I can't wait for January 1, 2021. No more having to worry about all of New York City's problems, and the man who thinks he is a king up in Albany. Then there is the Democratic controlled state legislature who are passing laws, but have to go back and change them because there are loopholes big enough to drive a truck through. Charlene are we ready to go on January 1st?
This rally to support the officers of the 49th Precinct was organized by the leaders of the 49th Precinct Council and Councilman Mark Gjonaj.
Statewide Positivity Rate Drops to 1.49%
Statewide 7-Day Average Positivity Rate Drops to 1.84%—Lowest Since November 6
Hospitalizations Drop to 2,535—Lowest Since November 20; Down 33 Percent Over the Last Two Weeks
ICU Patients Drop to 637—Lowest Since November 26
Intubations Drop to 406—Lowest Since December 3
33 COVID-19 Deaths in New York State Yesterday
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that the statewide COVID-19 positivity rate dropped to 1.49 percent yesterday, dropping below 1.5 percent for the first time since October 28.
"Every single day, New York State is moving forward in the footrace between the infection rate and the vaccination rate. More New Yorkers are getting vaccinated and hospitalizations are declining, which is good news, but we need New Yorkers to stay vigilant to make sure we don't lose any of the progress we've made," Governor Cuomo said. "Washing hands, wearing masks and staying socially distanced are critical behaviors each of us can practice, individually and in our communities, to slow the spread. In the meantime, New York is continuing to make the vaccine more accessible and open more pop-up sites. Spring is here and we're making progress, but there's a way to go before we reach the light at the end of the tunnel."
Today's data is summarized briefly below:
Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that MICHAEL HILD, the founder and former chief executive officer of Live Well Financial, Inc. (“Live Well”), was convicted today of securities fraud, wire fraud, and bank fraud charges in connection with a scheme to fraudulently inflate the value of a portfolio of bonds owned by Live Well in order to induce various securities dealers and at least one financial institution into loaning more money to Live Well – through repurchase (“repo”) agreements and collateralized loans – than they otherwise would have had they known the actual value of Live Well’s bond portfolio. The scheme allowed Live Well to grow its bond portfolio exponentially, from approximately 20 bonds with a stated value of approximately $50 million in 2014 to approximately 50 bonds with a stated value of over $500 million by the end of 2016. In May 2019, in conjunction with an effort to wind down the company, Live Well wrote down the value of its portfolio by over $200 million.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said: “As a unanimous jury found, Michael Hild obtained millions of dollars in secured loans for Live Well Financial by grossly inflating the value of bonds used as collateral. Hild deceived a third-party pricing service by providing it with inflated marks, resulting in the pricing service publishing valuations for the bonds far in excess of market value. Lenders were hoodwinked into lending far more than they otherwise would have. The house of cards came crashing down with the unwinding of Live Well and the revelation to lenders that the bond portfolio had been overvalued by $200 million. Now, Michael Hild awaits sentencing for his crimes.”
According to the evidence presented during the trial:
Live Well’s Bond Portfolio and Repurchase Agreements
Live Well was a Richmond, Virginia-based company that originated, serviced, and securitized government-guaranteed reverse mortgages known as Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (“HECMs”). In or about 2014, Live Well acquired a portfolio of approximately 15 bonds, each entitling the holder to receive a portion of the interest payments, but not the principal payments, from a particular pool of reverse mortgages (“HECM IO bonds.”). Live Well purchased the HECM IO bond portfolio for approximately $50 million. At the same time that Live Well purchased the HECM IO bond portfolio, HILD established within Live Well a New York City-based trading desk to manage and grow Live Well’s bond portfolio.
Live Well financed the acquisition and growth of its bond portfolio through a series of loans in which Live Well used its bond portfolio as collateral. The majority of Live Well’s lenders were securities dealers whose lending arrangements with Live Well were structured as bond repurchase agreements, also known as “repo agreements.” A repo agreement is a short-term loan in which both parties agree to the sale and future repurchase of an asset within a specified contract period. The seller sells the asset to the lender with a promise to buy it back at a specific date and at a price that includes an interest payment. Functionally, a repo agreement is a collateralized loan in which title of the collateral is transferred to the lender. When the loan is repaid by the borrower, the collateral is returned to the borrower through a repurchase. Additionally, at least one of Live Well’s lenders was an FDIC-insured bank, and its lending arrangement with Live Well was structured as a secured loan, with certain bonds held as collateral by a third-party custodian.
