NYS Office of the Comptroller DiNapoli Releases Report on NYS Executive Budget

 

State Finances Have Stabilized and Budget Gaps Reduced; Multiple Proposals Continue to Bypass Comptroller Oversight

After the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the state’s finances have stabilized, and the Division of Budget (DOB) is now forecasting reduced budget gaps. In his annual report assessing the proposed Executive Budget, State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli identifies positive developments, as well as risks, challenges, and concerns, including several new proposals that restrict independent oversight by his office.

“New York state has taken positive steps to stabilize its finances with higher reserves and lower projected budget gaps,” DiNapoli said. “Still, the Executive and the Legislature face the difficult challenge of ensuring adequate funding for our schools, health care programs, and other critical needs while improving the state’s affordability. I’m also concerned this budget again advances provisions that would diminish my office’s oversight, including new proposals to restrict my office’s approval of certain state bond issuances. This independent oversight protects taxpayers from short-sighted decisions that can burden the state financially. These proposals should be rejected.”

The State Comptroller’s terms and conditions approval of private sales of State Personal Income Tax (PIT) and Sales Tax bonds ensures the costs of borrowing are reasonable and appropriate, providing a critical check on poor fiscal management and bond structuring choices that may otherwise occur. The budget proposal to significantly curtail this approval would expand the Executive’s powers, allowing for costlier and riskier bonding choices with State PIT and Sales Tax bond issues, the primary vehicles by which the state conducts most of its borrowing. It would also create a dangerous precedent, likely to be sought by other public authority bond issuers, such as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which has a history of poor debt practices. Limiting oversight by the State Comptroller would inevitably lead to bond structuring decisions that will increase costs to state taxpayers over the long run. 

Economic and Budget Outlook

DOB projects the economy will slow considerably in the first half of 2024, growing by less than 1%. Stronger growth is forecasted for the second half of the year, but at rates below 2023 levels.  DOB projects economic growth nationwide to be 1.3% in 2024 with a slight increase of 1.9% in 2025.

For State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2024-25, All Funds revenues exclusive of federal receipts are projected by DOB to total $135.9 billion, an increase of 0.4% or $495 million. All Funds tax collections are forecast to grow by 3.4% or $2.6 billion, reflecting continuing but slower growth, offset by a decline in miscellaneous receipts. Proposals included in the Executive Budget will have a minimal net impact to state revenues in SFY 2024-25.

The state’s structural budget gap is projected to worsen over the next few years, as DOB projects growth in disbursements to rapidly outpace receipts throughout the five-year Financial Plan period. Over this period, General Fund receipts are projected to grow 4.2% compared to disbursements that are projected to grow over four times as fast (17.7%).

While DOB projects a balanced budget in SFY 2024-25, a cumulative gap totaling $20.1 billion is forecast for the remainder of the Financial Plan period through 2027-28. This reflects multiple factors, including $18.3 billion of General Fund spending growth forecast to occur through SFY 2027-28 and the loss of federal pandemic aid after SFY 2024-25. School Aid and Medicaid are the two largest General Fund spending categories, comprising 47.7% of General Fund spending in the current fiscal year, and forecast to grow to 52.4% by SFY 2027-28.

Risks

DiNapoli’s report noted several risks and uncertainties that could affect the state budget, including economic and revenue risks, the growing structural imbalance, overreliance on unrestricted reserves, costly and inappropriate debt practices, and efforts to bypass transparency and independent oversight.

Economy and Revenue

While both the number of jobs and workers nationally exceed their pre-pandemic levels, New York has yet to achieve full recovery in either measure. DOB does not project the state to return to pre-pandemic employment until the second half of 2026.

According to the most recent U.S. Census estimates, New York’s population declined by nearly 102,000 from 2022 to 2023. The state has led the nation in population loss since 2020. In addition, DiNapoli has reported that the net-outmigration of personal income taxpayers in tax year 2021, while lower than the year prior, remained elevated from pre-pandemic levels. The changes in the labor market as well as the overall population pose a risk to the New York economy and, in turn, its revenues.

