Patient Recruiter and Physician Plead Guilty in Bribery and Kickback Scheme in Connection with Transvaginal Mesh Litigation

 

Defendants Corrupted the Physician-Patient Relationship through Bribes and Kickbacks for Patient Referrals

 In federal court in Brooklyn, Christopher Walker, a licensed urogynecologist, pleaded guilty to participating in a scheme involving the payment of bribes and kickbacks to obtain referrals of female patients across the United States for surgeries to remove transvaginal mesh (TVM) implants.  Wesley Blake Barber, an owner of Surgical Assistance Inc., pleaded guilty on September 14, 2021 to participating in the same scheme.  Both proceedings took place before United States District Judge Raymond J. Dearie. 

Jacquelyn M. Kasulis, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, and Michael J. Driscoll, Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI) announced the guilty pleas.

“With these guilty pleas, both defendants have admitted to participating in a reprehensible bribery and kickback scheme to exploit women across the country in connection with costly transvaginal mesh removal surgeries,” stated Acting United States Attorney Kasulis.  “This Office, the Department of Justice and the FBI are committed to investigating and prosecuting medical professionals and others who take advantage of vulnerable victims for their own illegal gain and personal profit.”

According to court filings and facts presented at the plea proceeding, Barber and Walker sought to profit in connection with lawsuits filed throughout the United States relating to alleged harm that TVM implants had caused female patients.  The scheme sought to take advantage of the fact that female patients who had their TVM implants surgically removed were entitled to receive larger settlements than female patients whose inserts remained implanted.  As part of the scheme, Walker and others paid kickbacks and bribes to Barber in exchange for the referral of female patients for these surgeries, including patients who traveled across the United States to undergo the surgeries.

When sentenced, Walker faces up to 10 years in prison and has agreed to forfeit approximately $800,000.  Barber faces up to 5 years in prison and has agreed to forfeit approximately $1.1 million.  

Councilman Mark Gjonaj's NYC Moving Forward Week in Review - 9/17/2021

 

Dear Friends,

As Fall just is just around the corner, schools are finally in and the City is fighting to return to normalcy, I hope you and your families are doing well.

September 15th kicked off the National Hispanic Heritage Month, a month long celebration to recognize and appreciate the contributions and influences of Hispanic Americans in all walks of life as well as a celebration of history, culture, and heritage.

As Chair of the Committee on Small Business this week I convened a hearing to receive administrative, private sector and community input on a set of important bills designed to provide our small businesses with relief. Stakeholders offered insight about the opportunities and challenges ahead for small businesses and what we can do to make recovery easier including my very own Intro 2000-2020, which would ensure that the borough-to-borough distribution of emergency business aid is equitable.

Our office has continued to help residents in our District who have been dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Ida. If you still need help, please check theses links: The NYC Page, the FEMA page and the Comptroller Page.

This week I was humbled to co-sponsor an NYPD Appreciation Dinner Cruise with the NYPD 45th and 49th Community Councils and the Westchester Square BID. I want to extend thanks to all the officers who joined as well as the NYPD Explorers, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.

As every year the City Island Clam Chowder Festival was a hit. I was glad to a be a Judge and co-host the Festival with the City Island Chamber of Commerce. Here were my top picks from this weekend: Best New England Chowder-Johnny’s Reef and Best Red Manhattan Chowder-Sammy’s Fish Box.

Please remember we are here for you, contact my office with issues or concerns at 718-931-1721 or email at MGjonaj@council.nyc.gov.

Sincerely,

NYC Councilman Mark Gjonaj

District 13, Bronx

FIRST TAXI MEDALLION OWNERS RECEIVE $700,00 IN DEBT RELIEF, AS $500 MILLION IN TOTAL RELIEF EXPECTED FOR MORE DRIVERS

 

 Mayor Bill de Blasio today announced New York City’s $65 million Medallion Relief Program (MRP), which could result in $500 million of debt forgiveness for thousands of drivers, has delivered nearly $700,000 in relief for the first three owners to fully restructure their loans. The Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) is poised to close deals with 13 more owners by the end of September, which would result in as much as $2.6 million in relief. Nearly 800 medallion owners are in stages of renegotiations, a significant portion of which will be completed by the end of 2021.

“Medallion owners have worked tirelessly to keep New York City moving, and they deserve economic justice to make manageable payments and retire with dignity,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “This program is an innovative, powerful tool to connect debt forgiveness to New Yorkers who need it, and I’m excited to celebrate even more successes in the weeks and months to come.”

