Thank you for joining us for another week in review.
In partnership with our Bronx Higher Education Task Force, we are excited to announce the return of our Bronx Higher Education College Fair on March 7th at Bronx Community College. Perspective students will speak to representatives from various Bronx colleges and universities, obtain information on financial aid and scholarships, and learn more about workforce development and degree programs. Education can be the pathway to success, and we want to ensure our residents have the tools to pursue a higher education degree and potential career. Click here to register!
Our Community Board application is still live, and we are encouraging eligible candidates, 16 years or older, to apply to have a say in their community! Joining your local community board is one of the most direct forms of democracy in our city and can have a tremendous impact on your neighborhood. If you join your local community board, you will:
Gain valuable life skills and experience.
Connect with like-minded peers.
Make a positive impact on your community.
Advocate for change.
Click here to apply before the March 1st deadline! Our application is available in English and Spanish.
Lastly, a reminder that it is heat season through May 31st. If you do not have heat or hot water in your apartment, please contact 311 immediately.
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact our office at 718-590-3500 or email us at webmail@bronxbp.nyc.gov.
In partnership,
Bronx Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson
I want to thank the New York State Department of Labor and participating employers for their partnership on our Annual Career Fair at Bronx Borough Hall. Even as we have seen a decrease in our borough’s unemployment rate, it’s important we continue to connect our residents and families to future employment and career opportunities.
Through career fairs, we are creating pathways to the middle class and dismantling barriers that have historically prevented many of our residents from achieving economic prosperity and from obtaining long-term employment.
Last week, our Deputy Bronx Borough President joined Univision in presenting Prince Royce with a Key to the Borough. A Bronx resident, Bronx Walk of Fame inductee, award winning musical artist and now - a Key to the Borough recipient! We are so proud of all that Prince Royce has been able to accomplish and that he proudly represents our beautiful borough.
Local sales tax collections in New York state increased by 0.3% in January compared to the same month in 2023, according to data released today by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. Overall, local collections totaled nearly $1.9 billion, up $4.8 million from the same time last year.
“Year-over-year growth in local sales tax collections has slowed significantly, with a nearly flat increase this January compared to last year when inflation was more than twice as high and New York City’s taxable sales were surging,” DiNapoli said. “With overall growth having moderated over the course of 2023, local officials should remain cautious in their sales tax revenue projections for 2024.”
In January 2024:
New York City’s collections totaled $873 million, an increase of 3.5%, or $29 million, from a year earlier.
County and city collections in the rest of the state totaled $910 million, a decrease of -2.8%.
Fewer than half (27 of 57) of counties experienced year-over-year increases.
These monthly sales tax collections are from the cash distributions made to counties and tax-imposing cities by the state Department of Taxation and Finance, and the amounts are based on estimates of what each municipality is due. In the third month of each calendar year quarter, these distributions are adjusted upward or downward, so that the quarter as a whole reflects reported sales by vendors. The next quarterly numbers (for January to March) will be available in April.
First Defendant Ever Charged With Violating Anti-Doping Act Sentenced to Three Months in Prison for Distributing Performance-Enhancing Drugs in an Effort to Taint the 2020 Tokyo Olympics
Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that ERIC LIRA was sentenced to three months in prison by U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield for his role in providing banned performance-enhancing drugs (“PEDs”) to Olympic athletes in advance of the 2020 Summer Olympic Games held in Tokyo in 2021. LIRA is the first defendant to be charged and convicted, following his guilty plea in May 2023, under the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act, which criminalizes the operation of doping schemes for the purpose of influencing international sports competitions, such as the Olympic Games.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “This sentence sends a clear message: violating the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act comes with serious consequences up to and including incarceration. That message is especially important this year with the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Paris. It is imperative that those tempted to supply performance-enhancing drugs to Olympians understand the severity of their actions. Doping not only distorts fair play but also erodes the essence of sportsmanship, tarnishing the sanctity of international sporting events and betraying the trust of athletes and spectators alike. It has no place in any community, and this Office is committed to rooting out efforts to compromise the integrity of sports and other affected events.”