Reserve Funds

The Executive and the Legislature have increased state reserve funds in recent years, including statutory reserves which now total $6.3 billion and $13.2 billion set aside in an informal reserve for “economic uncertainties,” for a total of $19.5 billion. This represents an estimated 15.1% of State Operating Funds spending levels. DiNapoli said greater priority should be placed on building statutory rainy day reserves, which are governed by rules for deposits, withdrawals and repayments, rather than relying on informal reserves which are under the Executive’s discretionary control. The Comptroller’s Reserve Reform proposal provides a disciplined, consistent approach to building reserves on a monthly basis. Given the heavy reliance on unrestricted funds as reserves, clear criteria and guidelines should be established to define the circumstances for using and repaying undesignated reserves.

Procurement Transparency and Oversight

DiNapoli said the Executive Budget includes several problematic provisions, similar to those included in prior budgets. The proposed budget exempts at least $160 million from the Office of the State Comptroller’s contract oversight and from competitive procurement process. DiNapoli’s review identified an additional $1.4 billion in spending that will be distributed without a competitive procurement process. The budget also adds language that would allow DOB to allocate nearly $1.9 billion in spending based on a plan that does not require that the funds be distributed based upon a competitive process or objective criteria. These proposed changes reduce transparency, competition, and oversight over a significant amount of taxpayer supported state spending.

Debt Practices

The Executive Budget continues recent practices to circumvent the state’s debt cap by utilizing a loophole in the Debt Reform Act to structure the Gateway Project debt (authorized up to $2.85 billion, currently estimated at $1.4 billion) with a federal loan to be repaid by the state through a service contract. The budget reduces transparency and accountability by inappropriately classifying the Gateway loan as state-related debt, inconsistent with past practice for this category of debt classification. Even though this debt now requires an appropriation in the SFY 2024-25 debt service bill and spending is assumed in the State’s Financial Plan, the budget misleadingly portrays the Gateway debt as if it is not a part of the state’s direct debt burden.

The state’s growing debt burden and poor debt practices demonstrate how the state’s current statutory debt limits are too easily bypassed and are in need of reform to restore transparency and accountability. The Comptroller’s Roadmap for State Debt Reform offers recommendations for comprehensive and binding constitutional state debt reform to restore accountability to state taxpayers.

Report

Report on the State Fiscal Year 2024-25 Executive Budget

Related Reports

A Roadmap for State Debt Reform

Taxpayer Movement During the Pandemic

The Case for Building New York State's Rainy Day Reserves

MAYOR ADAMS FULFILLS MAJOR STREET SAFETY COMMITMENT BY MAKING CITY VEHICLE FLEET SAFER

 

Issuance of Executive Order Will Increase Safety Requirements for City Contractor Vehicles, Ensures That All New City Trucks Have 360-Degree Cameras or High-Visibility Design 

 

NYPD Has Updated CompStat to Include Traffic Violence Statistics

New York City Mayor Eric Adams today issued Executive Order 39, outlining a comprehensive approach to addressing truck and bus safety for the city’s fleet and contracted units. Under the new executive order, and for the first time in the city’s history, city contractors will have new safety requirements, including preparing fleet safety plans, increasing driver training, adopting telematics, and adding 360-degree cameras to mitigate the impacts of visual impairments for operators. Mayor Adams also today ordered that all new trucks procured by the City of New York for use by city employees will be required to have 360-degree cameras or high-visibility designs. The executive order fulfills Mayor Adams’ commitment to enhance city contractor fleet safety as a part of a broad new street safety initiative, which included efforts to make thousands of New York City intersections safer. Additionally, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) has begun including traffic violence statistics in its regular CompStat reporting.

“Traffic safety is public safety, and our administration is doubling down on our efforts to make streets safe places for pedestrians, cyclists, delivery workers, drivers, and everyone else using our streets,” said Mayor Adams. “The executive order I’m issuing today will help equip the vehicles that ‘Get Stuff Done’ for New Yorkers with the latest technologies and features to be as safe as possible. New Yorkers deserve safe streets, and we’re delivering for them again today.”

“New York must be a national leader in establishing safety on the road,” said Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi. “This executive order, establishing new safety guardrails for the city's fleet, will go a long way in making that a reality — making meaningful progress in our Vision Zero goals with safety enhancements for over 23,000 trucks and buses traveling through New York City.”  

