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Thursday, April 21, 2022
Office of the New York State Comptroller - Inflation in the New York City Metropolitan Area
MAYOR ADAMS’ STATEMENT ON REFORMING RIKERS ISLAND
New York City Mayor Eric Adams today released the following statement on reforming Rikers Island:
“This administration took control of Rikers Island amidst historic challenges, including deliberate disinvestment in the jail complex, an ongoing COVID-19 crisis, and huge staffing challenges. Since Commissioner Molina assumed office, in conjunction with the federal monitor, we’ve seen reductions in use of force and assaults on staff, increased searches for weapons and contraband, and sick leave that has dropped to levels not seen since before last summer’s horrendous shortages.
“On the first day of my administration, I appointed Commissioner Molina to lead this work, and he is laying the groundwork for long-term change. As a corrections professional with a proven track record who worked successfully with a monitor and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District to reform the Westchester County Jail, I know he is the right person to take on this extraordinarily difficult work. Fixing Rikers is critically important, a moral imperative, and we need to get it right. But to do that, we need the opportunity to implement our plan. These are generational challenges, deeply ingrained, and no administration can solve them in less than four months. We look forward to continuing our close collaboration with the federal monitor and all other stakeholders.”
Long Island Medical Doctor Charged as Part of COVID-19 Health Care Fraud Enforcement Action
An indictment was returned yesterday in Central Islip charging Dr. Perry Frankel with three counts of health care fraud for an alleged scheme to defraud Medicare and Medicaid of over $1.3 million in claims that were billed during the COVID-19 health emergency in connection with COVID-19 testing. Frankel, a cardiologist and the owner and operator of Advanced Cardiovascular Diagnostics PLLC, allegedly caused the submission of claims to Medicare and Medicaid for office visits that were not performed for patients who received COVID-19 tests at Advanced Cardiovascular Diagnostics PLLC’s mobile testing sites across Long Island, including on dates when Frankel was not present in the state of New York. Frankel was arrested this morning and will be arraigned this afternoon before United States District Judge Joanna Seybert.
Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; and Scott J. Lampert, Special Agent-in-Charge, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General’s Office of Investigations (HHS-OIG), announced the charges.
“As alleged, exploiting a public health crisis by using patients who received COVID-19 tests at mobile testing sites to fraudulently bill Medicare and Medicaid for fictitious office visits is reprehensible,” stated United States Attorney Peace. “This Office and our law enforcement partners will vigorously prosecute those who take advantage of the pandemic to steal from taxpayer-funded programs."
“As alleged, Frankel took advantage of the COVID-19 health crisis to engage in a fraud scheme that undermined our health care system and the people it serves,” said HHS-OIG Special Agent in Charge Lampert. “Such scams waste taxpayer funds and drive up healthcare costs for all of us. HHS-OIG and our law enforcement partners will remain vigilant in our efforts to root out all related fraud schemes during the ongoing public health emergency.”
“The Department of Justice’s Health Care Fraud Unit and our partners are dedicated to rooting out schemes that have exploited the pandemic,” said Assistant Attorney General Polite. “Today’s enforcement action reinforces our commitment to using all available tools to hold accountable medical professionals, corporate executives, and others who have placed greed above care during an unprecedented public health emergency.”
The charges filed in Central Islip are part of a coordinated health care fraud enforcement action across nine federal districts, led by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, that resulted in criminal charges against 21 defendants for their alleged participation in health care fraud schemes related to COVID-19 involving more than $149 million in false and fraudulent claims.
HHS-OIG is investigating the case, which was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force under the supervision of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York and the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. Trial Attorneys Kelly M. Lyons and Patrick J. Campbell of the Fraud Section are in charge of the prosecution.
The Fraud Section leads the Medicare Fraud Strike Force. Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, which maintains 15 strike forces operating in 24 districts, has charged more than 4,200 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for nearly $19 billion. In addition, the HHS Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.
The charges in the indictment are merely allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Governor Hochul Updates New Yorkers on State's Progress Combating COVID-19 - APRIL 21, 2022
"By using the tools, we can protect ourselves from subvariants and keep both ourselves and our loved ones healthy," Governor Hochul said. "Make sure to keep up to date on vaccine doses, get the second booster as soon as you are eligible, and make sure your children are fully vaccinated. Remember to get tested before traveling and ask your doctor about treatments if you test positive."