According to the allegations contained in the Complaint, the Indictment, other filings in this case, and statements during court proceedings:
The charges in this case arise from an investigation of a scheme to provide Olympic athletes with PEDs, including drugs widely banned throughout competitive sports, such as human growth hormone and the “blood building” drug erythropoietin, in advance of and for the purpose of corrupting the 2020 Olympic Games, which convened in Tokyo in the summer of 2021. LIRA, who claims to be a “kinesiologist and naturopathic” doctor operating principally in and around El Paso, Texas, obtained unapproved versions of these and other prescription drugs from sources in Central and South America before bringing those drugs into the U.S. and distributing them to, among others, the two athletes referred to in the Indictment. Throughout the scheme, LIRA and an athlete competing for Nigeria communicated via encrypted electronic communications regarding the sale, shipment, and use of LIRA’s illegal drugs and specifically discussed the “testability” of those drugs by anti-doping authorities. LIRA separately communicated with an athlete competing for Switzerland via encrypted electronic communications on the use of human growth hormone and erythropoietin. Both athletes tested positive for prohibited substances, and in both cases, LIRA directly and indirectly advised that the athletes should blame the positive drug test on contaminated meat, knowing full well that the drug tests had accurately detected the presence of banned, performance-enhancing drugs.
In addition to the prison term, LIRA, 44, of El Paso, Texas, was sentenced to one year of supervised release and ordered to forfeit $16,410.
Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) and the FBI’s Integrity in Sports and Gaming Initiative. Mr. Williams also thanked the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency for their support of this investigation.
This case is being handled by the Office’s Illicit Finance & Money Laundering Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sarah Mortazavi, Josiah Pertz, and Benjamin A. Gianforti are in charge of the prosecution.
Takeshi Ebisawa, Leader within the Yakuza Transnational Organized Crime Syndicate, Allegedly Trafficked Nuclear Materials, Including Uranium and Weapons-Grade Plutonium
A superseding indictment was unsealed in Manhattan today charging a Japanese national with conspiring with a network of associates to traffic nuclear materials from Burma to other countries.
According to court documents, Takeshi Ebisawa, 60, and co-defendant Somphop Singhasiri, 61, were previously charged in April 2022 with international narcotics trafficking and firearms offenses, and both have been ordered detained.
“The defendant stands accused of conspiring to sell weapons grade nuclear material and lethal narcotics from Burma, and to purchase military weaponry on behalf of an armed insurgent group,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “It is chilling to imagine the consequences had these efforts succeeded and the Justice Department will hold accountable those who traffic in these materials and threaten U.S. national security and international stability.”
“As alleged, the defendant brazenly trafficked material containing uranium and weapons-grade plutonium from Burma to other countries,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York. “He did so while believing that the material was going to be used in the development of a nuclear weapons program, and while also negotiating for the purchase of deadly weapons. It is impossible to overstate the seriousness of this conduct. I want to thank the career prosecutors of my office and our law enforcement partners for ensuring that the defendant will now face justice in an American court.”
“As alleged, the defendants in this case trafficked in drugs, weapons, and nuclear material – going so far as to offer uranium and weapons-grade plutonium fully expecting that Iran would use it for nuclear weapons,” said Administrator Anne Milgram of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). “This is an extraordinary example of the depravity of drug traffickers who operate with total disregard for human life. I commend the men and women of DEA and this prosecution team for their tireless work to protect us from such evil.”
According to the allegations contained in the indictment, beginning in early 2020, Ebisawa informed UC-1 and a DEA confidential source (CS-1) that Ebisawa had access to a large quantity of nuclear materials that he wanted to sell. Later that year, Ebisawa sent UC-1 a series of photographs depicting rocky substances with Geiger counters measuring radiation, as well as pages of what Ebisawa represented to be lab analyses indicating the presence of thorium and uranium in the depicted substances. In response to Ebisawa’s repeated inquiries, UC-1 agreed, as part of the DEA’s investigation, to help Ebisawa broker the sale of his nuclear materials to UC-1’s associate, who was posing as an Iranian general (the General), for use in a nuclear weapons program. Ebisawa then offered to supply the General with “plutonium” that would be even “better” and more “powerful” than uranium for this purpose. An example of a photograph sent by Ebisawa is shown below:
Source: Superseding Indictment, filed publicly in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, case S3:22-cr-2566.
Photo sent by the defendant depicting rock substances with Geiger counters measuring radiation.