“This executive order to expand safety requirements for certain city vehicles moves New York closer to eliminating the behavior that can cause roadway injuries and deaths,” said NYPD Commissioner Edward A. Caban. “Traffic safety is an integral component of the NYPD’s overall public safety strategy, and it will remain so through this administration.”

“Today’s announcement is a major step towards safer streets for New Yorkers, and is a big win for our city,” said New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) Commissioner Dawn M. Pinnock. “We are proud to be a part of the Adams administration and see safety strategies, like these, move from inception to execution. By codifying these requirements, we are taking a holistic approach to innovate fleet safety technologies, installing new safeguards, and utilizing training and fleet planning to help keep our bustling streets safe from automotive incidents.”

“A key piece of delivering street safety is ensuring the vehicles on our roads are as safe as possible—not only for their operators but also for the pedestrians and cyclists on our streets,” said New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez. “These measures will bring important safety gains to our streets by requiring city vehicles, and those of the city's contractors, to be held to high safety standards under Vision Zero. We thank Mayor Adams, DCAS Commissioner Dawn M. Pinnock, and all of our agency partners and contractors for their commitment to reducing traffic fatalities in New York City.”

Today’s executive order codifies training requirements for all city fleet drivers and city contractors to participate in safe driver training. Furthermore, effective July 1, 2024, all city contractors will be required to develop fleet safety plans, enroll drivers in the State License Event Notification System, and report all crashes that occur while doing business on behalf of the city. Additional details of the executive order include:

• The required adoption of telematics that tracks location and speed, and to report this information to city agencies when performing city contract services. As required by Executive Order 41 of 2019, the city’s fleet has already been utilizing telematics to inform safety improvements. Local Law 32 requires tracking for contracted school buses. This executive order will extend the requirement to all city contracts.
• A requirement for city fleet vehicles and trucks from city contractors to install 360-degree cameras or invest in high-visibility trucks. DCAS has installed 360-degree cameras on 2,000 city trucks and will procure high-vision trucks whenever available. These 360-degree cameras and high-vision trucks play a critical role in addressing visual obstructions for truck drivers that can place pedestrians, bicyclists, children, and all vulnerable road users at risk.

An estimated 5,600 contracted trucks will be impacted by this executive order. The city operates nearly 7,500 trucks and 10,000 contracted school buses, resulting in safety enhancements for over 23,000 trucks and buses traveling throughout New York City daily.

Additionally, late last year, Mayor Adams announced that the NYPD would begin integrating traffic fatality data on its CompStat 2.0 online dashboard, a resource that provides New Yorkers with weekly statistics that reflect the administration’s progress on fighting overall crime and promoting traffic safety. The new category — broken down by patrol borough, precinct, day of the week, and time-of-day — now puts traffic violence on par with violent crime and elevates the administration’s efforts to reduce traffic-related injuries and deaths in every neighborhood. Further, the now-launched NYPD online Traffic Data section contains statistical information about moving violation summonses, motor vehicle collisions, and instances of leaving-the-scene-of-an-incident, and provides access to the NYPD’s raw feed of traffic-related data used to populate the searchable “Traffic Safety Forum.”

“DCAS is leading the way nationally in safety improvements to its fleet, including truck side-guards, telematics, intelligent speed assistance, and truck surround cameras,” said DCAS Deputy Commissioner and New York City Chief Fleet Officer Keith Kerman. “With this executive order, Mayor Adams extends the DCAS Safe Fleet Plan to city contractors, ensuring that all who do work on the city’s behalf and that are funded by the city — whether with in-house fleet or contracted vehicles — are operating in the safest possible manner. DCAS looks forward to working with all our partner agencies to implement this Vision Zero priority.”

“Today's executive order creates a framework that will not only dramatically influence road safety in New York City, but that will positively affect purchasing decisions in cities across the country,” said Peter Goldwasser, executive director, Together for Safer Roads. “By focusing on the issue of high vision trucks, New York City is sending a clear message that truck design matters and that safer alternatives — trucks that provide superior direct vision — should be the new standard. The issue of blind zones and cab design is one that Together for Safer Roads is fully committed to and one that we look forward to continuing to partner on with New York City, including utilizing our Direct Vision 5 Star Rating System. Congratulations to DCAS for continuing to innovate and lead on road safety.”

