Showing posts with label corporate corruption. Show all posts
Showing posts with label corporate corruption. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Jo Hamilton, ex-official involved in St. Vincent's Hospital condo conversion, fined for ethics violations

Jo Hamilton was on the take

Jo Hamilton, former member of Manhattan Community Board 2, which rubber-stamped and fast-tracked the demolition and luxury condo conversion of St. Vincent's Hospital, was on the take.

From the Demand a Hospital listserv :

---------- Forwarded Message ----------
From: Demand A Hospital
To: Demand A Hospital
Subject: Jo Hamilton was on the take
Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 04:41:25 -0500

Dear All :

For a decade, Jo Hamilton was receiving free gifts from an entity that had business before Community Board 2. Please read the following reports :

    (i)    http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/community-board-member-fined-free-soho-house-membership-blog-entry-1.2022053

    (ii)    http://nypost.com/2014/11/25/board-member-fined-10k-over-free-soho-house-membership/

    (iii)    http://gothamist.com/2014/11/24/soho_house_2.php

    (iv)    http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20141124/meatpacking-district/community-board-2-member-fined-for-accepting-free-soho-house-membership

    (v)    http://www.scribd.com/doc/248068157/COIB-Disposition-CB

How many other members of Community Board 2 were on the take ?

What did the former chairs of CB2 and the former subcommittee chairs know about Jo Hamilton being on the take -- and when did they know it ?

How many lobbyists paid for entertainment, meals, and other gifts for members of CB2 that were never reported or may have crossed the line to be inappropriate or illegal ?

Never give up.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Tell Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo to stop closing our hospitals. Call 311 for the mayor and 1 (518) 474-8390 for the governor.

You can also tweet your concerns to : @BilldeBlasio -and- @NYGovCuomo

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Preet Bharara Expands Crackdown on Political Corruption, Empanels Grand Jury, Subpoenas JCOPE Complaints [UPDATED]

PUBLISHED : WED, 30 APR 2014, 09:51 PM
UPDATED : TUES, 05 MAY 2014, 10:30 AM

"Bharara’s broadening probe of pay-to-play Albany corruption is sure to send shockwaves through the state capital in an election year."

preet bharara photo: Preet Bharara - The Only Policeman In New York State Preet-Bharara-dbpix-henning-tmagArticle-NYTimes_zpsaf6e1719.jpg

Weeks after Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, took possession of the investigation files of the now defunct Moreland Commission, the corruption-fighting prosecutor has empaneled a grand jury that has now subpoenaed each of the complaints lodged with the state's ethics panel known as the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, or JCOPE, and the records from members of the aborted Moreland Commission.

Mr. Bharara's subpoena of the JCOPE complaints will give him a larger understanding of the corruption landscape across New York state. JCOPE has existed since 2011, and it was tasked with investigating ethics complaints of the state's executive and legislative branches. Against the JCOPE complaints, the federal prosecutor's office will be able to match, supplement, or cross-reference the aborted Moreland Commission investigations. And the fact that Mr. Bharara empaneled a grand jury means that federal prosecutors are seeking criminal indictments in possible connection with the aborted Moreland Commission corruption investigations. Whatever the USAO learns from the JCOPE complaints and commission member records may be the "icing on the cake," so to speak, to garnish other corruption evidence that federal prosecutors may have been able to independently gather from prior wiretaps, other investigations, and possible whistleblower-activists.