Today's data is summarized briefly below:
- Cases Per 100k - 34.77
- 7-Day Average Cases Per 100k - 31.36
- Test Results Reported - 93,758
- Total Positive - 6,794
- Percent Positive - 7.42**
- 7-Day Average Percent Positive - 5.94%**
- Patient Hospitalization - 1,453 (+49)
- Patients Newly Admitted - 267
- Patients in ICU - 168 (-2)
- Patients in ICU with Intubation - 59 (-7)
- Total Discharges - 294,173 (+235)
- New deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS - 18
- Total deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS - 55,348
** Due to the test reporting policy change by the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and several other factors, the most reliable metric to measure virus impact on a community is the case per 100,000 data -- not percent positivity.
The Health Electronic Response Data System is a NYS DOH data source that collects confirmed daily death data as reported by hospitals, nursing homes and adult care facilities only.
Important Note: Effective Monday, April 4, the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is no longer requiring testing facilities that use COVID-19 rapid antigen tests to report negative results. As a result, New York State's percent positive metric will be computed using only lab-reported PCR results. Positive antigen tests will still be reported to New York State and reporting of new daily cases and cases per 100k will continue to include both PCR and antigen tests. Due to this change and other factors, including changes in testing practices, the most reliable metric to measure virus impact on a community is the case per 100,000 data -- not percent positivity.
- Total deaths reported to and compiled by the CDC - 70,622
This daily COVID-19 provisional death certificate data reported by NYS DOH and NYC to the CDC includes those who died in any location, including hospitals, nursing homes, adult care facilities, at home, in hospice and other settings.
- Total vaccine doses administered - 38,092,465
- Total vaccine doses administered over past 24 hours - 31,933
- Total vaccine doses administered over past 7 days - 194,811
- Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with at least one vaccine dose - 92.3%
- Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with completed vaccine series - 83.6%
- Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with at least one vaccine dose (CDC) - 95.0%
- Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with completed vaccine series (CDC) - 86.6%
- Percent of New Yorkers ages 12-17 with at least one vaccine dose (CDC) - 82.9%
- Percent of New Yorkers ages 12-17 with completed vaccine series (CDC) - 72.9%
- Percent of all New Yorkers with at least one vaccine dose - 81.8%
- Percent of all New Yorkers with completed vaccine series - 74.0%
- Percent of all New Yorkers with at least one vaccine dose (CDC) - 90%
- Percent of all New Yorkers with completed vaccine series (CDC) - 76.7%
Borough | Monday, April 18, 2022 | Tuesday, April 19, 2022 | Wednesday, April 20, 2022 |
Bronx | 1.72% | 2.20% | 2.41% |
Kings | 3.18% | 3.37% | 3.63% |
New York | 4.85% | 4.97% | 5.19% |
Queens | 3.08% | 3.45% | 3.90% |
Richmond | 3.45% | 3.98% | 4.37% |
DEC COMMISSIONER SEGGOS ANNOUNCES STATEWIDE DIESEL TRUCK EMISSION ENFORCEMENT BLITZ DURING EARTH WEEK
Supports New York State’s Efforts to Reduce Harmful Air Emissions, Particularly in Environmental Justice Communities Disproportionately Overburdened by Pollution
“New York State continues to lead the nation in taking bold action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollutants that harm our environment, economy, and affect Environmental Justice communities that are disproportionately impacted by pollution,” Commissioner Basil Seggos said. “This latest diesel truck detail, happening as we commemorate Earth Week, will take dirty trucks off our roads and provides us with a great example of why we need to accelerate our transition from fossil fuels to prevent the damage they cause to our climate and the health of our communities.”
The detail will help identify non-compliant heavy-duty vehicles and reduce emissions of fine particulate matter in disadvantaged communities where there is often significant heavy-duty vehicle traffic. DEC’s Earth Week enforcement details are happening in and around Environmental Justice communities in Suffolk, Nassau, Queens, Bronx, Westchester, Rockland, Orange, Ulster, Dutchess, Schoharie, Delaware, Montgomery, Rensselaer, Clinton, Washington, Warren, Saratoga, St. Lawrence, Jefferson, Oneida, Cortland, Oswego, Broome, Seneca, Schuyler, Steuben, Allegany, Chautauqua, Niagara, and Erie counties.
In addition to conducting emissions inspections on diesel vehicles, ECOs will also engage in targeted enforcement of regulations restricting idling time for diesel vehicles. Reduced idling time cuts down on air pollution and noise, improves fuel economy, and saves diesel operators and consumers money. Officers will also monitor compliance of pesticide applications, solid waste transportation, and open burning as part of the Earth Week detail.