During their discussions regarding Ebisawa’s access to nuclear materials, Ebisawa also engaged with UC-1 concerning Ebisawa’s desire to purchase military-grade weapons. To that end, in May 2021, Ebisawa sent UC-1 a list of weapons, including surface-to-air missiles, that Ebisawa wished to purchase from UC-1 on behalf of the leader of an ethnic insurgent group in Burma (CC-1). Together with two other co-conspirators (CC-2 and CC-3), Ebisawa proposed to UC-1 that CC-1 sell uranium to the General, through Ebisawa, to fund CC-1’s weapons purchase. On a Feb.4, 2022 videoconference, CC-2 told UC-1 that CC-1 had available more than 2,000 kilograms of Thorium-232 and more than 100 kilograms of uranium in the compound U3O8 — referring to a compound of uranium commonly found in the uranium concentrate powder known as “yellowcake” — and that CC-1 could produce as much as five tons of nuclear materials in Burma. CC-2 also advised that CC-1 had provided samples of the uranium and thorium, which CC-2 was prepared to show to UC-1’s purported buyers. CC-2 noted that the samples should be packed “to contain . . . the radiation.”
About one week later, Ebisawa, CC-2 and CC-3 participated in a series of meetings with UC-1 and CS-1 in Southeast Asia to discuss their ongoing weapons, narcotics, and nuclear materials transactions. During one of these meetings, CC-2 asked UC-1 to meet in CC-2’s hotel room. Inside the room, CC-2 showed UC-1 two plastic containers, each holding a powdery yellow substance (the Nuclear Samples), which CC-2 described as “yellowcake.” CC-2 advised that one container held a sample of uranium in the compound U3O8, and the other container held Thorium-232. UC-1 photographed and video-recorded the Nuclear Samples, an example image of which is shown below:
Source: Superseding Indictment, filed publicly in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, case S3:22-cr-2566.
Photo of the Nuclear Samples
With the assistance of Thai authorities, the Nuclear Samples were seized and subsequently transferred to the custody of U.S. law enforcement authorities. A U.S. nuclear forensic laboratory examined the Nuclear Samples and determined that both samples contain detectable quantities of uranium, thorium and plutonium. In particular, the laboratory determined that the isotope composition of the plutonium found in the Nuclear Samples is weapons-grade, meaning that the plutonium, if produced in sufficient quantities, would be suitable for use in a nuclear weapon.
A table containing the charges and maximum penalties for Ebisawa and Singhasiri is set forth below. The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by a judge.
Count
Defendant(s)
Maximum Penalty
Count One: conspiracy to commit international trafficking of nuclear materials
Ebisawa
20 years in prison
Count Two: international trafficking of nuclear materials
Ebisawa
10 years in prison
Count Three: narcotics importation conspiracy
Ebisawa and Singhasiri
Life in prison; mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison
Count Four: conspiracy to possess firearms, including machineguns and destructive devices
Singhasiri
Life in prison
Count Five: conspiracy to acquire, transfer, and possess surface-to-air missiles.
Ebisawa
Life in prison; mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years in prison
Count Six: narcotics importation conspiracy
Ebisawa
Life in prison; mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison
Count Seven: conspiracy to possess firearms, including machine guns and destructive devices
Ebisawa
Life in prison
Count Eight: money laundering
Ebisawa
20 years in prison
The DEA Special Operations Division Bilateral Investigations Unit is investigating the case, with valuable assistance provided by the DEA Tokyo Country Office, DEA Bangkok Country Office, DEA Chiang Mai Resident Office, DEA Jakarta Country Office, DEA Copenhagen Country Office, DEA New York Field Office, DEA New Delhi Country Office, the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section, and law enforcement partners in Indonesia, Japan and the Kingdom of Thailand.
Trial Attorney Dmitry Slavin of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alexander Li, Kaylan E. Lasky and Kevin T. Sullivan for the Southern District of New York are prosecuting the case.
This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at www.justice.gov/OCDETF.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
City to Implement Additional 10 Percent Savings on Budgeted City-Funded Asylum Seeker Costs in FY25 Executive Budget — On Top of 20 Percent Cut Previously Announced — While Continuing to Provide Migrants With Intensive Case Work to Build Self-Sufficient Lives
Moody’s Investors Service Applauds Adams Administration’s for “Robust Financial Management,” “Successful Implementation of Budget Measures to Help Close Budget Gaps”
New York City Mayor Eric Adams today announced the cancellation of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Executive Budget Program to Eliminate the Gap (PEG) for city agencies — a direct result of decisive actions early on by the Adams administration to stabilize the budget through continued strong fiscal management, better-than-expected economic performance in 2023 that resulted in an upward revision to the city’s tax revenue forecast, and additional cuts to asylum seeker spending. The Adams administration is more specifically cutting an additional 10 percent in budgeted city-funded asylum seeker costs on top of the successful 20 percent asylum seeker PEG in the Preliminary Budget that already saved more than $1.7 billion in city spending, while continuing intensive case work for migrants to help them on their path to self-sufficiency. In addition to cancelling the city agency PEGs, the administration is moving from a near full hiring freeze to a 2-for-1 model and easing other than personal spending (OTPS) freeze restrictions.