The U.S. Attorney's Office has been resoundingly criticized for the apparent free pass to Wall Street following the 2008 global financial crisis and recession. The media, notably PBS's Frontline, showed that the U.S. Department of Justice's Washington office, known as Main Justice, was compromised by officials, such as Lanny Breuer, who refused to prosecute top Wall Street executives. Even Attorney General Eric Holder, who oversees the DOJ and advises the USAO's district offices, created a scandal when he confirmed the Obama administration's aversion to prosecuting corrupt Wall Street executives, known colloquially as "too big to jail," validating a Frontline investigation and widespread public perception. Indeed, Main Justice appears to serve as a revolving door recruitment outpost for large, wealthy law firms representing corrupt Wall Street executives. For his part, Mr. Bharara has bemoaned the Washington budget cuts to the USAO that many government reform activists claim are intentionally made to curtail regulatory oversight and criminal prosecution of corruption, but some activists believe that Mr. Bharara never prosecuted Wall Street corruption stemming from the 2008 financial crisis and recession due to his close ties to Sen. Charles Schumer, who many see as enabling the corruption culture on Wall Street. Mr. Bharara's political career came to prominence when he served as chief counsel to Sen. Schumer, making the senator the prosecutor's "political daddy." Mr. Bharara has also carried out his own oppression against whistleblowers when he prosecuted Jeremy Hammond for exposing corruption by Strategic Forecasting, part of the DOJ's larger persecution of whistleblowers, including government whistleblowers. The DOJ was further seen to have become politicized under President Obama and Attorney General Holder, when the DOJ began to target journalists in an effort to undermine a free press whilst carrying out the government's vindictive prosecution of whistleblowers. Separately, the DOJ was shown to stall a Freedom of Information Act request seeking records about its vindictive prosecution of activists.

Locally, it is supposed to be the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus Vance, who is supposed to oversee the criminal prosecution of political and corporate corruption. He works for the New York State attorney general, Eric Schneiderman. Both D.A. Vance and Mr. Schneiderman have pretty much abdicated corruption prosecution to Mr. Bharara. More so than the others, D.A. Vance is vulnerable to the political realities of how he can run for office. District attorneys in the five boroughs of New York run for office with the approval of the local county political organization. Since New York is overwhelmingly a Democratic Party enclave, the county Democratic Party chair of each borough must approve of each respective district attorney candidate running for office, meaning D.A. Vance would not dare sacrifice his political career by prosecuting political corruption of officials, operatives, or lobbyists loyal to the county political organization that approves of his candidacy. That is to say, D.A. Vance will not prosecute candidates for public office, who may be engaged in questionable electioneering activities and who run with approval of the Manhattan Democratic Party chair, otherwise he risks alienating himself from his own political supporters. Instead, D.A. Vance touts his prosecution record against activists, paralleling the DOJ's own suppression campaign against activists.

Mr. Bharara's crackdown on political corruption may be his way of being able to attack the special interest money and lobbyists of large corrupt corporations, at least as they intersect with government officials, one activist said. Plus, it allows him to restore his reputation for prosecutorial independence after his and others' failures at the USAO and the DOJ. It also separates Mr. Bharara from D.A. Vance's failure to prosecute corruption of either Wall Street or elected officials.

The increased prosecution of New York political corruption cases by Mr. Bharara is taking place during the run-up to this year's state-wide election cycle, and it follows a spectacular spree of federal political corruption arrests of officials from City Hall to Albany. With the added access to JCOPE complaints and commission member records to augment his trove of Moreland Commission investigation files, Mr. Bharara may now be poised to lead a historical renewal of government integrity, regardless of his motivation. For all of Mr. Bharara's imperfections, activists in New York have not pressed the Obama administration to reform the USAO and the DOJ. Mr. Bharara's like Batman in "The Dark Knight" : not the hero that Gotham needs, but, rather, the hero Gotham deserves.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

UK corporate governance reform proposal being gamed even at its ideation ; small business, porn, and pot banking crackdown

When I reviewed due diligence for a large Wall Street Bank, I got good at spotting traps and black holes in customer documentation. But the Bank I worked for wouldn't press for due diligence if such requests would upset the customer or the trader, who was on boarding the customer. Ultimately, the Front Office controlled the due diligence collected by the Legal Department, just like big business interests control all legislative attempts to regulate reforms in corporate governance.

Meanwhile, Chase is closing all bank accounts held by porn stars, and HSBC has been on a scorched earth campaign to close down all small business banking accounts. Whereas banks are instructed by regulators to put classes of customers on "watch lists" if there is a potential for exposure to money laundering, organized crime connections, drug-running, arms sales to terroristic states (like Iran), other sanctions lists, etc., the truth is that many big banks are situational in how they comply with their watch lists. Recently, many large American banks (wrongly) initially refused to accept customers tied to the (now) legal marijuana business in the states that just legalized small quantity sales. Is the crackdown on legitimate small business, sex workers, and legal marijuana businesses just slimy PR stunts intended for banking compliance departments to show regulators that the banks are minding their watch lists ?

