MAYOR DE BLASIO, COMPTROLLER STRINGER AND TRUSTEES TAKE MAJOR NEXT STEP TO ACHIEVE FOSSIL FUEL DIVESTMENT

Advisers selected to analyze, evaluate and recommend fossil fuel divestment plans for New York City’s largest pension funds

 Mayor Bill de Blasio and Comptroller Scott M. Stringer, along with trustees of three of the City’s pension funds, announced today the next major step toward achieving a first-in-the-nation goal to divest New York City’s largest pension funds from fossil fuel companies. The selection of advisers to evaluate options and recommend divestment actions has been completed and will inform the development of a comprehensive and prudent divestment strategy to preserve the retirement funds of City employees and address climate change risks, consistent with fiduciary duty. New York City is the first city in the nation to take this major and necessary step to address the financial and environmental risks of fossil fuel holdings to the funds and to our planet.

The Comptroller’s office also released a new Notice of Search (NOS) for City pension funds’ investment in climate solutions. The pension funds will select public markets investment managers to help double the City’s investments in climate solutions, investment in companies that generate revenue from climate mitigation, adaption and resiliency such as renewable energy, energy efficiency, green buildings and electric vehicle energy storage, which supports the City’s efforts to achieve the Paris Agreement.

“While the Trump Administration fails to address global warming as the crisis it is, New York City is taking action,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “We are dedicated to delivering what we owe to our children and grandchildren, which is why we’re the first in the nation to take major steps to divest from fossil fuels and invest in climate solutions.”

“New York City is standing up for our people, our pensioners, and the only planet we have because the future is on the side of big ideas in clean energy--not big polluters,” said New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer. “Climate change is the most pressing challenge of our time, and we need to meet our climate emergency with every tool at our disposal to protect our children and our children’s children. In accordance with our fiduciary duty, the Trustees are taking the next major step in our first-in-the-nation divestment goal and leading the charge toward a clean, green and sustainable economy.​ Our city workers and our future deserve nothing less.”

Divestment Contracts:

In January 2018, the trustees announced a goal to divest from fossil fuel reserve owners within five years. The contracts to advise on the divestment plan will be awarded to Meketa Investment Group for New York Employees’ Retirement System (NYCERS), New York City Board of Education Retirement System (BERS) and New York City Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS). TRS will also contract with BlackRock Financial Management, Inc. These three funds, with total holdings of more than $155 billion, hold roughly $3 billion in the securities of fossil fuel reserve owners.  The pension funds’ move to divest from these companies is among one of the most significant divestment efforts in the country to date. 

With the award of these contracts, the City pension funds are on track to have actionable plans to divest from fossil fuel reserve owners by late 2020.  The expectation is that the pension fund boards will be able to adopt a plan and begin execution in 2021.

Climate Solutions Investment Search:

The funds’ goal is to double investments in climate solutions such as wind, solar power, energy efficient buildings and more to over $4 billion by 2021. The search issued by the Comptroller’s office Bureau of Asset Management seeks to identify public market investments in companies and strategies engaged in climate change mitigation, adaptation and resiliency.  

Toolkit and Divest/Invest Forum:

In addition to the progress mentioned above, the City is working to leverage our national and international partnerships to inspire other municipal leaders and governments to take similar actions, scale up their climate actions, and help to create a more inclusive economy for everyone. As such, New York City launched a toolkit in close partnership with the city of London and C40 Cities. This new guide was prepared as part of the C40 Divest/Invest Forum, a first-of-its-kind initiative that helps urban leaders make the leap to effective and efficient divestment and accelerate green investment. The Forum has fourteen participating cities to date, including the latest joiners Auckland, Melbourne and Stockholm.

From March 16-18, 2020, city leaders will come together in New York City to share their progress and experience in divesting from fossil fuel companies and increasing investment in climate solutions. 

“Confronting our climate crisis requires bold action and leadership.  By divesting from fossil fuels and investing in climate solutions, New York City is demonstrating a Green New Deal to the world and protecting the retirements of the City workforce,” said Daniel Zarrilli, NYC’s Chief Climate Policy Advisor and OneNYC Director. “We encourage all investors to follow our lead so that we can end the age of fossil fuels and secure a livable future for the next generation. Thanks to the pension trustees for their continued leadership.”