The Scheme to Mismark the Bond Portfolio
Live Well’s financing agreements with all but one of the lenders required that any bond that Live Well sought to borrow against be priced by a third-party pricing source in order to determine the market value of the bond as of the measurement date. The lenders then used the value of the bond, coupled with the application of a haircut of generally 10% to 20%, to determine the amount of money to lend Live Well.
The lenders generally relied on a particular widely utilized subscription service (the “Pricing Service”) to price various securities. In or about September 2014, HILD and his co-conspirators embarked on a scheme to cause the Pricing Service to publish valuations for the bonds that far exceeded actual market prices. By doing so, the conspirators induced the lenders to extend credit to Live Well far in excess of the prices for which the bonds could be sold in the market. The inflated prices were based on a set of market assumptions that the conspirators called “Scenario 14.”
HILD was aware that if the lenders had known that the Pricing Service was publishing bond prices that did not reflect fair value, meaning the price at which a lender could sell the bond in the market if necessary to recoup its capital, they would have refused to use those prices in determining how much money to loan to Live Well. To prevent the Pricing Service and the lenders from learning that the prices did not reflect market value, HILD directed his co-conspirators at Live Well to take steps to conceal their provision of inflated marks to the Pricing Service. Ultimately, due to the asset overvaluation and the purchase of additional bonds using the capital generated by the scheme, Live Well grew the purported value of its bond portfolio to over $500 million by December 2016.
In addition to using the liquidity generated by the scheme to expand Live Well’s bond portfolio, in or about September 2016, HILD used $18 million generated from the repo lenders to buy out the preferred stockholders in Live Well. The elimination of the preferred stockholders gave HILD control of the company and allowed him to substantially increase his personal compensation. Accordingly, HILD’s compensation jumped from approximately $1.4 million in 2015, to approximately $5 million in 2016, approximately $9.7 million in 2017, and over $8 million in 2018.
In or about late 2018, the chief financial officer of Live Well resigned after HILD refused to reduce the compensation he was receiving from the company. In or about May 2019, the company’s interim chief financial officer informed HILD that he would not sign the company’s interim financial statements because he believed that the company’s carrying value for the HECM IO bond portfolio was significantly overstated. In or about May 2019, Live Well announced that it would cease operations and unwind. After the announcement of Live Well’s closing, Live Well’s interim chief financial officer provided a balance sheet to Live Well’s lenders showing that Live Well had reduced the value of its bond portfolio by over $200 million.
HILD, 46, of Richmond, Virginia, was convicted of five counts: one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud; one count of conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud; one count of securities fraud; one count of wire fraud; and one count of bank fraud. Count One carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, Counts Two, Four, and Five each carry a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, and Count Three carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The charges also contain a maximum fine of $5 million, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense.
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 a judge.
HILD is scheduled to be sentenced at 10:00 a.m. on August 20, 2021, by U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams, who presided over the trial.
Ms. Strauss praised the investigative work of the FBI and also thanked the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Anti-Choice Protesters Prohibited from Breaching Designated Buffer Zone Around Clinic, Must Pay $5,000 for Any Future Violations
New York Attorney General Letitia James has secured an agreement to end the harassing and obstructive behavior of two anti-choice protesters at a Planned Parenthood location in New York City. The agreement negotiated by Attorney General James stipulates that the protesters, Bevelyn Beatty and Edmee Chavannes, will not enter the designated “buffer zone” established around the main entrances to Planned Parenthood of Greater New York’s (PPGNY) Manhattan Health Center. This resolves a February 2021 lawsuit filed by Attorney General James against Beatty and Chavannes over repeated violations of federal, state, and local clinic access laws through obstructive and violent actions against the patients, escorts, and health center staff at PPGNY.
“Women have the clear and absolute right to make decisions about their own bodies, and they have the right to make those decisions without fear of violent and illegal tactics used against them,” said Attorney General James. “As a result of this agreement, these individuals will no longer be able to harass, threaten, and block women from entering Planned Parenthood. I will continue to use every tool in my legal arsenal to ensure women’s reproductive health care is not stifled or infringed upon in any way.”
On numerous occasions throughout 2020, Beatty and Chavannes attempted to impede access to reproductive health care services by subjecting incoming patients and escorts to a barrage of unwanted physical contact, verbal abuse, and threats of harm. During the first peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, these individuals weaponized the threat of the virus to further intimidate and interfere with the local Planned Parenthood’s operations. Beatty and Chavannes purposely put patients, staff, and escorts at risk by refusing to comply with local and state distance and mask mandates related to COVID-19, and continued to accost people entering the health center at close range, while mocking staff and escorts’ mask usage and desire to avoid close contact with them. Ultimately, these individuals forced patients and staff to choose between obtaining and providing reproductive health care, or protecting themselves from exposure to the virus.