 

“Today, the Medallion Relief Program is delivering real debt forgiveness to economically distressed medallion owners,” said TLC Commissioner and Chair Aloysee Heredia Jarmoszuk. “Taxis provide essential transportation for both New Yorkers and the tens of millions of people who visit each year. The money provided by the MRP is critical to help medallion owners achieve significant debt reduction and to ensure a thriving taxi industry.”

 

“The Medallion Relief Program is a vital lifeline for the many taxi medallion owners who have been struggling to make ends meet because of their medallion loans and whose financial burden has only been exacerbated by the pandemic,” said Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) Commissioner Peter A. Hatch. “The Program, coupled with free, confidential, one-on-one financial counseling and legal services at the TLC Owner/Driver Resource Center, will be essential to helping drivers manage and reduce their debt.”

 

“Yellow medallion owners have served as a vital mode of transportation to the people of New York for decades and a lifeline for their families. In this moment, we recognize the risk to their livelihood and are encouraged by the expansion of Medallion Relief Program to assist them. NYLAG is privileged to represent these hard-working individuals and to work with them to become financially stable in this ever-changing environment. We truly hope we can continue to assist medallion owners to restructure or settle their medallion debt and encourage them to continue to seek out resources,” said Rose Marie Cantanno, Associate Director of the Consumer Protection Unit, New York, NYLAG.

 

About the Medallion Relief Program

 

The City of New York will provide $65 million in grants to economically distressed individual medallion owners. This includes $20,000 as a down payment to restructure loan principals and set lower monthly payments, as well as up to $9,000 for monthly debt relief payments.

 

Many medallion owners will have over $200,000 in debt forgiven, and loan payments reduced to about $1,500 or less per month. Some owners will achieve total debt erasure through settlements.

 

TLC's Owner-Driver Resource Center, which offers a range of free financial counseling and legal assistance for TLC Licensees, as well as connecting them with government benefits and health and wellness resources, has already served over 1,000 licensees. TLC Licensees in need of these services can call 311 or visit nyc.gov/taxi to make an appointment.

Espaillat Citizenship Day Statement: There shouldn’t be a price on the American Dream

 

Barriers to citizenship are un-American

"Each year, tens of thousands of people from around the world become American citizens. It’s a moment of great pride, the realization that the American dream is firmly within your grasp – and as a formerly undocumented immigrant myself, I know this feeling all too well.

 

It doesn’t matter if you became a United States citizen yesterday, or if your family have been United States citizens for centuries. This idea – that anyone can become an American – is at the heart of what makes our nation unique. As a nation we’re bound together not by race or creed, but by a shared principle – equality, freedom, and opportunity for all.

 

And any monetary barrier to achieve that dream is fundamentally un-American – full stop.

 

America is made stronger by those who willingly and freely chose to join it, often overcoming great obstacles of physical and cultural distance to become an American. With each swearing-in of a new citizen, the spirit of our nation grows, and our communities grow stronger and more resilient – and blocking opportunities for citizenship defies this very ideal and erodes at the nexus of our nation’s values.

 

Currently, the cost of applying for citizenship remains one of the biggest obstacles for immigrants seeking naturalization. Today, the Department of Homeland Security charges $725 to apply for naturalization – a nearly impossible-to-reach figure that for many immigrants amounts to weeks of wages. To put this in perspective, an employee earning the federal minimum wage would have to work for over two months to pay for a naturalization application for a family of four. This amount is so high that it literally prices hardworking immigrants out of their chance at the American dream – and it’s unacceptable.

 

Looking back to 1999, an application for citizenship cost $225 – a near-third of what it costs today. This fee increase has led to a sharp drop in applications for naturalization since, which only hurts us as a nation of immigrants. Without a doubt, the price on the American dream creates a blockade for nearly 9 million adults who are eligible for citizenship. This means there are 9 million individuals who contribute to our economy, livelihood, and community- yet remain in the shadows of our democracy.

 

It’s simple: you shouldn’t have to afford your chance at the American dream.

 

This barrier to citizenship is all the crueler amid a global pandemic – and as we’re working to create a real pathway to citizenship for our nations over 11.5 million undocumented immigrants, the moment is now for us to rebuild our country’s broken immigration system from the bottom up.

 

It is a tragic irony that even as immigrant essential workers have held the line in the fight against COVID-19, all while our immigration system is systemically making it more difficult for these immigrants to become Americans and find success in their communities – and we should be ashamed.

 

For the 13.6 million legal permanent residents living in the United States and the additional 11.5 million undocumented immigrants already on our soil, fixing our immigration system can't wait. Each day that we fail to act is another day that an immigrant father or mother – American in all but law – lives in fear of being separated from his or her American-born children.

