New York Paralegal Blog

New Public Integrity Hotline Will Allow New Yorkers to Easily Report Wrongdoing Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced the formation of the Public Integrity Unit. The new unit will proactively investigate public corruption in government at all levels, including not only bribery and malfeasance by public servants, but also election fraud and criminal violations of state and local ethics laws. “Self-serving criminal activity among public employees at all levels severely undermines the public’s confidence in our government,” District Attorney Vance said. “The new Public Integrity Unit reaffirms this Office’s long tradition of rooting out corruption at all levels.”

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced the guilty plea of JAMES DELAYO, a former Acting Chief Inspector for Cranes and Derricks for the New York City Department of Buildings, who took cash payments in exchange for falsifying paperwork relating to crane inspections and certifying crane operator exams. DELAYO pleaded guilty to Bribe Receiving in the Second Degree, a class C felony for which DELAYO is recommended to receive a sentence of 2 to 6 years in prison. The cases of DELAYO’s two co-defendants, NU-WAY CRANE de-facto owner MICHAEL SACKARIS and NU-WAY employee MICHAEL PASCALLI are pending. Charges are also pending against the crane company. “The defendant’s willful disregard for the safety of this equipment and the skill of crane operators endangered the lives of Manhattan’s residents, visitors and construction workers,” said District Attorney Vance. “This is another case where responsibility and safety were trumped by greed. These crimes threaten the indu...

Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau announced today the indictment and arrest of a senior executive director for facilities management at Bellevue Hospital for official misconduct after she pressured vendors and employees to provide goods and services for her home. The defendant, FARIDEH TABAEI, 55, of Long Island, was indicted on charges of official misconduct. The crimes charged in the indictment occurred between July 2004 and April 2005.

Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau announced today that two personal injury lawyers have pleaded guilty to failing to pay personal income taxes on cash they received from a suspended personal injury lawyer who was later convicted of stealing money from multiple clients. The defendants, DAVID RESNICK, 44, and SERGE BINDER, 39, pleaded guilty today in State Supreme Court. They admitted to accepting cash in exchange for their agreement to allow Richard Boter, the other personal injury lawyer, to continue his practice of law, despite his suspension, using the name of their Coney Island law firm, Resnick & Binder, P.C. As part of their pleas, RESNICK and BINDER will be disbarred by operation of law, forfeit the cash they received, each will pay a $5,000 fine, and they will be sentenced to five years probation. The guilty pleas stemmed from an earlier investigation into Richard Boter. Boter operated a high volume solo law practice specializing in personal injury and no-faul...

Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau announced today the indictment of a concrete lab director and a building materials testing laboratory for defrauding numerous state agencies and scores of private clients in connection with construction material testing. The defendants, WILLIAM BAYER, 69, and STALLONE TESTING LABS INC., which employs BAYER as Lab Director, were indicted on charges of scheme to defraud and offering a false instrument for filing. The crimes charged in the indictment occurred from January 1, 1998 through November 18, 2008 and January 30, 2009, respectively. The investigation into STALLONE began as result of the District Attorney’s investigation and October 2008 indictment of Testwell Laboratories, another independent testing laboratory that performed concrete tests for The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, School Construction Authority, and numerous private projects filed with the New York City Department of B...

Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau announced today a 186- count indictment of a check bundler and the owner of check cashing companies for repeatedly falsifying business records to avoid New York State banking and anti-money laundering reporting requirements. The District Attorney also announced the guilty pleas of the owner’s business partner as well as those of four check cashing companies. The defendants RIAD (a/k/a Steve) KHALIL, 46, the check bundler, and NEIL GOLDSTEIN, 53, an owner of two of the check cashing companies, were indicted for falsifying the business records of VEIL CHECK CASHING CORP. to aid and conceal their structuring of transactions and for failing to file currency transaction reports on those structured transactions. The crimes charged in the indictment occurred between October 27, 2006 and July 11, 2008. The defendant, CHARLES GOLDBERG, 46, who is GOLDSTEIN’s business partner, and corporate defendants, VALE CHECKING OF NEW YORK, Inc. (VALE), VEIL...

The defendant, LUIS ZAMBRANO, 39, was indicted on charges of kidnapping, rape and sexual abuse. The investigation leading to today’s indictment revealed that in the early morning hours of March 22, 2009, a 23-year-old woman was at Marquee, a night club located at 289 10th Avenue, where she became intoxicated and passed out on a couch. ZAMBRANO approached the woman and began kissing her before getting her up from the couch. ZAMBRANO dragged the victim, who was incapable of standing or walking unassisted, to a staircase. There he lost hold of her and she fell headfirst into a wall and crumpled on the floor. ZAMBRANO picked the victim up and ultimately carried her out of the night club and into a cab that took them to his car three blocks away. He then drove the incapacitated victim to his apartment where he sexually assaulted her twice. The victim regained consciousness during the second assault and had no idea where she was nor who the defendant was. She was missing her coat and persona...

Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau announced today the indictment of 13 individuals and a mortgage origination company for perpetrating over $100 million in mortgage fraud over a four-year period in the New York City metropolitan area. In addition, 12 individuals have already waived indictment and pleaded guilty to felonies relating to their participation in the mortgage fraud scheme. The indictment charges 13 individuals and the mortgage company, AFG FINANCIAL GROUP, INC., with enterprise corruption, grand larceny, scheme to defraud and conspiracy involving 19 fraudulent mortgage transactions. The defendants include the principals and a number of employees of the mortgage company, as well as bank employees, appraisers, and three attorneys. Two other attorneys are among the defendants who already pleaded guilty. The crimes charged in the indictment occurred between June 2004 and April 2009 with the bulk of the fraudulent closings occurring from mid-2005 through the end of...