Henry Garrido, DC37 Executive Director and NYCERS trustee said, “As NYCERS trustee and as Executive Director of District Council 37, New York City’s largest municipal employee union, I’m pleased to support the hiring of Meketa Investment Group as fossil fuel stocks divestiture consultant for NYCERS. Fossil fuel divestment must be responsible and thoughtful and the vast experience that Dr. Sarah Bernstein and her team at Meketa bring to this assignment helps ensure that it will be. Divestment of NYCERS’ investment portfolio away from fossil fuels is a necessary first step to transitioning to a renewable and sustainable future and there is no time to lose. I am proud to stand with Mayor de Blasio, Comptroller Stringer, and my fellow trustees on this historic occasion.”

UFT President Michael Mulgrew said, “Climate change is a pressing issue, and divestment from fossil fuel companies is one tactic to combat it. Our goal with these studies is to find strategies that help address this critical worldwide problem while ensuring the health of our pension system and the safety of our members' contributions.”

OcasioCortez.com - Double standards

One thing is clear: the DCCC has a double standard for how they talk about moderate, Blue Dog Dems and progressive candidates for Congress.

Blue Dogs in Congress have spent years attacking progressive values, breaking the party line, and sinking progressive legislation.

Many of them have refused to pay their dues to the DCCC.

But the moment that AOC says she’s not going to hand over your contributions to help protect corporate Democrats? The head of the DCCC goes on national television to criticize us.

But their words won’t deter us. This week we founded a new PAC, Courage to Change, to build infrastructure for progressive candidates who need our help.

The DCCC’s bias against progressives hurts our party. It’s bad enough that they use pour millions of dollars into campaigns to help protect anti-choice, pro-corporate, pro-Trump incumbents who don’t listen to Democratic voters.

But they also have an on-the-books policy of blacklisting teams that work with progressive challengers — even if the people they’re primarying vote with Trump, advocate for the end of Roe v. Wade, or side with the NRA.

Here’s a promise: we’ll never hand over your small-dollar contributions to organizations like the DCCC as long as they support conservative, corporate Democrats.

We’ll directly support red-to-blue progressives, political newcomers, and working-class candidates — because someone has to.

In solidarity,

Team AOC

Our Bronx Revolution/Carlos Suarez - Electing Bernie Sanders the Democratic Nominee

OUR BRONX REVOLUTION (OBR)

We have finished collecting petitions for Bernie Sanders and his delegates in the Bronx. Thanks to so many volunteers, we have gathered more than enough signatures to put a champion on the ballot (Bernie Sanders). Next stage in the campaign is promoting the candidate and mobilize voters. Soon we’ll announce future events to take place in the Bronx.

Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark Town Hall Meeting on the New Criminal Justice Reform

South Bronx Unite - Sat, Jan 18, 1-3 pm, SBX Confronts Asthma Epidemic Head On

  

SBX Confronts Asthma Epidemic Head On Sat, Jan 18, 1-3 pm BronxArtSpace - 305 East 140th Street (at Alexander Avenue)

Join South Bronx Unite and Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory for the release of the findings on FreshDirect's impact on levels of black carbon, fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and noise in our community. Then help us: CONSTRUCT mobile air quality monitors as citizen scientists (with Columbia);  BUILD the case for community education and action for/towards environmental mitigation; and  UTILIZE grassroots healing efforts for health and well-being   *LUNCH, TRANSLATION, AND CHILDCARE PROVIDED*

