Forget about what you are seeing on television or hearing on the radio, the NYPD is working hard to keep New York City the Safest Big City. We have just presented the largest budget in New York City history thanks to the stimulus money New York City will be getting from Washington, thank you President Harris.
All is well here in New York City.
The affordable housing lottery has launched for 972 Washington Avenue, a 12-story building in Morrisania, The Bronx. The 83,811-square-foot development was designed by EQ Architecture And Design, and yields 107 supportive housing units. Available on NYC Housing Connect are 41 units for residents at 60 percent of the area median income (AMI), ranging in eligible income from $31,406 to $57,300.
Residences will have energy-efficient appliances, air conditioning, and smart controls for heating and cooling. Additional amenities include a shared laundry room, bike storage lockers, a children’s playroom and playground, outdoor areas, media room, an on-site resident manager, and community events and classes.
Interiors at 972 Washington Avenue in Morrisania, The Bronx
Interiors at 972 Washington Avenue in Morrisania, The Bronx
At 60 percent of the AMI, there are 41 studios with a $843 monthly rent for incomes ranging from $31,406 to $57,300.
Prospective renters must meet income and household size requirements to apply for these apartments. Applications must be postmarked or submitted online no later than June 25, 2021.
On the very famous Fordham Road overpass of the Grand Concourse Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. along with dozens of Bronxites voiced their support for Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams for Mayor of New York City.
BP Diaz Jr. told the story of when he was a young assemblyman from the South Bronx twenty-two years ago of a fatal shooting of a man in a hallway by police many times. He said it was Captain Adams who led 100 Black men to investigate the police shootings
Bronx BP Diaz Jr. Hugs his good friend Eric Adam after introducing him.
Large-Scale Outdoor Event Venues Can Increase Spectator Capacity from 20% to 33% Beginning May 19
Casinos and Gaming Facilities Can Increase Capacity from 25% to 50% Beginning May 15
Offices Can Increase Capacity from 50% to 75% Beginning May 15
Gyms/Fitness Centers Outside of New York City Can Increase Capacity from 33% to 50% Beginning May 15
Social Distancing, Masks, Health Screenings and All Other State Health/Safety Protocols Remain in Effect
Statewide Positivity Rate is 2.39%; 7-Day Average Positivity is 2.13%, Lowest Since November 8
3,174 Patient Hospitalizations Statewide; Lowest Since November 26; Down 609 Over the Last Week
729 Patients in the ICU; Lowest Since November 30
454 Intubated; Lowest Since December 4
41 COVID-19 Deaths in New York State Yesterday
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that spectator capacity at large-scale outdoor event venues, including professional and collegiate sports and live performing arts and entertainment, will increase from 20 to 33 percent beginning May 19. This increase will coincide with the previously announced increase in large-scale indoor event venue capacity. Social distancing, masks, health screenings and all other State health and safety protocols remain in effect.
The Governor also announced that capacities would be increased throughout several industries that have proven to safely reopen in accordance with the State's COVID-19 health and safety guidelines, starting May 15:
"We are making tremendous progress in the fight against COVID-19 — our vaccination rates are going up and the positivity and hospitalization rates are going down, so now we are going to open the valves of our economy even further," Governor Cuomo said. "We are increasing the capacity limits throughout several industries, including gyms outside of New York City, casinos, offices and large-scale outdoor event venues. This is all great news, but we are not out of the woods yet. Washing hands, wearing masks and staying socially distanced are critical tools each of us can use to slow the spread as we continue our efforts to defeat COVID once and for all."
Today's data is summarized briefly below:
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Join Fellow Progressives for our April General Virtual Meeting!
Greetings and Welcomes (2 Mins.)
Quick review of the agenda (3 Mins.)
House Rules (3 Mins.)
Introducing Andrea Shapiro (3 Mins)
Andrea Shapiro gives presentation (20 Mins.)
2. New Business/Announcements (20 Mins.)
Singaporean National Kwek Kee Seng Charged with Federal Crimes Related to Alleged Leadership Role in Scheme to use the M/T Courageous to Violate Sanctions
Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, John C. Demers, the Assistant Attorney General for National Security, and William F. Sweeney Jr., the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), announced the filing of a criminal complaint charging KWEK KEE SENG with conspiring to evade economic sanctions on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (“DPRK” or “North Korea”) and money laundering conspiracy. In addition to these criminal charges, a civil forfeiture complaint was filed against M/T Courageous, an oil products tanker purchased and operated by KWEK to make illicit deliveries of petroleum products through ship-to-ship transfers with North Korean vessels and direct shipments to the North Korean port of Nampo.
The M/T Courageous
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said: “As alleged, Kwek Kee Seng conspired to violate international sanctions by arranging illicit deliveries of petroleum products to North Korea, and used front companies and false documentation to send money through the U.S. financial system in furtherance of his support for that pariah state. As a result of his illegal activities, not only does Kwek face criminal charges, but his sanctions-evading ship, the Courageous, has been seized and will no longer enable North Korea’s pattern of evading the global community’s prohibitions on support for that regime. Thanks to the extraordinary cooperation between U.S. and Cambodian law enforcement authorities, the Courageous is out of service. This Office has pioneered the deployment of the full array of criminal and civil enforcement tools to curb North Korea’s deceptive and illicit activities, and today’s actions send a message that anyone who supports the DPRK’s sanctions-busting efforts stands to lose both their liberty and their property.”
