Bronx Man Arrested For Sweepstakes Fraud Scheme

 

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and James Smith, the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), announced the arrest of DONALD DILLION on wire fraud and money laundering charges arising out of a scheme to defraud victims by convincing them that they had won prizes in a sweepstakes sponsored by a well-known marketing and sweepstakes company (the “Sweepstakes Company”).  DILLION was arrested on February 3, 2024, at John F. Kennedy International Airport while attempting to enter the United States from Jamaica.  DILLION was presented before U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Moses yesterday.  

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “As alleged in the Complaint, Donald Dillion defrauded numerous victims, who were lured into thinking that they had won life-changing prizes in a well-known sweepstakes.  Through their lies, Dillion and others allegedly convinced these victims that they would only receive their prizes if they first parted with tens of thousands of dollars in supposed taxes and fees.  Dillion then allegedly laundered these funds by sending them to a foreign bank.  My Office will prosecute these crimes to the fullest to demonstrate that fraud schemes like Dillion’s simply do not pay.” 

FBI Assistant Director in Charge James Smith said: “Winning a significant amount of cash or a luxury car through a sweepstakes often represents a dream to many Americans.  Donald Dillion turned his victims’ dream into a nightmare when he allegedly stole tens of thousands of dollars through his fraudulent scheme.   The FBI will continue to investigate and bring to justice anyone attempting defraud innocent people.”

According to the allegations in the Complaint:[1]

At least in or about 2021, DILLION, working with others, perpetrated a scheme in which victims were contacted by individuals claiming to work for the Sweepstakes Company, who convinced the victims that they had won a large cash prize and a luxury car as part of the Sweepstakes Company’s sweepstakes.  The perpetrators of the scheme told the victims that their prizes would be released to them upon the Sweepstakes Company’s receipt of, among other things, the taxes and fees purportedly owed on the prizes.  In this way, numerous victims were induced to wire tens of thousands of dollars to bank accounts held in the name of DD Metro Solutions LLC (“DD Metro”) and controlled by DILLION.  DILLION wired a significant proportion of these victim funds to a Chinese bank, including memoranda with some of these wires suggesting no connection to the Sweepstakes Company.  None of the victims received the cash prizes or luxury cars promised to them.

DILLION, 57, of the Bronx, New York, has been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; and conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by a judge.

Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI.

The prosecution of this case is being handled by the Office’s Illicit Finance and Money Laundering Unit.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Benjamin A. Gianforti and Jennifer Ong are in charge of the prosecution.

The charges in the Complaint are merely accusations, and DILLION is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

[1] As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the text of the Complaint and the description of the Complaint set forth herein constitute only allegations, and every fact described should be treated as an allegation.

Attorney General James Announces Court Decision Authorizing Reforms to NYPD’s Policing of Protests

 

NYPD to Begin Implementing Policing Protest Reforms as Required by Agreement

New York Attorney General Letitia James today announced that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York authorized the agreement between her office, The Legal Aid Society, NYCLU, and the New York City Police Department (NYPD) to reform NYPD’s policing of protests to move forward immediately. The agreement requires the implementation of reforms, including the use of a four-tiered response system when responding to protests. The agreement also requires the NYPD to create a senior role within the department to oversee response to all public demonstrations, amend its internal discipline matrix, and improve its treatment of members of the press. 

“Peaceful protests are a bedrock of our democracy and for generations have been a catalyst for change and progress,” said Attorney General James. “These policing reforms will better protect New Yorkers’ public safety and their constitutional right to peacefully protest. I am pleased with today’s decision to allow the terms of our agreement to move forward in full. With these policing reforms, New Yorkers can exercise their first amendment right to peacefully protest without fear, intimidation, or harm.”

In September 2023, Attorney General James, The Legal Aid Society, and NYCLU announced the historic agreement with NYPD to significantly change how the department polices protests. The centerpiece of the reforms is a four-tiered response system that will dictate how NYPD responds to protests, with the primary goal of protecting the rights of protesters. The tiered system will require NYPD to use de-escalation methods before increasing its response. The system allows for increased NYPD presence and response if protests block major traffic arteries, if protesters engage in unlawful conduct, or in other instances that could compromise public safety.

Additionally, the agreement requires NYPD to create a new, senior role within the department to oversee response to all public demonstrations. The agreement will also require NYPD to stop its use of the crowd-control tactic known as “kettling,” amend its internal discipline matrix, and improve its treatment of members of the press. 