“Our administration came into office with a mission to protect public safety, rebuild our economy, and make our city more livable for everyday New Yorkers. After two years of hard work, we are heading in the right direction: Jobs are up, crime is down, tourists are back, and we are delivering for working-class New Yorkers every day,” said Mayor Adams. “And despite facing a perfect fiscal storm that included a multi-billion-dollar budget gap driven by an asylum seeker crisis, the sunsetting of COVID-19 federal stimulus funding, and the cost of inherited outstanding labor costs, our administration was able to successfully make the strong fiscal decisions to navigate us to prosperity. The combination of our tough, but necessary financial management decisions, including cutting asylum seeker spending by billions of dollars, along with better-than-expected economic performance in 2023, is allowing us to cancel the last round of spending cuts, as well as lift the near total freezes on city hiring and other than personal spending. Make no mistake — we are not yet out of the woods, as we still need Albany and Washington, D.C. to play their roles in providing New Yorkers with additional support. But this new chapter is the result of a full collaboration across city government, our nonprofit partners, and so many others, and will allow us to continue to deliver on our mission for a safer, cleaner, more prosperous New York City for all.”
Last summer, the city faced a multi-billion budget gap due to the growing asylum seeker crisis, drying up federal COVID-19 stimulus funding, expenses from labor contracts this administration inherited that went unresolved for years, and slowing tax revenue growth. To manage these concerns, the administration implemented PEG savings programs and a near total freeze on hiring and other than personnel spending in the November Financial Plan, as well as in the Preliminary and Executive Budgets. But, as a direct result of the Adams administration’s proactive fiscal management and decisive action, the administration achieved a record $6.6 billion in PEG savings over FY24 and FY25 in the November Financial Plan and the Preliminary Budget. This included $1.7 billion in asylum seeker PEG savings — a 20 percent cut — achieved over FY24 and FY25 by helping put migrants on a path to self-sufficiency with intensified case management and reducing the household per-diem costs of providing care.
These actions helped balance the FY25 Preliminary Budget and stabilize the city’s financial position without layoffs, tax hikes, or major disruptions to city services — and their success, along with another 10 percent in migrant spending cuts and better-than-expected tax revenue growth, have allowed the administration to restore funding for savings initiatives that are mayoral priorities related to public safety, quality of life, and young people, as well as fully cancel the FY25 Executive Budget agency PEG.
New York City has continued to effectively manage the asylum seeker humanitarian crisis largely on its own without substantial aid. To date, New York City has provided care for more than 178,600 asylum seekers, with approximately 65,000 currently still in the city’s care. The city has also provided case management, shelter, food, and more to asylum seekers; stood up navigation centers with support from community-based organizations to connect new arrivals with critical resources; and enrolled tens of thousands of school-aged children to public schools through Project Open Arms. As a result of the administration’s responsible policies — including providing 30 to 60 days of intensified case management — more than 60 percent of the asylum seekers who have come through the city’s intake center have left the city’s care and are taking the next steps in their journeys towards self-sufficiency. Additionally, as of the Preliminary Budget, daily growth of the number of migrant households in the city’s care had slowed by nearly 60 percent since the implementation of these policies. Through the Asylum Application Help Center and the city’s satellite sites, the city has helped submit more than 35,000 work authorization, temporary protected status, and asylum applications — moving asylum seekers that much closer to being able to legally work and be self-sufficient.
A federal jury in the District of Columbia convicted two Chinese nationals for participating in a sophisticated scheme in which they submitted more than 5,000 inauthentic phones to Apple Inc., intending to cause a loss of more than $3 million to Apple.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, from May 2017 to September 2019, Haotian Sun, also known as Hao Sun, Jack Sun, and Frank Sun, 33, of Baltimore, Maryland, and Pengfei Xue, 33, of Germantown, Maryland, along with their co-conspirators, submitted counterfeit iPhones to Apple for repair to get Apple to exchange them with genuine replacement iPhones. Sun and Xue received shipments of inauthentic iPhones from Hong Kong at UPS mailboxes throughout the D.C. Metropolitan area. They then submitted the fake iPhones, with spoofed serial numbers and/or IMEI numbers, to Apple retail stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers.
In 2017, Sun opened eight UPS Store mailboxes using his Maryland driver’s license and university identification card. U.S. postal inspectors arrested Sun and Xue in December 2019.