At the height of their campaign of violence and intimidation, Beatty and Chavannes called for other anti-abortion activists to, in their words, “terrorize” staff and patients at PPGNY's Manhattan Health Center, and they physically and verbally assaulted multiple volunteers and members of health center staff. Beatty was captured on video slamming a health center staff member’s hand in a door, causing her to need x-rays; repeatedly shoving a volunteer patient escort attempting to enter the facility; slapping a different volunteer in the face; and threatening to knock an escort unconscious. Chavannes screamed threats in a staff member’s face while maskless, and both individuals physically blocked the main and side entrances of the health center to prevent patients and staff from entering.
The agreement announced today prohibits Beatty and Chavannes from entering an 18 foot by 30 foot area around PPGNY’s Manhattan Health Center’s premises. Any future violations of the agreement will result in a $5,000 fine per violation, as well as all attorneys' fees and related costs incurred by the Office of the Attorney General in relation to the enforcement of the injunction, and the possibility of civil and criminal contempt.
In separate but similar cases involving “buffer zones” outside abortion clinics, Attorney General James successfully argued, in January 2020, that women in Rochester seeking to have an abortion should be able to do so without being harassed, threatened, or blocked before entering a clinic when a district court judge dismissed a lawsuit by anti-abortion activists seeking to bypass a 15-foot “buffer zone” outside a local Planned Parenthood facility. Additionally, Attorney General James is litigating the appeal in People ex rel. James v. Griepp to ensure that women who enter the Choices Women’s Medical Center in Jamaica, Queens are not harassed, obstructed, or threatened by protesters.
93,940 Doses Administered in the Last 24 Hours
More than 1.2 Million Doses Administered Over Past Seven Days
Vaccine Dashboard Updated Daily on the State's Vaccine Program Here
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today updated New Yorkers on the state's vaccination program. 93,940 doses have been administered across the state's vast distribution network in the last 24 hours, and more than 1.2 million doses have been administered over the past seven days. The week 20 allocation of 1,419,795 first and second doses is expected to finish arriving today.
"Our progress in beating back this virus has allowed us to slowly reopen our state and, if more people get vaccinated and the overall metrics continue to move in the right direction, we are optimistic that we can stay on this trajectory." Governor Cuomo said. "We cannot afford to get cocky, nor can we get lax in our vaccination efforts. Even as the spring season is in full swing and more people want to get outside and enjoy the warm weather, the footrace between the infection rate and the vaccination rate is still on. I remind all New Yorkers who still need to get the vaccine that it's the only way to show support for our health providers who work tirelessly to get shot into people's arms - and for everyone in their community who is vulnerable to this virus."
All New York State mass vaccination sites are now open to eligible New Yorkers for walk-in vaccination on a first come first serve basis. The walk-in appointments are reserved for first doses only with second doses to be scheduled automatically after administration of the initial shot. In addition, all vaccine providers are encouraged to allow walk-in appointments for eligible New Yorkers. People who would prefer to schedule an appointment at a state-run mass vaccination site can do so on the Am I Eligible App or by calling 1-833-NYS-4-VAX. People may also contact their local health department, pharmacy, doctor or hospital to schedule appointments where vaccines are available, or visit vaccinefinder.org to find information on vaccine appointments near them.
STATEWIDE BREAKDOWN
Total doses administered - 15,643,329
Total doses administered over past 24 hours - 93,940
Total doses administered over past 7 days - 1,208,303
Percent of New Yorkers with at least one vaccine dose - 46.5%
Percent of New Yorkers with completed vaccine series - 34.9%
Standing with Danny Barber the citywide representative for NYCHA residents Monique Johnson declared her candidacy for the 13th City Council seat outside the Sue Ginsberg Senior Center at the Pelham Parkway Houses.
Candidate Johnson spoke of the problems of NYCHA, and resident of the 13th council district of which she is the TL of the Throggs Neck Houses. She pledged to fix problems at NYCHA Houses if elected.
Yesterday I wished Happy Birthday to the Empire State Building. It was once the tallest building in New York City at 102 floors. Construction of the Empire State Building began on March 17, 1930. Construction was completed in a record-breaking 1 year and 45 days. We can't build a school or fix up a park in that time frame today. The next mayor will have to take care of the city after I push the plunger to drop the New Year's Ball just before midnight December 31,2021 to welcome in 2022, which will be a much better year since I will no longer be mayor.