Governor Hochul Announces New Statute of Limitations for Unlawful Discrimination

New Statute Extends Time to File an Unlawful Discrimination Claim, from One Year to Three Years. 

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced all New Yorkers who experience unlawful discrimination will have three years to file a complaint with the New York State Division of Human Rights. The new statute of limitations, which takes effect on February 15, 2024, was recently signed into law and extends the statute of limitations from one year to three years for filing unlawful discrimination claims.

“New York State remains committed to promoting safety, dignity, and respect for survivors as the tide of hate rises across our country," Governor Hochul said. "This new statute of limitations adds another layer to our collective responsibility to protect one another and create an environment that makes survivors feel safe.”

Prior to the enactment of this legislation, the New York State Human Rights Law allowed survivors of discrimination one year, from the date of the alleged incidents, to file an unlawful discrimination claim with the NYS Division of Human Rights. With this new amendment to the law, all unlawful discrimination claims for incidents occurring on or after February 15, 2024, can be filed within three years of the alleged discrimination to the NYS Division of Human Rights. Incidents occurring on or before February 14, 2024 would still require a claim to be filed within one year of the incident, or three years for sexual harassment in employment.

The statute of limitations for filing all discrimination complaints in a New York court under the Human Rights Law remains three years. For complaints filed with the Division of Human Rights alleging sexual harassment in the workplace that occurred after August 12, 2020, the statute of limitations remains three years from the most recent incident.

In emphasizing the necessity for the bill, advocates referenced studies showing that survivors of discriminatory experiences often have difficulty processing discriminatory incidents within the current filing timeframe, leaving survivors without legal remedy after the personal healing process.

New Yorkers who have experienced discrimination can file complaints with the NYS Division of Human Rights online, by mail, or in person. For more information about the law and the work of the agency, please visit the Division’s website at www.dhr.ny.gov or call 1-888-392-3644.

Housing Lottery Launches For 909 East 229th Street In Wakefield, The Bronx

 

The affordable housing lottery has launched for 909 East 229th Street, a four-story residential building in Wakefield, The Bronx. Designed by Node Architecture Engineering Consulting PC and developed by Arben Ulaj, the structure yields 17 residences. Available on NYC Housing Connect are six units for residents at 130 percent of the area median income (AMI), ranging in eligible income from $66,789 to $198,250.

Amenities include on-site parking, bike storage lockers, and private storage space. Units come with air conditioning, intercoms, and name-brand kitchen appliances. Tenants are responsible for electricity, which includes stove, heat, and hot water.

At 130 percent of the AMI, there are three one-bedrooms with a monthly rent of $1,850 for incomes ranging from $66,789 to $165,230, and three two-bedrooms with a monthly rent of $2,100 for incomes ranging from $76,423 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 March 5, 2024.

Permits Filed For 2710 Decatur Avenue In Fordham, The Bronx

 

Permits have been filed for a five-story residential building at 2710 Decatur Avenue in Fordham, The Bronx. Located between East 195th Street and East 197th Street, the lot is near the Kingsbridge Road subway station, serviced by the B and D trains. Herman Jakob of West Street Gardens LLC is listed as the owner behind the applications.

The proposed 62-foot-tall development will yield 10,922 square feet designated for residential space. The building will have 19 residences, most likely rentals based on the average unit scope of 574 square feet. The concrete-based structure will also have a cellar, penthouse, a 32-foot-long rear yard, nine open parking spaces, and one enclosed parking space.

Sander Williams Architect is listed as the architect of record.

Demolition permits have not been filed yet. An estimated completion date has not been announced.

