aiding and abetting embezzlement from a labor organization, one count of conspiracy to make false statements in employee benefit plan records and reports, and one count of making false statements in employee benefit plan records and reports.  AUER is also charged with making false statements to a federal agent.  Each of the four counts carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.  The statutory maximum sentences are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by the judge. 

Mr. Berman thanked the DOL’s Office of Inspector General, Employee Benefits Security Administration, Office of Chief Accountant, and Office of Labor-Management Standards for their outstanding work on this investigation.  Mr. Berman also expressed gratitude to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice’s Labor-Management Racketeering Unit of the Organized Crime and Gang Section for their assistance.  Mr. Berman added that the investigation is continuing.

The charges contained in the Complaint are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

[1] As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the text of the Complaint and the description of the Complaint set forth herein constitute only allegations, and every fact described should be treated as an allegation.

SAVE THE DATE: Bronx Democratic Party's Annual Gala Dinner

Bronx Chamber of Commerce - The New Bronx Business & Real Estate 2018 Expo

Bronx Jewish Community Council - Next week! Don't forget to register!

Register Here

Our Distinguished Honorees Are: MICHAEL SPICER PRESIDENT & CEO  ST. JOSEPH’S  MEDICAL CENTER & ST. VINCENT’S HOSPITAL BRONXCARE HEALTH SYSTEM ACCEPTED BY: ROBERT SANCHO VICE PRESIDENT,  DEVELOPMENT AND EXTERNAL AFFAIRS NEW YORK STATE SEN. JEFFREY KLEIN RUTH ROSENBLATT M.D. PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF CLINICAL RADIOLOGY WEILL CORNELL MEDICAL COLLEGE Please join us in celebrating the work we do to help our  neighbors who are most in need. View Full Invitation 2930 Wallace Avenue, Bronx, NY 10467  I 718-652-5500 I www.bjcconline.org  ‌

LGBTQ Bronx Fest at BAAD

BAAD! - The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance presents

The 18th Annual

OUT LIKE THAT! FESTIVAL

PROUDLY CELEBRATING GAY PRIDE IN THE BRONX

WITH A ZESTY FESTIVAL OF DANCE, FILM, THEATER & PERFORMANCE

with work by choreographers Antonio Ramos, Lawrence Goldhuber and Erick Montes, performances by Gus Solomons, Jr., an outdoor screening with the the Dance Film Association, the closing event for the TransVisionaries Performance Series and mucho more!

FESTIVAL RUNS JUNE 8-26, 2018

(Bronx, NY) – For the past 18 years, The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance (BAAD!) has marked LGBTQ pride month by presenting the Bronx’s longest consistent gay pride celebration - The OUT LIKE THAT! Festival.  The festival runs Friday, June 8 through Tuesday, June 26, 2018 and most events are centered at BAAD!’s home at 2474 Westchester Avenue, with some events in other Bronx venues. Out Like That! presents a fierce line-up of dance, theatre, film and wonderful performances featuring queer artists from the Bronx and beyond.  For information and directions call (718) 918-2110 or visit www.BAADBronx.org.

The OUT LIKE THAT 2018 festival performance schedule is as follows:

Friday, June 8 at 8pm/$20, $15

QUEER SIGHTINGS: PIONEERS GO EAST COLLECTIVE | SENTELL HARPER

This shared evening brings the drama!  Pioneers Go East Collect brings “Gemini Stars + Virgo Cowboy,” two interdisciplinary performances part of Queer Signs: LGBTQ+ stories IRL works created by the colletive, written by Gian Marco LoForte in collaboration with choreographer/performer Daniel Diaz, and designed by Bessie recipient Philip Treviño, and sound designer Hao Bai. Sentell Harper is known for his zesty solo performance works that explore Black queer identities. He is an actor and playwright whose one man show Seek and Ye Shall Find premiered in NYC at the United Solo Festival where he won the Festival’s Emerging Actor award.​​

Saturday, June 9 at 8pm / $20, $15

OUT DANCE!

Through the beauty, daring and grace of dance, this shared bill of choreographers express their strength and pride with work by Germaul Barnes, Kharis Collins, Filip A. Condeescu, Amada Dominguez, Elena Valls, and Alicia Raquel.

Thursday & Friday, June 14 & 15 at 8pm / $20, $15

ANTONIO RAMOS/ANTONIO & THE GANGBANGERS presents

“LOS QUE NO SON BELLAS SON HERMOSAS” (Those Who Aren’t Beautiful are Gorgeous)

The deliciously daring Antonio Ramos presents an evening of new work titled Los Que No Son Bellas son Hermosas (Those Who Aren’t Beautiful are Gorgeous). Ramos dances along with Saul Ulerio, Awilda Rodriguez-Lora and Marielys Burgos who infuse power and verve into his signature movement vocabulary that throb with Latinx cultural themes. Ramos is BAAD!’s 2018 Artist-in-Resident which received support from the Mertz Gilmore Foundation.