How are small businesses supposed to transact business ? How are porn stars expected to deposit pay checks, pay bills, use their credit card, and pay their publicists and agents ? How can people buy space cakes, if legal marijuana businesses can't deposit sales receipts, pay suppliers, pay taxes, and otherwise maintain their enterprise as a going concern ? This is all cookoo !!

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

The Moreland Commission Were Supposed to Be 'Super Cops' -- April Fool !!!

To scuttle possibly devastating investigations into public corruption, Gov. Cuomo announced that he was closing his ethics commission

Was the Moreland Commission some kind of sick and twisted, do-nothing joke that is finally getting exposed on April Fool's Day ?

Some state legislators and good government groups speculated that Gov. Andrew Cuomo was embarrassed to have to endure the unwelcome distraction of multiple public corruption investigations during an election year, The New York Times is reporting.

One of the co-chairs of the Moreland Commission, a Long Island district attorney, Kathleen Rice, is mounting a fun for Congress. It's unknown, yet, how voters will react to her abdication of her public corruption investigation duties.

Is Long Island Prosecutor Kathleen Rice's Reputation Going Down The Toilet ?

Andrew Cuomo Kathleen Rice Maitre Karlsson photo andrew-cuomo-kathleen-rice-maitre-karlsson_zpsf2dca878.jpg

Critics question how deeply corruption panel co-chair Kathleen Rice would probe Sheldon Silver after campaign contributions.

State government officials are questioning how aggressively Gov. Cuomo's corruption panel would investigate Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, after the law firm that employed Silver gave nearly $300,000 in campaign donations to co-chair and Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice. (The New York Daily News)* Governor’s Crusade Against Corruption Comes With Too Many Asterisks (NYTimes) * To Gut Independence of Moreland Commission, Cuomo appointed Kathleen Rice as co-chair. Rice had been Cuomo's favourite for Attorney General before Eric Schneiderman won the AG race. (Capital New York) * Cuomo's naming of Rice to co-chair of Moreland Commission was a way to cut out Schneiderman from Moreland investigation of political corruption.

Another district attorney co-chair of the Moreland Commission, Bill Fitzpatrick, said that the public was deluded into thinking that the members of the Moreland Commission were "super cops," even though that's exactly the role that the state laws provide that gave rise to the commission in the first place. Already, a backlash appears to be growing amongst good government groups and government reform activists, who claim that members of the Moreland Commission appeared to do nothing more than Gov. Cuomo's political bidding. For example, when the Moreland Commission threatened to issue subpoenas to political supporters of the governor, the governor was said by some to have obstructed their efforts.

Eleanor Randolph was disappointed that the Moreland Commission didn't do more to report on the pay-to-play corruption in New York politics.

Eleanor Randolph, appearing on The New York Times Close-Up on NY1 photo Eleanor-Randolph-The-New-York-Times-IMG_5319_zps42b52e22.jpg

Last December, Eleanor Randolph appeared in the roundtable segment of The New York Times Close-up on NY1, and she expressed annoyance that one of the Moreland Commission's reports skipped over so many details of public corruption.

It's a good thing that federal prosecutors, who are presently engaged in a crackdown on public corruption, don't agree to be disbanded during election years. Otherwise, voters would really be in trouble.

2014-04-01 Moreland Commission - Follow-Up E-Mail Re Pitta Bishop USAO

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Do Bloomberg data terminals privacy breach extend to mobile apps ? Are phone hacking concerns valid ?

After news broke that Bloomberg News is spying and tracking and collecting and analysing personal information from Bloomberg data terminals on Wall Street, one wonders how do the mobile Bloomberg apps work in connection with the Bloomberg data terminals ?

Here is information about mobile apps, which work in connection with Bloomberg data services : "With Bloomberg Anywhere®, you can log in to your Bloomberg Professional service account from an Internet-ready PC or mobile device, with the same reference-quality, real-time data, security and access to personal files you have on your regular computer."

