Assemblyman Nathalia Fernandez Gives Children's Aid NYC $100,000.00 Check

 

Assemblywoman Nathalia Fernandez provided the Children's Aid NYC a check for One-Hundred Thousand Dollars for the Expansion of its Bronx Impact Work in the 80th Assembly District, and throughout the Bronx.

Bronx Impact is based in Community Boards 3, Through South Bronx Rising, a collaborative between Children's Aid and Phipps Neighborhoods.  Community Board 6, through  Phipps Neighborhoods. Community Board 9, through Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice's   

My Bronx Impact is a key strategy of Bronx Impact, a poverty reduction initiative coordinated by Children’s Aid in collaboration with Bronx Borough President Rubén Díaz Jr. We are pleased to also partner with the Center for Bronx Nonprofits on this online resource.

Disclaimer: Children’s Aid provides this database to assist in accessing community resources. Children’s Aid does not necessarily endorse or recommend any third party. Children’s Aid does not assume liability for the services third parties provide or for the accuracy or completeness of any content, as they are provided and maintained independently.

Children's Aid is the former Children's Aid Society whose motto is 'Ensuring that every child has the opportunity to learn, grow, and lead. 

Senior Nasa Scientist Sentenced To Prison For Making False Statements Related To Chinese Thousand Talents Program Participation And Professorship

 

 Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York (“USAO”), announced that MEYYA MEYYAPPAN, a senior National Aeronautics and Space Administration (“NASA”) scientist, was sentenced today to 30 days in prison for making false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), NASA’s Office of Inspector General (“NASA OIG”), and the USAO. MEYYAPPAN pled guilty on January 13, 2021, before U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel, who also imposed today’s sentence.

U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said:  “As a senior NASA scientist with access to sensitive and confidential U.S. government technologies and intellectual property, Meyya Meyyappan was understandably subject to restrictions regarding outside employment and compensation.  When questioned by the FBI and NASA, Meyyappan gave false statements regarding his employment by a Chinese government-funded program that recruited individuals with access to foreign technologies and intellectual property. The privilege of access to cutting edge U.S. technologies and intellectual property comes with the critical responsibility of protecting their secrecy. Meyyappan betrayed that trust, by failing to disclose his foreign activities and then compounding his mistakes by lying to the FBI and NASA.  He has now been sentenced to time in federal prison for his unlawful conduct.”

According to the allegations in the Information and other proceedings in this case:

From in or about 1996 through in or about 2021, MEYYAPPAN was employed by NASA, an independent U.S. government agency responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research.  Beginning in or about 2006, MEYYAPPAN was the Chief Scientist, Exploration Technology at the Center for Nanotechnology, at NASA’s Ames Research Center at Moffett Field in Silicon Valley, California.

In his position at NASA, MEYYAPPAN was subject to certain statutory, regulatory, and agency restrictions and reporting requirements regarding, among other things, outside employment, travel, and compensation.  Notwithstanding these prohibitions, MEYYAPPAN participated in China’s Thousand Talents Program, a program established by the Chinese government to recruit individuals with access to or knowledge of foreign technology or intellectual property, and held professorships at universities in China, South Korea, and Japan, and failed to disclose these associations and positions to NASA and the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. 

On or about October 27, 2020, MEYYAPPAN was interviewed by the FBI, NASA OIG, and the USAO, in New York, New York.  During that proffer session, MEYYAPPAN falsely stated, among other things, that he was not a member of the Thousand Talents Program and that he did not hold a professorship at a Chinese university.  In truth and in fact, MEYYAPPAN was a member of the Thousand Talents Program and held a professorship at a Chinese university, funded by the Chinese government.

MEYYAPPAN, 66, of Pacifica, California was also ordered to pay a fine of $ 100,000.

Ms. Strauss praised the outstanding work of the FBI and NASA OIG. 

NYS Office of the Comptroller DiNapoli: Statewide Local Sales Tax Collections Surge Nearly 58 Percent in May

 

Major Boost for Local Governments Reliant on Sales Taxes

 Local sales tax collections in May increased by 57.8 percent over the same month in 2020, the highest one month increase in recent history, State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced today. Collections totaled $1.4 billion, up $530 million from May of last year.

“For the second straight month, local sales tax collections had a tremendous boost. Strong collections in May show the economy continues to improve as spending rebounds from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the standstill it created in New York state in March 2020,” DiNapoli said. “Combined with direct federal assistance and restored state aid, the recovery of sales taxes will help New York’s local governments rebound from the effects of last year’s revenue shortfalls.”

The extraordinary growth in monthly local sales taxes reflects the fact that collections in May 2020 were especially low during the worst part of the first wave of the pandemic, when they declined by 32.3 percent. Nevertheless, collections last month were relatively strong even compared to pre-pandemic numbers, rising 6.9 percent, or $93 million, over May 2019.

New York City’s collections totaled $636 million, an increase of 51.4 percent, or $216 million. Every county outside of New York City also saw year-over-year collections for May grow by double digits, ranging from 17.6 percent in Franklin County to 88.2 percent in Allegany County.