 

Our nation cannot put a price on our values. The idea that anybody in the world can become an American is central to who we are – and it’s past time we lower application fees for immigrants applying for U.S. citizenship. It is simply un-American to extort ludicrous fees from those who wish to claim freedom as their own."

State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli's - Over One Million New York Households Still Not Connected to Broadband

 

State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced the release of the Broadband Report in the city of Hudson, NY, with Michael Hofmann, aide to the Mayor of Hudson, Congressman Antonio Delgado, State Senator Daphne Jordan and Assemblywoman Didi Barrett.

The State has made progress in making high-speed connections available to New Yorkers, but more than one million households do not have access or a subscription to home broadband services, according to a report released by State Comptroller DiNapoli.

Reliable, high-speed internet is a necessity to effectively work, communicate and learn in our society. This was made crystal clear during the COVID-19 pandemic when millions of New Yorkers turned their homes into schools and workplaces. There is still a digital divide in rural parts of the state and for low-income New Yorkers who don’t have access or are unable to afford a home subscription. One in three New York households earning less than $20,000 don’t have a home subscription.

---

Governor Hochul Announces State Actions to Address School Bus Driver Shortage

State Launching Outreach to More Than 550,000 Commercial Driver's License Holders in New York State

Governor Directs State Agencies to Utilize Creative Approaches to Support Schools

Recruitment of Drivers and Expand Commercial Driver's License Testing Sites 

 Governor Kathy Hochul today announced a multi-agency plan to address the school bus driver shortage affecting schools across the state. The plan includes short-term steps to remove barriers and recruit traditional and non-traditional Commercial Driver's License holders, expand CDL testing opportunities, and enhance processes all designed to get more drivers into school buses. Additionally, New York State is launching outreach to more than 550,000 CDL license holders in New York State.

The longer term steps include changes to address the training and licensing of drivers, as well as broader recruitment into the bus driver profession. 

"Our schools and public health officials have moved mountains to ensure our children receive an in-person education this year, and we are leaving no stone unturned to make sure schools have adequate bus service to bring students to school and back," Governor Hochul said. "While the shortage of school bus drivers is not unique to New York State, I have directed state agencies to utilize creative approaches and use every tool at their disposal to help districts affected by the bus driver shortage, so we can bring in as many qualified bus drivers as possible as quickly as possible." 

Governor Hochul directed state agencies to utilize a multi-organizational recruitment effort to persuade CDL drivers to become school bus drivers. Interested drivers will be surveyed and their information then shared with local school districts who are seeking drivers. The schools can work through these lists to recruit interested drivers in their area. In addition, the state will target currently unemployed drivers through the Department of Labor. The state will also work with partners in law enforcement, firefighters, military and other organizations that have trained drivers in order to find more individuals interested in becoming school bus drivers. 

Those who are interested in obtaining a Commercial Driver's License can find information here.

Additionally, DMV is enhancing and expediting the process for CDL completion by removing the 14-day waiting period between the permit test and the road tests. Through enhanced cooperation with county-run DMVs the state will also help to increase capacity to administer written exams and road tests. 

The State is opening up new CDL Driver Testing sites by partnering with SUNY, the Thruway Authority, New York Racing Association, and the Office of General Services to use large lots on their various sites for the road test. For school staff who currently hold a CDL, the State will set up expedited testing to obtain a permit to drive vans and buses temporarily.

The State is continuing conversations with stakeholders to identify longer term strategies that will help to recruit and retain school bus drivers. This includes looking at alternative licensing entities and expanded partnerships with other state agencies to help train and recruit drivers. 

The State encourages schools to pursue creative and innovative ways to offer a wide array of benefits for school bus drivers that were previously not considered. This includes signing and retention bonuses, expansion of benefits to the drivers, and other options to recruit drivers in a nationally competitive market. Schools can use federal funds to provide these benefits. Many school districts receive a significant percentage of these funds in reimbursement from the state and are in a position to offer more competitive pay without absorbing the full cost at the local level. 

107 Days and Counting

 

I am still the mayor for the rest of the year, I don't want to be questioned about my policies. After all I've gotten no help from Albany under King Cuomo, and now it looks like Queen Hochul is doing her best to keep me out of the loop also. She is making policy, and I am waiting for her to make Remote Learning a must, since we are closing classrooms due to COVID all over the city.