RSVP THE RESULTS ARE IN: FOR 2 1/2 YEARS, WE HAVE SCIENTIFICALLY STUDIED AND RECORDED THE IMPACT ON AIR QUALITY OF FRESHDIRECT’S SUBSIDIZED MOVE TO THE SOUTH BRONX.  For the first time ever in the Mott Haven-Port Morris neighborhood, air quality, traffic counting and noise monitoring has occurred in one combined study. Since May 2017, South Bronx Unite has been collaborating with Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory* to measure black carbon, fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and noise before and after the opening of the $150 million city- and state-subsidized relocation of FreshDirect and its diesel trucking operation to Mott Haven. We now have the results! Join us to discuss the summary of our findings and the launching of a new citizen scientist pilot project to build and operate mobile air quality monitoring devices. BECOME A CITIZEN SCIENTIST, BUILD A MOBILE DEVICE AND DOCUMENT AIR QUALITY IN MOTT HAVEN. Join us in the next phase of documenting our air quality crisis to demand active and aggressive mitigation efforts in the South Bronx. We are continuing our collaboration with Columbia researcher to organize - for the first time ever -  an effort that enables our local community to build and operate mobile air quality monitors. Five community members will be the first to participate and record in real time air quality standards that they live and breathe every day.  HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS SUBSIDIZE ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION IN MOTT HAVEN-PORT MORRIS - NOT $1 GOES TOWARDS IMPROVING OUR AIR QUALITY! HELP US USE DATA TO ADVOCATE FOR GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE AND OTHER CREATIVE MITIGATION MEASURES! There are more than 3,000 linear miles of noise barriers built along US highways to divert noise. Not one inch is in Mott Haven-Port Morris. And cities all over the world are building green infrastructure - green walls, green roofs, vegetation barriers and street trees -  as one important part of improving air quality. Not one of these efforts have taken place in Mott Haven. Join us to brainstorm these and other outside-the-box solutions to the environmental crisis that exists in the South Bronx.  LEARN OTHER TECHNIQUES FOR HEALTH AND HEALING THROUGH ACUPUNCTURE AND ACUPRESSURE Learn about efforts to build a SAPP Healing in Community/Sanando en Comunidad in the South Bronx (see background here.) Also learn about and receive magnetic bead acupressure from Jo Ann Lenney - the very simple but profound technique of using a magnetic bead on each ear to help with trauma recovery and healing, the quieting of stress and anxiety (which trigger asthma attacks,) and relieving migraines and helping with wellness.  * Full academic collaborators included: Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA; Area of Cardiometabolic and Renal Risk, Institute for Biomedical Research INCLIVA, Valencia, Spain; Department of Statistics and Operational Research, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain; Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA; Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. ASTHMA ALLEY - Why we fight! ASTHMA ALLEY

Bronx Man Charged With 2015 Murder

  Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Dermot F. Shea, the Commissioner of the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”), announced the Indictment of BRYANT BROWN, a/k/a “Trigga,” for the murder of Albendris Nunez, 21, in the Bronx, New York, on December 20, 2015.  BROWN was taken into federal custody earlier today and will be presented this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Katherine H. Parker.  This case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer.    

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said:  “Albendris Nunez was 21 years old when he was murdered in Devoe Park.  As alleged in the Indictment, Bryant Brown was responsible for that murder.  Thanks to our outstanding partners at the NYPD, Brown now faces federal charges for this terrible crime.”

Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said:  “Early on a Sunday, Albendris Nunez was fatally shot on the street outside a Bronx park.  Four years later, our police officers and detectives, working with our law enforcement partners, have brought justice and proven the effectiveness of our unrelenting focus on fighting violent crime."

According to the allegations in the Indictment[1]:

On or about December 20, 2015, BROWN attempted to rob Nunez in vicinity of Devoe Park in the Bronx, New York, and in the course of that robbery Nunez was murdered.

BROWN, 25, of the Bronx, New York, is charged with one count of attempted robbery, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and one count of using a firearm to commit murder during a crime of violence, which carries a maximum penalty of death or life in prison, and a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison.  The maximum and minimum 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 the judge.

Mr. Berman praised the outstanding work of the NYPD..

The charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

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

Entrepreneur And Pharmaceutical Company Executive Convicted At Trial For Role In International Insider Trading Scheme

  Audrey Strauss, Attorney for the United States acting under authority conferred by 28 U.S.C. § 515, announced today that TELEMAQUE LAVIDAS was convicted after a one-week trial of illegally tipping his best friend and co-defendant Georgios Nikas with inside information he obtained from his father, a member of the board of directors of a pharmaceutical company. 

Deputy U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said:  “As the jury concluded, Telemaque Lavidas was a key player in a long-running international insider trading scheme.  Three times he received insider information from his father about Ariad Pharmaceuticals and passed it on to his friend Georgios Nikas, a criminal pipeline that earned its participants more than $15 million in illicit profits.  Lavidas now awaits sentencing for his crimes.”  

According to the allegations contained in the Superseding Indictment and evidence presented at trial:

Athanase Lavidas, the father of TELEMAQUE LAVIDAS, was a prominent Greek businessman and was a member of the board of directors of Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Ariad”), a pharmaceutical company headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that developed and marketed a leukemia medication named Iclusig.  In violation of his duties of confidentiality to Ariad, Athanase Lavidas provided TELEMAQUE LAVIDAS with tips about three major corporate developments at Ariad.  On each of those occasions, TELEMAQUE LAVIDAS provided that inside information to his best friend Georgios Nikas (“Nikas”) so that Nikas could make timely, profitable trades ahead of Ariad’s public announcements.