In the last month of each calendar quarter, the state Department of Taxation and Finance reconciles quarterly distributions against what had been reported by sales tax vendors for the reporting quarter and adjusts payments to local jurisdications in those months upward or downward accordingly. In all other months, including May, the payments are based on estimates. The next reconciliation will be reported in mid-July and will provide more information on the regional picture of sales tax collections during the second quarter (April-June) of 2021.

Table

Monthly Local Sales Tax Collections by Region (for detailed monthly breakdown)

Former Construction Executive Sentenced To 46 Months In Prison For Tax Evasion And Bribery Scheme

 

 Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that RONALD OLSON, a former vice president and deputy operation manager at Turner Construction Company (“Turner”), was sentenced today in Manhattan federal court to 46 months in prison for evading taxes on more than $1.5 million in bribes he received from building sub-contractors, in connection with a number of building projects undertaken for Bloomberg LP (“Bloomberg”).  OLSON previously pled guilty before U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel, who imposed sentenced today. 

In related proceedings, co-conspirator Anthony Guzzone, a former director of global construction at Bloomberg, was sentenced on January 19, 2021, by the Honorable Lewis J. Liman to 38 months in prison, for evading taxes on more than $1.45 million in the same scheme; Michael Campana, a subordinate construction manager at Bloomberg, was sentenced on July 24, 2020, by the Honorable Denise L. Cote to 24 months in prison, for evading taxes on more than $420,000.  In addition, Vito Nigro, a construction manager at Turner, has pled guilty to evading taxes on more than $1.8 million in bribes that he received in the same scheme, and is scheduled to be sentenced on July 1, 2021, before U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres.[1]

U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said:  “Bribery and tax evasion impose hidden, unfair costs on law-abiding customers, employers, and taxpayers.  The type of criminality uncovered in this case undermines a just society.  Appropriately, Ronald Olson has been sentenced to prison for his crime.”

According to the four criminal Informations filed in these federal cases, as well as other public documents and recent court proceedings:

Between 2011 and 2017, OLSON was vice president and deputy operations manager at Turner, a construction firm that performed various building projects in New York City and elsewhere for Bloomberg, a global financial firm.  Throughout those years, Guzzone oversaw such building projects at Bloomberg, while Nigro worked at Turner as a subordinate to OLSON.  Beginning in 2013, Campana was also a construction manager at Bloomberg, and a subordinate to Guzzone.  Each of the defendants participated in a scheme to obtain bribes from construction sub-contractors, who paid kickbacks to the defendants in exchange for being awarded various construction contracts and sub-contracts performed for Bloomberg.

In all, the defendants have pled guilty to failing to pay taxes, between 2010 and 2017, on bribes exceeding $5.1 million.  The defendants received such bribes in various forms, including millions of dollars in cash, as well as construction projects on their individual homes and properties, and the direct payment of personal expenses.  For OLSON, such personal expenses included hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of repeated renovations and improvement projects at OLSON’s home on Long Island and his beach house on Long Beach Island, New Jersey, which were fraudulently documented through a series of false invoices.  Projects included home improvements, the cutting and installation of marble, gardening, and the repaving of OLSON’s driveway.  OLSON also used a sham lease for his beach house, through which he falsely characterized $20,000 per month in bribe payments as rent.  Other payments included Guzzone’s receipts of several sets of Super Bowl tickets, worth approximately $8,000 per ticket; and Campana’s receipt of charges related to his 2017 wedding, such as approximately $40,000 paid by sub-contractors to a catering hall in New Jersey, over $13,000 to a photography studio, and over $23,000 to a travel agent for airline tickets purchased in connection with Campana’s honeymoon.  Each of the defendants evaded federal income tax on this bribery income, by failing to declare it on income tax returns for various years between 2010 and 2017.

OLSON, 54, of Massapequa, New York, pled guilty on July 29, 2020, to a single count of tax evasion for the tax years 2011 through 2017.   In addition to the prison term, OLSON was sentenced today to three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution of $661,519.57 in unpaid taxes and interest. 

Guzzone, 52, of Middletown, New Jersey, pled guilty on September 29, 2020, to a single count of tax evasion for the tax years 2010 through 2017.  He was sentenced on January 19, 2021, to 38 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and restitution of $574,005.33 in unpaid taxes and interest.

Campana, 35, of Tuckahoe, New York, pled guilty to a tax evasion charge on November 26, 2019, for the tax years 2014 thought 2017, and was sentenced on July 24, 2020, to 24 months in prison, three years of supervised release, restitution of $155,000 in unpaid taxes, and a fine of $10,000. 

Nigro, 60, of Middletown, New Jersey, pled guilty on October 28, 2020, to a single count of tax evasion for the tax years 2011 through 2017.  He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 1, 2021.  The charges against Nigro carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, and an order of restitution. 

Ms. Strauss praised the excellent work of the Internal Revenue Service.

[1]  In addition, all four defendants have pled guilty in New York State Supreme Court, Indictment No. 04038-2018, to participating in the underlying bribery scheme, and are awaiting sentencing.