We have only closed one school in Manhattan, and you can check our website here, https://www.schools.nyc.gov/school-life/health-and-wellness/covid-information/daily-covid-case-map to see if your childs school has any closed classrooms. We are taking every precaution to keep our public school children safe. It is the unions who are fighting my vaccination order, beating me in court. Their members are the ones catching the virus, and they are going to force me to shut down the public schools.

Three Employees of a Long Island Information Technology Company Plead Guilty to Criminal Copyright Infringement

 

Constructure Technologies, LLC Also Enters into Deferred Prosecution Agreement to Resolve Charge Related to Illegal Installation of Software between 2011 and 2018

 Michael Calabria, Joseph Keegan and Casey Silver pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Central Islip to criminal copyright infringement.  Calabria and Keegan were principals of Constructure Technologies, LLC (“Constructure”), located in Melville, New York, and Silver was a Constructure employee.  The charge relates to the defendants’ installing unlicensed versions of software by using “cracking” programs or “key generators,” which allowed Constructure employees to activate copies of the software without paying for a license and obtaining a key.  In addition to the guilty pleas, Constructure itself is charged with a felony violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) and agreed to pay a $60,000 fine.  The fine is part of a deferred prosecution agreement that Constructure has entered into with the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. The relevant portion of the DMCA prohibits the criminal circumvention of copyright protection systems, including encryption systems. 

Jacquelyn M. Kasulis, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Michael J. Driscoll, Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), announced the guilty pleas and deferred prosecution agreement.

“With the guilty pleas and deferred prosecution agreement, Constructure and the individual defendants admit to committing a high-tech theft by installing unlicensed software they didn’t pay for, and cheating software companies of license fees they were owed,” stated Acting U.S. Attorney Kasulis.  “Protecting intellectual property rights is an important priority of this Office, and we will continue to investigate and prosecute those who ignore those rights for their own profit.”  Ms. Kasulis also thanked the Suffolk County Police Department and VMWare for their valuable assistance with the case.

“We install software on our computers to protect us from hackers and criminals. Software companies are constantly updating and fixing programs with patches to stay one step ahead of the bad actors who work non-stop to exploit vulnerabilities.  The three employees who are pleading guilty in this investigation only saw the profit they could make if they gamed the system.  Users paying for security software should be able to rely on the legitimacy of it,” stated FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Driscoll.

The Scheme to Circumvent Copyright Protection Systems

According to court filings, Constructure provided information technology services, helping install, manage and service various networks and other technology products for small and medium sized businesses.  Calabria was Constructure’s President, Keegan was the Chief Technology Officer, and Silver was a Project Manager.

Between 2011 and 2018, Constructure sold, installed and provided services for computer programs that were copyrighted and then sold by software companies (“Victim Software Companies”), including VMWare, a global cloud computing software company.  Some of those computer programs were designed so that they could not be activated until a user paid the company for a “license” to use that software.  In purchasing a license, the user received a “key”—a string of letters, numbers and symbols—that, when entered into the copy of software obtained by the user, activated the software.  Constructure’s clients generally paid Constructure to purchase licenses for such computer programs and to activate those programs with a legitimate license key.

Starting in or about 2011, Calabria, Keegan, and Silver helped to operate Constructure’s business in part by installing unlicensed versions of software from Victim Software Companies by using cracking programs or key generators, which allowed Constructure to activate copies of the software without paying for a license and obtaining a key.  Constructure employees, often at the express direction of Calabria or Keegan, used cracking programs or key generators to install software from multiple Victim Software Companies. 

Constructure employees, including Keegan, obtained license keys and cracking programs from the Internet.  They also tested those programs on a computer server located in the basement of Constructure’s office in Melville and on a file-sharing site controlled by Constructure, so that the programs could be used remotely by Constructure employees. 

By installing working, but unlicensed, versions of software, Constructure was able to bill a customer for the software, under the pretense that Constructure purchased a copy on behalf of the customer, while not actually paying for it.  Constructure employees did not inform Constructure’s clients or the Victim Software Companies that Constructure employees used “cracks” to install those programs. 

From approximately 2011 to approximately 2018, Constructure employees installed cracked software programs for multiple clients, including clients located in Hicksville, New York; Mineola, New York; Manhattan, New York; and Bridgewater, New Jersey.

When sentenced, each defendant faces up to one year in prison and a fine. 

The Deferred Prosecution Agreement and Criminal Information as to Constructure

Under the terms of the deferred prosecution agreement, Constructure will pay a criminal penalty of $60,000 and maintain a compliance and ethics program designed to prevent and detect violations of the DMCA and other applicable laws.  If the company breaches the agreement, it will be subject to prosecution for the charge in the criminal information that was filed today, charging Constructure with a criminal violation of the DMCA