New York prioritizes climate justice in several ways, including in the implementation of the ambitious Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act which requires the State to invest or direct resources to ensure that disadvantaged communities receive at least 35 percent, with the goal of 40 percent, of overall benefits of spending on clean energy and energy efficiency programs. Draft criteria developed by the Climate Justice Working Group will guide the equitable implementation of the Climate Act. The draft criteria include an interactive map and list of communities the criteria would cover for directing programs and projects to reduce air pollution and climate-altering greenhouse gas emissions, provide economic development opportunities, and target clean energy and energy efficiency investments. New Yorkers can comment on the draft disadvantaged communities criteria until July 7, 2022, by going to https://climate.ny.gov. In addition, the Draft Scoping Plan, which describes recommended policies and actions to help New York meet its climate directives as part of the Climate Act, is available for public comment until June 10, 2022, at https://climate.ny.gov.
The transition to electric vehicles (EVs) is a critical component of improving the air quality in disadvantaged communities and will achieve the goals in the Climate Act. Earlier this year, Governor Kathy Hochul’s State of the State address included several initiatives to support New York’s transition to electric vehicles, including: the commitment to convert the State agency fleet to all zero-emission vehicles by 2035; require the purchase of zero-emission school buses by 2027; and invest $1 billion in electric transportation, mostly directed to charging infrastructure.
For more information visit Heavy Duty Vehicles - NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation.
Former Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Sentenced To 15 Months In Prison For Obstructing Federal Investigation Of Misconduct At Municipal Credit Union
Damian Williams, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that SYLVIA ASH, a former justice of the New York State Supreme Court and chair of the Board of Directors of Municipal Credit Union (“MCU”), was sentenced today in Manhattan federal court to 15 months in prison for conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction of justice, and making a false statement to a federal agent. These charges arose from a scheme to impede the federal criminal investigation into fraud and corruption at MCU, a non-profit, multibillion-dollar financial institution, including misconduct committed by Kam Wong, the former chief executive officer (“CEO”), and Joseph Guagliardo, a former New York City Police Department Officer and member of MCU’s Supervisory Committee. Wong and Guagliardo were charged separately and previously pled guilty to embezzlement from MCU. ASH was convicted in December 2021 after a two-week jury trial before U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who imposed today’s sentence.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “While serving as a sitting state judge, Sylvia Ash took repeated steps, over multiple months, to seek to obstruct the federal criminal investigation into misconduct at MCU that took place during Ash’s tenure as chair of its Board of Directors. Ash agreed to do so with the now imprisoned former CEO of the credit union, who provided her with a steady stream of benefits from MCU, including after she was directed to resign from MCU’s board. Today’s sentence sends a clear message that those who attempt to thwart a federal investigation face serious consequences for that corrosive conduct.”
In pronouncing the sentence, Judge Kaplan said ASH’s “crimes struck at the heart of the criminal justice system.”
According to the Complaint, Indictment, Superseding Indictment, publicly available information, court filings, and evidence presented during the trial in Manhattan federal court:
Municipal Credit Union
MCU is a non-profit financial institution headquartered in New York, New York, which is federally insured by the National Credit Union Administration (“NCUA”). MCU is the oldest credit union in New York State and one of the oldest and largest in the country, providing banking services to more than 590,000 members, and with more than $4.2 billion in member accounts, each of which is insured for at least $250,000 by the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund, which is administered by the NCUA. Membership in MCU is generally available to employees of New York City and its agencies, employees of the federal and New York state governments who work in New York City, and employees of hospitals, nursing homes, and similar facilities located within New York State.
At all relevant times, MCU was overseen by a Board of Directors (the “Board”) and a Supervisory Committee, each of which was composed of members of MCU, who were not supposed to be compensated. As a result of severe deficiencies in the Board’s and the Supervisory Committee’s oversight of the credit union, which came to light in connection with the federal investigation, the New York Department of Financial Services (“DFS”) removed the members of the Supervisory Committee in May 2018 and the Board in June 2018. Subsequently, DFS appointed NCUA as the conservator for the credit union. In or about February 2022, MCU successfully emerged from conservatorship under new leadership.
ASH
ASH served as a judge in the New York State court system from approximately 2006 through March 2022, first as a Kings County Civil Court Judge, and then, starting in 2011, as a Kings County Supreme Court Justice. In or about January 2016, ASH was appointed as the presiding judge in the Kings County Supreme Court’s Commercial Division. After the charges in this case were unsealed, ASH was suspended from her position. In or about March 2022, after ASH was convicted, she vacated her judicial office.
ASH served on MCU’s Board from in or about May 2008 until on or about August 15, 2016, when she resigned. From in or about May 2015 until her resignation, ASH served as the chair of the Board. ASH resigned after a complaint was filed against her by the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct arising from a conflict of interest between her position as a state judge and her membership on MCU’s Board. More than a year before her resignation, ASH had been instructed to resign from MCU’s Board by the Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics, which instruction she disregarded.