Governor Hochul Announces $514,000 Settlement Against Manhattan Landlord Who Overcharged Tenants and Violated Rent Laws

New York State Homes and Community Renewal Investigation Found Landlord Illegally Advertised Regulated Units as Short-Term Rentals, Removing Them from the Housing Supply

Tenants to Receive Damages for Rent Overcharges as Part of the Settlement

Builds on Governor Hochul’s Commitment to Supporting New York Tenants – Including Investments to Provide Rental Assistance, Bolster Tenant Legal Services, and Expand the Tenant Protection Unit as Part of the FY 2024 Budget

Governor Kathy Hochul announced that New York State Homes and Community Renewal’s Tenant Protection Unit secured a $514,000 settlement against Manhattan landlord Steven Croman of Centennial Properties for unlawfully defrauding renters amid a statewide housing crisis. Croman engaged in a scheme to lease regulated units for a term of less than one or two years, making the apartments unavailable for New Yorkers seeking safe, stable housing. The settlement, which includes damages for overcharges to be paid back to tenants, builds on Governor Hochul’s commitment to supporting New York tenants.

“With New Yorkers facing the most dire housing shortage in six decades, any attempt to take regulated units off the market is not just unlawful – it’s contributing to our housing crisis,” Governor Hochul said. “This settlement starts the process of making these Manhattan tenants whole, and I thank the dedicated members of the Tenant Protection Unit for continuing to drive my administration’s effort to support New York renters.”

TPU launched a comprehensive investigation into Croman’s patterns and practices after receiving complaints in the summer of 2023 alleging units owned by Croman were advertised on the BlueGround rental platform, listing furnished apartments for stays of 30 days or longer that were presumed to be market rate units by prospective renters. TPU found that listed rents and fees improperly exceeded the legal regulated rent registered with HCR. The investigation also uncovered violations of lease agreements, and rent laws governing areas such as security deposits, subletting and rent registrations.

Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Croman will pay $514,000 for violating the rent laws by leasing rent regulated units for terms of less than one or two years, and for overcharging occupants of nine rent regulated units in five buildings, over the course of approximately 11 months. Croman has already refunded more than $74,000 to some prior occupants.

The settlement builds on Governor Hochul’s commitment to supporting New York tenants. As part of the FY 2025 Executive Budget, the Governor announced that the Division of Human Rights will strengthen efforts to enforce State law prohibiting a housing provider or a real estate professional from discriminating against an individual seeking housing because of their use of a Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher. Governor Hochul also proposed legislation to protect affordable housing providers by prohibiting insurance companies from refusing to cover affordable housing.

In addition, Governor Hochul secured significant investments to support tenants as part of the FY 2024 Budget, including a $391 million investment in the Emergency Rental Assistance Program; $50 million for tenant legal services and representation for eviction cases statewide; and funding to expand TPU in Upstate New York.

Justice Department Sues to Shut Down Ohio Return Preparer

 

The Justice Department filed a complaint seeking to bar an Ohio tax return preparer from owning or operating a tax return preparation business and preparing tax returns for others.

The civil complaint against Emmanuel Antwi and his Cincinnati-based businesses – Manny Travel Agency & Business Services Inc. and Manny Financial, Insurance & Accounting Firm LLC – was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.

The complaint alleges that Antwi knowingly took unreasonable or incorrect positions on returns he prepared that resulted in understatements of the taxes his customers owed and overstatements of the refunds to which they were entitled to receive. In particular, the complaint alleges that Antwi prepared returns that claimed deductions for purported business losses or employee business expenses that he knew were false. The complaint also alleges that Antwi prepared returns where he knowingly reported the wrong filing status. 

The government further alleges that Antwi filed hundreds of tax returns each filing season since at least 2020, with at least 95% of the returns he prepares annually claiming a refund. According to the complaint, in addition to seeking an injunction against Antwi and his businesses, the government requested an order of disgorgement to prevent Antwi and his businesses from profiting from their violation of the internal revenue laws.

By repeatedly understating his customers’ tax liabilities, the complaint alleges that the United States has been harmed by Antwi’s conduct resulting in the significant loss in tax revenue of an estimated $1,098,186 in 2020 alone.

Deputy Assistant General David A. Hubbert of the Justice Department’s Tax Division made the announcement.

Taxpayers seeking a return preparer should remain vigilant against unscrupulous tax preparers. The IRS has information on its website for choosing a tax return preparer and has launched a free directory of federal tax preparers.

In the past decade, the Justice Department’s Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department website. An alphabetical listing of persons enjoined from preparing returns and promoting tax schemes can be found on this page. If you believe that one of the enjoined persons or businesses may be violating an injunction, please contact the Tax Division with details.