Saturday, June 16 at 8pm / Free

OUT ON FILM!

PRESENTED BY DANCE FILMS ASSOCIATION AND BAAD!

DFA teams up with BAAD! for a free outdoor screening of LGBTQ-themed thought-provoking, sexy/sensual dance films especially curated by BAAD’s own Arthur Aviles and Joseph Hall with Marta Renzi of DFA. Filmmakers in attendance include: Winnie Cheung, Jasmine Hearn, Jason Rodriguez, and Rami Shafi.

Friday, June 22 at 8pm / $20, $15

LAWRENCE GOLDHUBER | ERICK MONTES

Lawrence Goldhuber and Erick Montes, two choreographers who are alum of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, bring fresh work to BAAD! Goldhuber’s “Apple v. Oranges” explores several themes including Age versus beauty with performances by Gus Solomons, Jr. and Alexandra Montalbano. Montes’ “Otherwise” bursts forth from his personal urgency to find truth in his own body, and employs humorous commentaries and sparks of parody in defiance against normativity.

Monday, June 25 at 7pm / Free

BLAQ AND BAAD! WEB SHOW

BLAQ and BAAD! is a new web show focused on queer culture of The Bronx. It's The View meets The Tonight Show with a (BAAD!) twist. A panel of LGBTQ members meet to discuss current events, culture, and creativity in our city with special performances by local QPOC in front of a live studio audience. Co-hosted by Rosaly Ruiz and Whitney Dav-Rho.

Tuesday, June 26 at 7pm / Free

TransVisionaries Performance Series: Closing Night

(This event takes place at the Mott Haven Bar and Grill, 1 Bruckner Blvd., Bronx, NY)

This closing event features actors, movement artists and writers whose dynamic performances are sure to move you. With Michael Michelle Lynch as our emcee and performances by Zave Martohardjono, Sparklez Catiriana Reyes, Tamara Williams, and Kit Yan.

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, Latinos and people of color and the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) community. BAAD! is home to Arthur Avilés Typical Theatre (AATT) and the Bronx Dance Coalition which produces The Bronx Dance Magazine and was founded by Arthur Avilés and Charles Rice-González 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.

BAAD!/AATT receive support from The Ford Foundation, The SHS Foundation, The Mertz Gilmore Foundation, The New York Community Trust, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the New York State Council on the Arts, The Lincoln Center Cultural Innovation Fund supported by The Rockefeller Foundation and administered by Lincoln Center, The Howard Gilman Foundation, The Jerome Foundation, The Dance/NYC Dance Advancement Fund supported by the Ford Foundation, Councilmember Jimmy Vacca and Annabel Palma by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and private donations.

News From Congressman Joseph Crowley

Chairman Crowley Statement on May Jobs Report

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joe Crowley issued the following statement on the May jobs report:

“The president continues to put American jobs and families at risk with his reckless policies that lack insight, judgment, and strategic thinking. His agenda does nothing for working men and women, far too many of whom are continually burdened by Republicans’ attempts to lavish tax breaks on the rich and take away health insurance from the middle class. We can and should do better.”

Chairman Crowley Statement on LGBTQ Pride Month

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joe Crowley issued the following statement on LGBTQ Pride Month:

“This Pride Month, we celebrate the strength and resilience of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community. While we have made incredible progress in the march toward equality, we still have a long way to go to ensure the full rights of LGBTQ Americans, especially for communities of color. As the Trump administration and congressional Republicans continue their shameful attacks on LGBTQ rights, we must continue to raise our voices, fight injustice, and push forward.

 “To all those celebrating pride in Queens, the Bronx, and across the nation, know that I will continue to stand with you as we work to create a more just and inclusive country.”

Chairman Crowley Statement on Immigrant Heritage Month

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joe Crowley released the following statement on Immigrant Heritage Month, which is celebrated annually during the month of June: 

“During Immigrant Heritage Month, we join together to celebrate our rich history as a nation of immigrants, as well as pay tribute to the contributions immigrant communities have made to the United States. 

“But as we celebrate our heritage, we must also acknowledge the many challenges immigrants face in our country. President Trump’s administration continues to demonize immigrants and promote an anti-immigrant agenda. In Congress, Republican leaders are refusing to bring forward the DREAM Act, despite bipartisan support for providing security to these young men and women who call America home. And at the border, even families seeking asylum are being torn apart.

“As the son and grandson of immigrants, I know how crucial it is to protect and live up to our country’s proud tradition of welcoming immigrants. As we celebrate Immigrant Heritage Month, let us reaffirm our commitment to upholding our nation’s values and working to make our immigration system more just and fair to those in pursuit of a better life in America.”