The first tip was in October 2013, when Athanase Lavidas learned that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) was concerned about potential adverse health issues for patients from Iclusig.  Athanase Lavidas contacted TELEMAQUE LAVIDAS to pass this secret information, and TELEMAQUE LAVIDAS passed that tip to Nikas, who had previously amassed a large long position in Ariad securities.  After receiving the inside information from TELEMAQUE LAVIDAS, Nikas sold his Ariad securities and took a substantial short position.  When Ariad publicly announced the patient safety issues, its stock declined by over 65% and Nikas made over $3.2 million in profits and avoided almost $800,000 in losses.  Ariad discontinued sales of Iclusig later in October.

The second tip was in November and December 2013, when Athanase Lavidas learned that Ariad and the FDA were making significant progress toward returning Iclusig to the market.  Athanase Lavidas passed this secret information to TELEMAQUE LAVIDAS, who in turn passed the tips to Nikas.  Nikas bought Ariad securities based on these tips, and when Ariad publicly announced at the end of December that Iclusig was returning to the market, its stock rose and Nikas made over $1.3 million in profits.

The third tip was in July and August 2015, when Ariad received an unsolicited takeover offer from another pharmaceutical company.  Again, Athanase Lavidas learned of the offer in his capacity as a board member, and informed TELEMAQUE LAVIDAS, who in turn passed the tip to Nikas.  Nikas again bought Ariad securities based on this tip, and when a news article was published in late August reporting on the takeover offer, Ariad’s stock rose and Nikas made over $2 million in profits.

Nikas also passed the tips he received from TELEMAQUE LAVIDAS to a series of stock traders.  In total, Nikas and the traders he tipped earned over $15 million in profits from the inside information that TELEMAQUE LAVIDAS provided.

TELEMAQUE LAVIDAS, 39, of New York, New York, and Greece, was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and securities fraud, three counts of substantive securities fraud under Title 15, United States Code, Sections 78j(b) and 78ff, one count of substantive wire fraud, and one count of substantive securities fraud under Title 18, United States Code, Section 1348.  The conspiracy counts carry maximum prison terms of five and 20 years, respectively; the substantive wire fraud and Title 15 securities fraud counts each carry a maximum sentence of 20 years.  The substantive Title 18 securities fraud count carries a maximum sentence of 25 years.  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 would be determined by the Court.

TELEMAQUE LAVIDAS is scheduled to be sentenced before Judge Cote on April 17, 2020, at 2:00 p.m.

Ms. Strauss praised the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and also thanked the SEC.

Manhattan Man Pleads Guilty To Child Pornography, Enticing A Minor To Have Sex

  Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that JOEL DAVIS pled guilty to enticing a child to engage in illegal sexual activity, possession of child pornography, and distribution and receipt of child pornography.  DAVIS faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum term of life in prison.  DAVIS pled guilty today before United States District Judge George B. Daniels.

U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said:  “As he admitted today, Joel Davis arranged to meet a 15-year-old boy for sex, and engaged in illegal sexual activity with the 15-year-old.  He also possessed child pornography that included children under the age of 12.  Davis rightly faces a lengthy prison sentence for victimizing children.”

According to the Information and other documents filed in the case to which DAVIS pled, as well as statements made during the plea proceeding:

In or about June 2018, DAVIS used a cellphone to arrange a meeting to engage in sexual activity with a 15-year-old boy and in fact met with the 15-year-old boy and engaged in illegal sexual activity.  In addition, between at least in or about May 2018 and June 2018, DAVIS possessed images and videos of child pornography, including images of prepubescent minors who were not yet 12 years old, and received and distributed material containing child pornography using a cellphone.

DAVIS, 24, of New York, New York, pled guilty to one count of enticement of a minor under the age of 18 to engage in sexual activity, which carries a mandatory minimum term of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life in prison; one count of possession of child pornography, which carries a mandatory minimum term of five years in prison and a maximum of 20 years in prison; and one count of receipt and distribution of child pornography, which carries a maximum term of imprisonment 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 the judge.

DAVIS is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Daniels on May 7, 2020, at 10:00 a.m.

Mr. Berman praised the outstanding work of the FBI in this investigation.