Attorney General James Announces Takedowns of Firearms and Fentanyl Trafficking Networks Operating in Dutchess County

 

Four Individuals Indicted for Roles in Trafficking Ghost Guns and Assault Weapons

Seven Individuals Indicted for Roles in Trafficking Thousands of Counterfeit Oxycodone Pills Containing Fentanyl

 New York Attorney General Letitia James announced the takedowns of a gun trafficking network that sold ghost guns and assault-style rifles and a narcotics trafficking network that distributed counterfeit oxycodone pills containing deadly amounts of fentanyl in Dutchess County. The takedowns recovered 31 firearms, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, approximately 5,000 counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl with a street value of about $150,000, and approximately $55,000 in cash. As part of a 154-count indictment, four defendants are charged with trafficking numerous firearms, including ghost guns, assault weapons, and high-capacity magazines. In addition, a 63-count indictment charges seven defendants with trafficking thousands of counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl. 

“The individuals arrested operated a dangerous network that trafficked untraceable ghost guns and flooded New York communities with fentanyl,” said Attorney General James. “Today’s takedowns send a clear message that we will not allow anyone to fuel the epidemics of gun violence and drug addiction with their illegal activities. This operation was made possible through my office’s partnerships with state and local law enforcement, and I thank the New York State Police and our other partners for their hard work to bring these individuals to justice. I will continue to use my office to protect the safety of all New Yorkers.”

“I commend the New York Attorney General’s Office, the members of our New York State Police Special Investigations Unit, and our VGNET team for their extraordinary work in dismantling these firearm and drug trafficking networks,” said New York State Police Acting Superintendent Steven G. James. “Their vigilance has stopped the infiltration of these guns and the flow of deadly narcotics into our communities as well as the crimes that are perpetuated by them. Each arrest, each seizure saves lives.”

These takedowns were the result of an eighteen-month joint investigation led by the Office of the Attorney General’s (OAG) Organized Crime Task Force (OCTF) and the New York State Police’s (NYSP) Special Investigations Unit – Hudson Valley (SIU-HV) and Troop K – Violent Gang and Narcotics Enforcement Team (K-VGNET).

The investigation began in April 2022 and centered around the activities of Muayad Qader, who sold firearms and drugs out of a Valero gas station in LaGrangeville where he worked, as well as his home in Poughkeepsie. During the investigation, the defendants and their co-conspirators frequently utilized coded and cryptic terminology in an attempt to disguise their illicit activities, such as referring to ghost guns as “ghosties,” and the counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl as “erks,” “urks,” and “percs.”

The investigation included hundreds of hours of physical and covert surveillance, court-authorized wiretapping of cellular telephones, the analysis of electronic evidence, including cellular telephonic communications, and other traditional investigative operations. 

Firearms Trafficking Network

During the course of the investigation, Qader’s primary supplier of firearms was Jason Knapp. Knapp assembled ghost guns and supplied high-capacity magazines for Qader to sell. Qader’s other suppliers included Joseph Silverman and Louis Gonzalez, who supplied him with other firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

The investigation into the firearms trafficking network led to the recovery of:

1. 31 firearms, including 14 un-serialized AR-style ghost gun rifles, two serialized non-compliant AR-style rifles, a defaced AR-style rifle, a defaced magazine-fed shotgun, a Polymer-80 ghost gun pistol, and a defaced Glock-21 pistol.
2. An AR-style ghost gun upper receiver and an AR-style ghost gun lower receiver.
3. 19 high-capacity magazines.
4. Hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

The 154-count gun trafficking indictment, unsealed before the Honorable Edward McLoughlin of Dutchess County Court, contains counts for various felony firearms offenses, including charges against Qader and Knapp for Criminal Sale of a Firearm in the First Degree, a class B felony, which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison, and various counts of Criminal Sale of a Firearm (class C and D felonies) and Criminal Possession of a Weapon (class C and D felonies), as well as Conspiracy to commit those crimes.