Assistant Attorney General John C. Demers said: “The seizure of the Courageous is another step in sinking North Korea’s efforts to circumvent sanctions on the high seas. The United States will continue to enforce sanctions on North Korea through civil forfeiture actions and criminal prosecutions to ensure that the North Korean government – and the private entities that enable this regime by prioritizing personal profit over global security – are held accountable.”
FBI Assistant Director William F. Sweeney Jr. said: “In case our message wasn't clear when we seized M/V Wise Honest in May 2019, our seizure of M/T Courageous should serve as another signal of our intentions: the FBI will not allow adversaries to evade sanctions designed to protect our nation. Kwek is now a fugitive on our radar, and his ship is now ours. We are grateful to our international partners who have worked with us to ensure the safety of the citizens we serve."
According to the criminal and civil documents filed today in Manhattan federal court:[1]
Pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act of 2016 (NKSPEA), the DPRK and individuals or entities that the Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has determined are involved in the facilitation of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction are prohibited from engaging in transactions with U.S. persons or using the U.S. financial system. The United Nations Security Council has similarly imposed economic sanctions on North Korea, prohibiting among other things the conduct of ship-to-ship transfers with DPRK-flagged vessels and the provision of petroleum products to the DPRK.
For a four-month period between August and December 2019, M/T Courageous illicitly stopped transmitting location information, during which time satellite imagery shows that M/T Courageous engaged in a ship-to-ship transfer of more than $1.5 million worth of oil to a North Korean ship, the Saebyol, which had been designated by OFAC, and traveled to the North Korean port of Nampo. Seng and his co-conspirators took additional steps to hide the scheme by (1) operating a series of shell companies, (2) lying to international shipping authorities about M/T Courageous’ dealings with North Korea, and (3) falsely identifying M/T Courageous as another ship in order to evade detection.
In furtherance of the scheme, Seng and his co-conspirators arranged for a variety of payments, denominated in U.S. dollars, that were processed through U.S.-based correspondent accounts to purchase oil – including more than $1.5 million to purchase the oil that was transferred to the Saebyol, over $500,000 to buy M/T Courageous, and thousands more dollars to procure necessary services for M/T Courageous and another vessel, including registration fees, ship materials and salary payments for crewmembers. Seng and his co-conspirators overseas sought to conceal these sanctions-evading transactions by, among other things, using front companies to disguise the nature of the transactions; disguising location information for vessels carrying illicit shipments; and conducting ship-to-ship fuel transfers on the open sea in an attempt to hide their counterparties, such as the Saebyol.
Cambodian authorities seized M/T Courageous in March of 2020, and have been holding the vessel pursuant to a U.S. seizure warrant, which was issued under seal on April 2, 2020.
KWEK, 61, of Singapore, is charged with conspiring to violate the IEEPA and to commit money laundering. Each count carries a maximum term of 20 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.
KWEK KEE SENG remains at large. The United States looks forward to working with our foreign partners to bring KWEK to justice.
Ms. Strauss praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI and its New York Field Office, Counterintelligence Division. Ms. Strauss also thanked the FBI Legal Attaché Office in Phnom Penh, Cambodia; the Department of Justice’s National Security Division, Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section’s Program Operations Unit, and Office of International Affairs; the United States Coast Guard; the Cambodian Ministry of Justice; and the Cambodian National Police, for their assistance.
The charges in the Complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
City and state legislation would disqualify police guilty of misconduct in other departments from getting hired in New York
City Hall, NY – As part of the Council’s efforts to increase police accountability and reimagine public safety, Speaker Corey Johnson, Council Member Francisco Moya, and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams are introducing a bill that will ban the city from hiring police officers from other jurisdictions who were fired for misconduct or resigned while being investigated for misconduct. The bill requires the Department of Citywide Administrative Services – which set qualifications for civil service jobs – to add a line in the hiring code that automatically disqualifies these officers when they apply for the NYPD. There are already several disqualifications from becoming an NYPD officers, including domestic violence misdemeanors, dishonorable discharge from the military and felony convictions. While transfers to the NYPD are not common, the goal of this legislation is to make sure that no one with a history of misconduct finds their way into the city’s police force. State Senator Brian Benjamin will introduce a companion bill in the State Senate, barring police departments in the state from hiring cops from other jurisdictions who were fired or resigned pending a misconduct investigation. Officers who are fired from one department only to get hired by another, known as wandering officers, are more likely to receive misconduct complaints and get fired again compared to other officers, according to a 2020 report in the Yale Law Journal.
“All it takes is one bad cop to make a fatal mistake, shatter a family and destroy the trust people have in all police. Sadly, we’ve seen too many police misconduct cases across the country, and many times these so-called ‘wandering officers’ land in other departments. We don’t want them in the NYPD, and we must do everything we can do to prevent them from working as officers in our city,” said Speaker Corey Johnson.
“Every step we can take towards dismantling systemic racism is an action towards meaningful police reform. The bill I’m introducing is a step to keep the bad apples from multiplying—if an officer is let go because of disciplinary issues, regardless of jurisdiction, they will be ineligible for NYPD service. This is about protecting Black and Brown lives from police officers who have had a history of misconduct. With this bill, New York City can be an example of vigorous and positive action so Black lives are no longer in danger,” said Council Member Francisco Moya.
“We need to restore and protect the trust between our communities and the individuals sworn to protect them. We can’t do that if we have people serving as police officers who other cities or states have determined are not fit for duty,” said Senator Brian Benjamin. “Once we enact this bill into law on the city and state level, we can be sure that we are not empowering people who have a history of abusing their positions. This bill will increase transparency around policing and protect the public from abusive officers, increasing public safety for all.”