Mobile Apps Work With Bloomberg Data Terminals - Computer Tracking Concerns

There's no way yet to independently confirm whether Bloomberg News was able to access trading, portfolio, monitor, blotter, or other related systems, confirms, or private messages from the Wall Street data terminals. But it is known that several hundred people employed by Michael Bloomberg had access to information about what Wall Street terminal users did on their computers. For example, the secret data being collected included who logged into which data terminal and when, and what kinds of functions data terminal users performed.

Bloomberg Data Terminals - Hacking - Spying - Inside Information - Photo Illustration

Is it a valid concern to wonder what kind of information the mobile Bloomberg apps tracked or collected ? This latest scandal has people on Wall Street worried about how secure their data really is, if they use Bloomberg data terminals and the mobile Bloomberg apps.

Is Michael Bloomberg hacking and spying and profiting his way into Wall Street inside information ?

Bloomberg Data Terminals - Hacking - Spying - Inside Information - Photo Illustration

By how many billions has Michael Bloomberg's personal wealth grown during his many years as mayor ? Now that we find out that his company is spying and tracking and collecting and analysing personal information from Bloomberg data terminals on Wall Street, one must wonder what is Michael Bloomberg doing with that information ? How is he using that kind of very powerful, very lucrative, very profitable information ? Is there any way to confirm whether Bloomberg News was able to access trading, portfolio, monitor, blotter, or other related systems, confirms, or private messages from the Wall Street data terminals ? According to a report in The New York Times, several hundred people employed by Michael Bloomberg had access through a shadow information gathering technique that gave these Bloomberg employees access to information about what Wall Street terminal users did on their computers. For example, the secret data being collected included who logged into which data terminal and when, and what kinds of functions data terminal users performed. This latest scandal has people on Wall Street worried about how secure their data really is, if they use Bloomberg data terminals. But the worries and accusations of computer tracking and information collecting also extended to Bloomberg data terminals used by the Federal Reserve, as well, according to The Times report. Left unsaid is whether there are any mobile Bloomberg apps that work in connection with the Bloomberg data terminals that may facilitate phone hacking ? Is any of this any different from how Mayor Bloomberg might be using inside government information to make money at Bloomberg Government ? Hmmmmmmmm...????

Mobile Apps Work With Bloomberg Data Terminals - Computer Tracking Concerns

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Cut Oil Subsidies

Budget Cuts Education or Oil Subsidies photo education-oil_zpse789d432.jpg

Middle class families should not be forced to scrape by with less while oil companies get away with more.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

In response to Facebook.com censorship, can SumofUs.org rollout a social networking interface ?

So, Facebook.com likes to censor its users, who post information, links, or other media, such as photographs or videos, which are deemed too political in nature (or, more appropriately, too offensive to its advertisers or tax authorities). Facebook sometimes suspends user accounts for a period of time, mainly, for 30 days, according to recent examples of two of my "Facebook" friends. Considering how short-lived Myspace.com was, for all its clunky and anti-music file sharing obsession it became in its final years of relevancy, many users on Facebook.com look forward to the emergency of a new Web site, to which disaffected Facebook.com users can migrate.

For all those activists, who are "superusers" of Facebook.com, who use features like creating events for demonstrations or meeting planning, creating pages for activism campaigns, for creating groups of like-minded activists, and for creating public (or private) profiles for doing all this work, perhaps one emerging suggestion may make sense :

Seeing as how new Web sites, such as SumofUs.org, are emerging, where activists can participate in some limited function online activism, it might be fascinating to explore whether the owners-developers of Web sites, such as SumofUs.org, could add on social networking and other social app-like modules, extensions, or functionality, so that disaffected Facebook.com users can just abandon Facebook.com and just embrace one, fully-dedicated non-profit Web site, such as SumofUs.org, for their online activism and social media experience.

Imagine what online activists could do in a Web-based environment, which supported a safe space for online activism and social networking ? We wouldn't have to deal with the arbitrary censorship by Web sites, such as Facebook.com, we wouldn't have to deal with ever nebulous privacy policy changes to placate advertisers, there wouldn't be tracking, surveillance, or face recognition issues....

I imagine it would only take a small team of creative minds to mount an effort like this....

Then, we would have a newly, self-empowered community for online activism. And we could let our old Facebook.com accounts join our old Myspace.com accounts in the digital morgue of the past.