From at least in or about 2012 through 2016, while serving as an MCU Board member and while Wong was CEO, ASH received annually tens of thousands of dollars in reimbursements and other benefits from MCU, many of which were personal in nature, and not business-related, including airfare, hotels, food and entertainment expenses for her and a guest to attend conferences both domestically and abroad, annual birthday parties at a minor league baseball stadium, payment for phone and cable bills, and electronic devices. Even after her resignation from the Board, Wong continued to provide or cause MCU to provide ASH with benefits, such as Apple devices and sports tickets. As a sitting state judge, ASH was required to report both her board service and gifts and benefits she received from any outside sources on an annual state disclosure form. But between at least 2012 and 2018, ASH never reported her board service nor any gifts or benefits from MCU.
ASH’s Obstruction of Justice
In January 2018, after Wong, MCU’s then-CEO, had been approached by federal law enforcement agents investigating apparent financial misconduct by Wong, in an attempt to protect Wong, ASH agreed to and did sign a false and misleading memorandum purporting to explain and justify millions of dollars Wong had received from MCU. Wong subsequently provided that false and misleading memorandum to federal agents in an attempt to demonstrate that the millions of dollars had purportedly been orally approved for him to receive by ASH in June 2015, when she was chair of the Board. However, in truth, neither ASH nor the Board had approved the payment of those funds.
On March 1, 2018, shortly after Wong was placed on administrative leave by MCU, ASH was interviewed about the memorandum she signed for Wong. During that interview, ASH admitted that the memorandum was not accurate, but attempted to justify the money that Wong received by stating that MCU’s then-current general counsel had told her that Wong’s employment contract gave him the option of receiving such money. That statement was false.
On March 13, 2018, ASH was served with a federal grand jury subpoena (the “First Subpoena”), which required the production of documents related to various matters, including Wong’s compensation, and any communications with Wong through the date of the First Subpoena. On April 6, 2018, during a telephonic interview with a federal agent, ASH falsely stated that she did not have any materials responsive to the First Subpoena.
On June 8, 2018—after Wong was charged with embezzlement from MCU and the Government executed a judicially-authorized search of the residence of Guagliardo—ASH was interviewed by telephone for a second time about the First Subpoena. During that interview, ASH again falsely stated that she did not have any materials responsive to the First Subpoena.
On June 18, 2018, ASH was served with a second federal grand jury subpoena (the “Second Subpoena”), which required the production of, among other things, all correspondence with Wong and Guagliardo; all documents regarding any criminal investigation, internal investigation, or audit related to Wong; and all documents regarding items of value ASH received from MCU, Wong, or Guagliardo. Shortly afterward, ASH went to an Apple store and wiped an iPhone X that Wong had provided her in January 2018. In addition, ASH deleted emails from her Gmail account, including all of her emails with Guagliardo, none of which she produced in response to either of the two federal grand jury subpoenas directed to her. ASH also later wiped two MCU-issued iPads she had received.
On July 6, 2018, on ASH’s behalf, her then-counsel produced materials to the Government in response to the Second Subpoena. This production was materially incomplete, and did not contain text messages, emails, and other documents ASH possessed or had under her custody or control that were responsive to the Second Subpoena.
On July 9, 2018, ASH attended a voluntary interview with the U.S. Attorney’s Office. During this interview, while accompanied by her then-counsel, ASH made multiple false statements, including repeating false statements regarding her purported conversations with MCU’s former general counsel about Wong’s receipt of cash payments and falsely claiming that she and her aunt took a trip to Las Vegas paid for by MCU, including airfare, lodging, and entertainment expenses, after she resigned because all of her travel arrangements were paid for by MCU before she resigned, when in truth all of the expenses were paid for after she resigned.
On or about October 11, 2019, ASH was arrested, and her cellphone was seized. After obtaining a judicially authorized search warrant, ASH’s phone was searched, which revealed, among other things, numerous text messages, including with Wong and Guagliardo, that were concealed in response to the First and Second Subpoenas.
In addition to her prison term, ASH, 64, of Brooklyn, New York, was sentenced to a $80,000 fine, and two years of supervised release, including a special condition of twenty hours of community service per week while on supervised release. The court reserved the decision on restitution to MCU.
On June 4, 2019, Wong was sentenced to 66 months’ imprisonment for embezzlement from MCU and was ordered to forfeit $9,890,375 and to pay restitution in the same amount to MCU.
On July 23, 2020, Guagliardo was sentenced to 27 months’ imprisonment for embezzlement from MCU and was ordered to forfeit $425,514 and to pay $468,189 in restitution to MCU.
U.S. Attorney Williams praised the outstanding work of the Special Agents of the United States Attorney’s Office. Mr. Williams also thanked the New York County District Attorney’s Office and DFS for their assistance.