To ensure accountability, a new collaborative oversight committee will review NYPD’s response to public demonstrations over a multi-year period. The agreement requires New York City to provide $1.625 million in funding to the New York City Department of Investigation (DOI) and $1.45 million to support plaintiffs’ work during the oversight committee process.

NY State Comptroller Announces Appointment of Emerging Managers Director

 

New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli today announced the appointment of Sylvester (Sly) McClearn as director of the New York State Common Retirement Fund’s (Fund) Emerging Manager Program. He was appointed Interim Director of the Program in February 2023.

“Sylvester McClearn has a long and proven track record in the financial industry and as a member of our team,” said DiNapoli. “Mr. McClearn has the experience and the skill set needed to continue attracting innovative investment perspectives that earn solid returns, while addressing the historical inequities in the finance sector. I am confident he will help expand our successful Emerging Manager Program and uphold its role as a pathway to growth for smaller and diverse investment managers.”

The Fund’s Emerging Manager Program invests with emerging managers directly, or with the assistance of other managers or Program partners, in separately managed accounts or commingled funds. Program partners assist in the timely deployment of capital, perform due diligence and recommend managers to participate in the Program.

Each year, the Fund also seeks to graduate emerging managers to be direct investments by the Fund. More than 18 emerging managers have graduated from the Program.

The Fund holds an annual Emerging Manager & MWBE (minority- and women-owned business entities) conference to give investment professionals the opportunity to gain a better understanding of the Fund's investment process and manager selection. This year’s conference will be held on Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, in Albany.

Prior to becoming the Program’s Interim Director, McClearn joined Comptroller DiNapoli’s office as a senior investment officer for the Emerging Manager Program in 2020. With the Fund, he works closely with its internal investment staff, asset class program partners and affiliate organizations on all aspects of the Emerging Manager Program.

With more than two decades of Wall Street experience, McClearn has also held various leadership positions at CastleOak Securities, Loop Capital Markets, Topeka Capital Markets and Citi Institutional Client Group. Throughout his career, he has built strategic institutional relationships that improved brand recognition and enhanced returns for the largest and most sophisticated asset managers.

McClearn has an MBA and bachelor’s degree  from Fordham University, where he also serves as a Fordham Trustee Fellow.

A photo of McClearn is available.

About the New York State Common Retirement Fund

The New York State Common Retirement Fund is one of the largest public pension funds in the United States with assets of approximately $248.5 billion as of March 31, 2023. The Fund holds and invests the assets of the New York State and Local Retirement System on behalf of more than one million state and local government employees and retirees and their beneficiaries. The Fund has consistently been ranked as one of the best managed and best funded plans in the nation.

NYC Comptroller Audit Exposes Major Management Gaps in Intensive Mobile Treatment (IMT) for New Yorkers with Severe Mental Health Challenges

 

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander today released an audit that reveals critical management deficiencies within the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s (DOHMH) Intensive Mobile Treatment (IMT) program. The City established the IMT program in 2016 to serve New Yorkers with severe mental health challenges, histories of homelessness and substance abuse, and frequent interactions with the criminal justice system, to ensure they do not cause harm to themselves or someone else. The audit finds that while the model is promising, the program is beset by substantial gaps in oversight and coordination, inadequate performance metrics, a failure to follow up on corrective action plans, and declining success at placing people in stable housing.

“We need the IMT program to work – to help mentally-ill and homeless New Yorkers get the treatment they urgently need,” said Comptroller Brad Lander. “Unfortunately, poor management and coordination mean the program is increasingly failing to help participants get off the street into stable housing – and we don’t know whether or not it’s working to keep IMT clients and other New Yorkers safe.”

Intensive Mobile Treatment (IMT) teams are designed to provide intensive, continuous, flexible support and treatment to individuals in their communities. IMT teams include mental health, substance use, and peer specialists to provide support and treatment including psychiatric treatment and medication, and to facilitate connections to housing and supportive services.

DOHMH’s stated objectives for the program include increasing patient retention to facilitate treatment, reducing incarcerations, and securing stable housing. The audit found that while client retention rates are good, that did not translate to continuous treatment. Lack of coordination between DOHMH and the Department of Correction (DOC) hampers the ability to evaluate the impact on incarceration. The percentage of participants who were able to acquire housing has declined significantly over the past two years.

The Comptroller’s audit reveals the following shortcomings in monitoring and oversight:

• Lack of Coordination Between DOHMH and DOC: Despite being a core goal of the program, IMT’s approach to tracking whether it is successfully reducing incarceration rates is inadequate. According to DOHMH, the program does not track or analyze this performance measure because it is difficult to coordinate and obtain data from DOC. Although earlier studies showed promising drops in incarceration, this indicator is not regularly tracked. The last analysis of incarceration rates occurred over two years ago, hampering the ability to assess the program’s success in achieving its core goals.