The jury convicted Sun and Xue of mail fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud. They are scheduled to be sentenced on June 21 and each face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves for the District of Columbia, Inspector in Charge Damon Wood of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) Washington Division, and Special Agent in Charge Derek W. Gordon of the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Washington Field Office made the announcement.
Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced that nine Rikers Island inmates
have been indicted on Attempted Gang Assault in the First Degree and other related charges for
pummeling and stomping on an inmate, leaving him unconscious.
District Attorney Clark said, “Brutality in the jails will not be tolerated. These defendants
allegedly carried out an unprovoked assault on a fellow inmate, fracturing his nose, and now they
are being held accountable. But beyond our prosecution of violence, there must be prevention of
these incidents.”
District Attorney Clark said the defendants, Najee Johnson, 22, Nasir Gutzman, 26, Jerrold
Merriweather, 25, Darius Johnson, 24, Reggie Johnson, 24, Michael Rogers, 23,David Medrano
Torres, 26, Lloyd McLean, 28, and Zachary Quiles, 27, were indicted on Attempted Gang Assault
in the first degree, second-degree Assault and third-degree Assault. All but Marriweather were
arraigned on February 13, 14 and 15 in Bronx Supreme Court and they are due back in court on
April 16, 2024.
Bail was set for McLean and Gutzman at $75,000 cash, $150,000 bond by Bronx Supreme
Court Justice Steven Hornstein. Bail was set for Quiles and Darius Johnson at $5,000 cash,
$20,000 bond. Bail for the remaining four defendants was set at $2,500 cash, $20,000 bond by
Bronx Supreme Court Justice Brenda Rivera.
According to the investigation, on December 25, 2023 in the Eric M. Taylor Center on
Rikers Island, the defendants, who were serving sentences of one year in jail, acted in concert to
attack a 39-year-old inmate, punching, kicking, and stomping the victim repeatedly. The victim
was also struck multiple times with a plastic chair. The victim lost consciousness and sustained
bruising, swelling as well as a fractured nasal bone. He was transported via EMS to a hospital for
treatment.
District Attorney Clark thanked Department of Correction Central Intelligence Bureau
Investigators Korab Hasangjekaj, James Ruiz, Walter Holmes and Jeffrey Rios, for their work in
the investigation.
An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.
Teen Girl and 21-Year-Old Man Died; Another Girl Critically Injured
Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced that a Queens man has been
indicted for Manslaughter, Criminally Negligent Homicide and other related charges for
speeding and recklessly driving his car, which crashed into a fuel truck, killing two people and
critically injuring a third who were passengers in his vehicle.
District Attorney Clark said, “Two people died and a third suffered life-threatening
injuries because of the defendant’s alleged stunt driving on a Bronx street in the presence of
numerous bystanders and other vehicles. His car careened into a fuel oil truck, and it is fortunate
that more lives were not ruined.”
District Attorney Clark said Enrique Lopez, 23, of Beach 28 Street, Queens, was arraigned
today on two counts of second-degree Manslaughter, three counts of second-degree Assault,
third-degree Criminal Possession of Stolen Property, two counts of Criminally Negligent
Homicide, Endangering the Welfare of a Child, fourth-degree Criminal Mischief, second-degree
Reckless Endangerment, Reckless Driving and Speed, Contests, Races before Bronx Supreme
Court Justice Brenda Rivera who also suspended Lopez’s driver’s license at the People’s request.
The defendant is due back in court on June 5, 2024.
According to the investigation, on January 21, 2024, at approximately 3:17 a.m., near Viele
Avenue and Bryant Avenue in Huntsvehicle to defendant, driving a 2013 Chrysler 300 with three
passengers inside, allegedly performed stunt driving maneuvers including spinning rapidly in
circles near bystanders on the street and other vehicles, made rapid accelerations and turns, and
then accelerated his motor vehicle to more than twice the legal speed limit of 25 miles per hour,
before crossing the double yellow line and crashing sideways into a truck filled with fuel oil.
Sabrina Villagomez, 15, who was seated in the backseat of the car, was killed, along with
Giovante Roberson, 21, who was seated in the front passenger seat. A 17-year-old who was seated
in the rear of the vehicle was placed into a medically induced coma for injuries sustained from
the crash. The investigation revealed that the defendant’s car contained a stolen Hellcat engine.
District Attorney Clark thanked NYPD Officer Douglas Gerber of the NYPD Collision
Investigation Squad for his work on the case.
An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.