Narcotics Trafficking Network

Beginning in January 2023, investigators also uncovered Qader’s drug trafficking operation, in which he sourced counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl from several individuals in Dutchess County. The pills were dyed and stamped to resemble prescription oxycodone, but contained only fentanyl, putting users in grave danger. The investigation revealed a drug trafficking network in which Curtis Holland would supply pills to Isaiah Atkins, who would then supply Qader’s primary source, Aaron Steppe. Steppe would meet Qader at the Valero station, transporting the pills in his car with his roommate, Christopher Evans, or his girlfriend, Angel Williams. Additionally, the investigation revealed that Stephen Gary supplied counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl to Qader at the Valero Gas Station.

The investigation into the narcotics trafficking network led to the recovery of:

1. Approximately 5,000 counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl, with an approximate street value of $150,000.
2. Drug paraphernalia, including bags and scales, used to package and measure narcotics.
3. Approximately $55,000 in cash.

The 63-count narcotics trafficking indictment, also unsealed in Dutchess County Court, contains counts for various felony narcotics offenses, including charges against Qader, Steppe, Atkins, and Gary for Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the First Degree, a class A2 felony, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, and various counts of Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance (class B felonies) and Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance (class A2 and B felonies), as well as Conspiracy to commit those crimes. 

Firearms and ammunition recovered by the investigation 

Counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl 

Those charged in these two indictments include:

Muayad Qader a/k/a/ “JUNIOR”, 34 years old, Poughkeepsie, New York

Joseph Silverman a/k/a/ “JOEY”, 30 years old, Port St. Lucie, Florida

Louis Gonzalez, 53 years old, LaGrangeville, New York

Jason Knapp, 43 years old, Verbank, New York

Isaiah Atkins, 27 years old, Poughkeepsie, New York

Christopher Evans, 34 years old, Poughkeepsie, New York

Stephen Gary, 39 years old, LaGrangeville, New York

Curtis Holland, 32 years old, Poughkeepsie, New York

Aaron Steppe, 29 years old, Poughkeepsie, New York

Angel Williams, 24 years old, Poughkeepsie, New York

The charges against the defendants are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The multi-agency investigation brought together the resources of state and local law enforcement agencies led by the Attorney General’s OCTF, including NYSP K-VGNET, NYSP SIU-HV, and the Poughkeepsie Police Department. 

This takedown marks the latest major drug bust in OAG’s Suburban and Upstate Response to the Growing Epidemic (SURGE) Initiative, a law enforcement effort that brings together state and local law enforcement to target New York’s heroin, opioid, and narcotics trafficking networks. Since launching in 2017, SURGE has taken 942 alleged traffickers off the streets.

These are the latest ghost gun and narcotics takedown led by Attorney General James. In December 2023, Attorney General James and the New York State Police indicted a Manhattan man for trafficking guns and narcotics, In November 2023, Attorney General James announced the takedown of a drug trafficking ring in the Capital Region. Also in November 2023, Attorney General James announced the takedown of two major drug trafficking networks that were distributing fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine, and cocaine in Central New York. In June 2023, Attorney General James announced the takedown of a major narcotics trafficking ring in the Finger Lakes region that distributed fentanyl, cocaine, heroin, and other dangerous drugs. In March 2023, Attorney General James announced the takedown of a ghost gun and narcotics trafficking operation in New York City. In December 2022, Attorney General James announced the takedown of a ghost gun trafficking operation in Queens and Westchester counties. 

The investigation was led by Investigators from NYSP SIU-HV, under the supervision of NYSP SIU Major Samuel Spezio and Lieutenant Jan Anthony, Investigators from NYSP K-VGNET, under the supervision of NYSP Troop K Major Kathryne Rohde and VGNET Lieutenant Trenee Young, and OCTF Detective Steven Cohan and OCTF Detective David Walsh, under the supervision of OCTF Detective Supervisor Bradford Miller, OCTF Downstate Assistant Chief Ismael Hernandez, and OCTF Deputy Chief Andrew Boss. The Attorney General’s Investigations Division is led by Chief Oliver Pu-Folkes. 

In addition to the above listed law enforcement partners, Attorney General James would also like to thank Dutchess County District Attorney Anthony Parisi, the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office, the City of Poughkeepsie Police Department, and the Dutchess County Drug Task Force for their assistance throughout the investigation.