• Lack of Consistent Treatment: The failure to track the psychiatric services, needs, and whereabouts of the program’s participants may lead to them falling through the cracks and encountering repeated dangerous situations. The audit reveals that, despite high retention rates, a substantial percentage of people participating in the program do not consistently receive psychiatric care. 38% of sampled people met with an IMT psychiatric care practitioner less than half the time that they were part of the program, and 25% did not see a psychiatric care practitioner at any point between 10 to 27 months while considered enrolled in the program. Only 29% of sampled people reportedly took prescribed medication on a regular basis.
   
• Inconsistent Reporting and Lack of Performance Metrics: The lack of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and inconsistent reporting of crucial service areas, such as substance abuse intervention and vocational services, poses a challenge in both holding DOHMH’s contracted service providers accountable for performance, and for assessing the overall effectiveness of the IMT program.
   
• Declining Rates of Housing Stability: The percentage of clients who were able to obtain housing decreased from 47% to 30% over the past two years, and the percentage of clients who were able to retain stable housing declined from 44% to 37%. 

The story of Rashid Brimmage, which was recently reported by The New York Times, illustrates the gaps in the IMT program. Brimmage was placed with an IMT team after an arrest in 2019. Diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, he was badly in need of antipsychotic medication and could not go more than a few hundred feet without cursing or assaulting strangers. Mr. Brimmage checked himself into emergency rooms five times in 2020, but was discharged each time – without contact with his IMT team. After he assaulted a 92-year-old woman, he spent months in jail, was sent to a residential treatment program, and then disappeared again. It was a Times reporter who spotted Mr. Brimmage on a subway train in March 2023, in distress, wearing a hospital bracelet, who contacted his treatment team, and he then returned to his treatment program.

In response to the audit’s findings, the Comptroller recommends the following:

• Develop reasonable targets for treatment provided to clients and hold contracting agencies accountable when those targets are not met. DOHMH needs to establish performance measures that allow the agency to assess and track the progress of clients, something it has agreed to do, but not until FY 2025, a decade after the program was launched. The agency must use those performance metrics to hold its contracted agencies accountable when those metrics are not met. The audit found a lack of follow-up on corrective action plans with contracting agencies.
   
• Improve coordination with DOC and hospitals: NYC DOHMH needs to be able to work more effectively with DOC to keep track of clients, measure, and reduce incarceration rates. Better coordination is also needed with hospitals, to keep clients from cycling from emergency rooms back to the street without effective treatment or services.

• Identify a dedicated set of housing vouchers to help IMT Participants get off the street: It is exceedingly difficult for clients to improve while living on the street. To address the decline in housing placements, the City should identify a set of housing vouchers specifically targeted to IMT clients. Given that these individuals have been identified precisely because they present a risk to both themselves and others, they should be a top priority for available vouchers. Utilizing a “housing-first” model, like the one outlined in a recent report by the Comptroller’s Office, as part of the program’s core strategy can address homelessness and instability. This urgent need could potentially be addressed through a scaled-up version of the City’s “Street to Housing” pilot, CityFHEPS vouchers or State-funded HAVP (Housing Access Voucher Program). While acknowledging the importance of housing vouchers across various demographics, there is a clear need to prioritize this support for IMT participants, ensuring they can transition off the streets effectively, maintain treatment, retain stable housing, and keep themselves and other New Yorkers safe.

Read the full audit here. 

Governor Hochul Announces Another Record Attendance Year at State Parks

 2023 Statewide Attendance Hits 84.1 Million, Surging by Nearly 4.7 Million from Previous Record Set in 2022

11th Consecutive Year of Increased Park Attendance

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced state parks, historic sites, campgrounds and trails operated by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation saw a record 84.1 million visits in 2023. Total visits statewide surged by nearly 4.7 million, a 6 percent increase, compared to the previous record year in 2022 – underscoring Governor Hochul's commitment to expanding access to parks and outdoor recreation as the park system marks its 100th anniversary in 2024.

“These numbers reflect New Yorkers’ strong demand and appreciation for places to swim, hike, camp, gather with friends and family, and enjoy safe, healthy recreation,” Governor Hochul said. “As we celebrate the New York State Park Centennial this year, my administration is committed to keeping this progress going to ensure New Yorkers have access to world-class recreational facilities for years to come.”

Last year marked the 11th consecutive annual increase in State Park attendance, and the 4.7 million jump in visits was the highest annual increase on record. Over the last two decades, state park attendance has climbed steadily, increasing nearly 60 percent.

New York State Parks also kicked off the celebration of its 100th anniversary of the creation of the park system in 1924, including a Centennial Challenge, which encourages visitors to complete 24 activities from a list of 100 to win a prize. Special events are being held in parks across the state through 2024, and there also is a special Centennial line of merchandise.

Last week, State Parks launched the digital “Share Your Story” project and invited the public to share stories, photos, and videos reminiscing on their experiences at New York State Parks and Historic Sites. The multimedia campaign will run throughout 2024 in celebration of the Centennial and offers citizens a chance to celebrate one of New York State’s most significant environmental and cultural legacies and the role it’s played in their lives.

Governor Hochul’s Fiscal Year 2025 Executive Budget proposes $300 million in capital funding to invest in park improvements, which includes $100 million for the celebration of the New York State Parks' Centennial. Projects include transforming the East Bathhouse at Jones Beach State Park with a sprayground and learn-to-swim pool; rehabilitating Harriman State Park’s Lake Sebago Beach, which has been closed since 2011 due to damage from Hurricane Irene; and building a swimming area at Sojourner Truth State Park in Ulster County. Governor Hochul has also directed State Parks to more than double the number of pools and beaches where lifeguards offer water safety instruction programs for children.

The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation oversees more than 250 parks, historic sites, recreational trails, golf courses, boat launches and more, which saw a record 84 million visits in 2023. For more information on any of these recreation areas, visit  parks.ny.gov, download the free  NY State Parks Explorer app  or call 518.474.0456. Join us in celebrating our Centennial throughout 2024, and connect with us on  Facebook,  Instagram,  X (formerly Twitter), and the  OPRHP Blog.

NYC PUBLIC ADVOCATE'S STATEMENT ON THE ARREST OF NYCHA EMPLOYEES IN CORRUPTION CASE

 

"Our office has consistently raised the failures of management at NYCHA as the worst landlord in the city, but the charges today are nonetheless a staggering statement on the widespread abuses of power and tenant trust at the core of the agency’s deficiencies.

"The shameful conduct alleged ultimately harms not only tenant trust but tenant safety, as it corrupts the repair process and contributes to dangerous conditions at complexes across the city – which can prove deadly, as with the recent death from Legionnaires disease. As the legal process moves forward, accountability for bad actors and implementation of reforms are essential for NYCHA to prove its commitment to repairing both its buildings and the trust of the tenants paying to live there."

Housing Lottery Launches For 3001 Grand Concourse In Bedford Park, The Bronx

 

The affordable housing lottery has launched for 3001 Grand Concourse, a ten-story residential building in Bedford Park, The Bronx. Designed by Badaly Architects and developed by Arben Mitaj under the 3001 LLC, the structure yields 44 residences. Available on NYC Housing Connect are 43 units for residents at 130 percent of the area median income (AMI), ranging in eligible income from $107,246 to $198,250.

Amenities include bike storage lockers, a shared laundry room, recreation room, package lockers, elevator, and a community center. Residences include name-brand kitchen appliances, countertops, and finishes, air conditioning, hardwood floors, high-speed internet, and patios or balconies. Tenants are responsible for electricity.

At 130 percent of the AMI, there are eight studios with a monthly rent of $3,128 for incomes ranging from $107,246 to $146,900; 27 one-bedrooms with a monthly rent of $3,345 for incomes ranging from $114,686 to $165,230; and eight two-bedrooms with a monthly rent of $4,001 for incomes ranging from $137,178 to $198,250.

Prospective renters must meet income and household size requirements to apply for these apartments. Applications must be postmarked or submitted online no later than April 3, 2024.

Permits Filed For 1014 Ogden Avenue In Highbridge, The Bronx

 

Permits have been filed for a four-story mixed-use building at 1014 Ogden Avenue in Highbridge, The Bronx. Located between West 164th Street and West 165th Street, the lot is near the 167th Street subway station, serviced by the 4 train. Leo Brody of ZLB is listed as the owner behind the applications.

The proposed 57-foot-tall development will rise from a 2,935-square-foot footprint, with residential space, commercial, and community facility space. The building will have 17 residences, however the unit square footage is unknown. The steel-based structure will also have a penthouse and a 23-foot-long rear yard.

Boaz M. Golani Architect is listed as the architect of record.

Demolition permits will likely not be needed as the lot is vacant. An estimated completion date has not been announced.