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Three Charged With Hauling Fraud By County

Posted on November 25, 2015 by John Bailey

Christopher C.Leggio

Christopher E. Leggio

Stephen Disalvo

WPCNR POLICE GAZETTE. From the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office. November 25, 2015:

Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore and Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino announced that Christopher C. Leggio (DOB 05/17/59) of 12 Quail Lane, Brewster, New York; Christopher E. Leggio (DOB 01/31/95) of 12 Quail Lane, Brewster, New York; Stephen DiSalvo (D.O.B. 12/13/56) of 1552 John Anderson Drive, Ormond Beach, Florida and the A.T.N.M. Corporation of 130 Woodside Avenue, Briarcliff Manor, New York were arraigned Tuesday on a Felony Complaint charging them with:

one count of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, a class “C” Felony
one count of Scheme To Defraud in the First Degree, a class “E” Felony.

“As alleged in the Complaint, by altering the dump payment tickets, this scheme had real financial implications for both companies doing business in Westchester County and their customers, who ultimately paid higher prices because of the theft. Businesses have enough to deal with without the added costs and complications of the widespread and systematic fraud that was perpetrated by this company and these individuals solely for their personal gain,” said District Attorney Janet DiFiore.

“Illegal conduct in the carting industry can result in increased costs to businesses, consumers and taxpayers. It will not be tolerated in Westchester County,” County Executive Rob Astorino said. “The Solid Waste Commission and its law enforcement partners are working to ensure that all companies operate within the bounds of the law.”

A.T.N.M Corporation of Briarcliff Manor, New York is a company licensed to haul solid waste in Westchester County and other adjoining areas. A.T.N.M. is owned and operated by defendant Christopher C. Leggio, along with the assistance of co-defendants Christopher E. Leggio and Stephen DiSalvo.

Over a more than a two and a half year period, from January 1^st 2013 to November 24^th 2015 the defendants systematically and falsely altered several hundreds of dump tickets so as to fraudulently reflect a higher tonnage of solid waste being transported.

These false dump tickets were then submitted to a solid waste hauling broker who contracted with A.T.N.M. As a result of this scam, the broker paid several hundreds of thousands of dollars to the defendants for work never performed based on these false tonnage entries on the fraudulently altered dump tickets.

The broker negotiated garbage hauling contracts with several different commercial establishments including the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (hereinafter A&P). The broker unknowingly passed along these falsely inflated invoices to A&P and other commercial customers, who then paid the false invoices.

Larger customers like A&P used defendant A.T.N.M. to haul solid waste for twenty-seven (27) A&P stores, twenty-four (24) of which were in Westchester County.

Over $500,000 was overcharged and stolen by the defendants as a result of this scheme.

A six month investigation was carried out by investigators from The D.A.’s office, the Westchester County Police and the Westchester County Solid Waste Commission.

Westchester County Executive Robert P. Astorino praised the investigative work done by the Department of Public Safety, the District Attorney’s Office and the Solid Waste Commission under the leadership of its Executive Director, the Hon. Daniel Angiolillo. Astorino appointed Angiolillo, a retired state Supreme Court justice, to head the commission in 2014 and also directed the county police to assign a detective to the commission full-time.

This investigation is ongoing.

The defendants were arrested by the Westchester County Police Tuesday morning.

Bail for Christopher C. Leggio was set at $50,000 cash or $500,000 bond. The bail for Stephan DiSalvo was set at $50,000 cash or $500,000 bond. The bail for Christopher E. Leggio was set at $10,000 cash or bond.

The defendant’s next court date is November 25th, 2015 in Briarcliff Manor Village Court.

They face a maximum sentence of 15 years in state prison.

Assistant District Attorneys Lauren Abinanti and Robert Mayes of the Investigations Division are prosecuting the case.

WHITE PLAINS WEEK OF NOV. 20 IS ON THE AIR WORLDWIDE ON YOUTUBE, www.whiteplainsweek.com and www.wpcommunitymedia.org

Posted on November 20, 2015 by John Bailey

SEE THE BOYS ON YOUTUBE AT

https://youtu.be/K0AGPPNAb6w

15TH YEAR AS WESTCHESTER’S NUMBER ONE WEEKLY NEWS PROGRAM

PETER KATZ, JOHN BAILEY

WHY WESTCHESTER COUNTY RAN UP A $25 MILLION SALES TAX DOLLAR DEFICIT–

WHILE WHITE PLAINS IS POISED FOR BIG RETAIL GAINS.

ISLAMIC STATE WORRY.

THE LIBRARY SALUTES A LOCAL BEST SELLING AUTHOR — AND THEY GAVE HIM HIS START–RAISES $80,000 FOR THE HUB.

WESTCHESTER BROADWAY THEATRE SALUTES WORLD WAR II VETS

55 BANK STREET IS INTO THE GROUND.

ABANDONED, DETERIORATING SOUNDVIEW MANOR DECISION ON PRESERVATION PUT ON HOLD.

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WHITE PLAINS 1% AHEAD OF LAST YEAR SALES TAX DOLLARS AFTER 4 MONTHS. COUNTY DOWN 1/2% AFTER 10 MONTHS

Posted on November 19, 2015 by John Bailey

WPCNR QUILL & EYESHADE. From the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. November 20, 2015:

NEW YORK STATE RELEASED OCTOBER SALES TAX RECEIPTS FIGURES TODAY AND WHITE PLAINS HAD A SOLID OCTOBER– RECEIPTS INCREASING 7.1% ($284,780 MORE THAN OCTOBER 2014).

THROUGH FIRST 4 MONTHS OF THE WHITE PLAINS FISCAL YEAR, THE CITY IS UP 1% OVER JULY THROUGH OCTOBER OF LAST YEAR. $16.7 MILLION TO 16.5 MILLION.

WESTCHESTER COUNTY IS DOWN .O4 OF A PERCENTAGE POINT AFTER COMPLETING 10 MONTHS OF ITS FISCAL YEAR, RECEIVING $412.1 MILLION IN SALES TAX RECEIPTS JANUARY THROUGH OCTOBER COMPARED TO $413,871,324 IN JANUARY THROUGH OCTOBER IN 2014

IF COUNTY COLLECTS THE $90 MILLION IN NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER THAT THEY EARNED LAST HOLIDAY SEASON THE COUNTY IS ON TARGET TO JUST ABOUT BREAK EVEN WITH WHAT THEY RECEIVED IN SALES TAX RECEIPTS IN 2014 ($503,802,272).

COUNTY BESTS HUD “CONTEMPT CHARGE” ON AFFORDBALE HOUSING COMPLIANCE GAP IN COURT.

Posted on November 19, 2015 by John Bailey

WPCNR WESTCHESTER LAW JOURNAL. From the Westchester County Department of Communications. November 20, 2015:

Westchester won another victory involving the affordable housing settlement with the federal government when the U.S. Magistrate assigned to the case ruled today that the county had provided financing for enough units to meet its 2014 benchmark and that there was no basis for the county to be held in contempt.

For 2015, the county has already surpassed its 600-unit benchmark for financing with 635; and has 466 units with building permits, 59 short of the goal with 101 applications pending.

The latest ruling centers on 28 units of affordable housing being developed in New Castle under the name Chappaqua Station. The units are part of the 2009 affordable housing settlement reached between the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development and the administration of former County Executive Andrew Spano.

Under the terms of the agreement, the county must ensure the development of 750 units of affordable housing in 31 mostly white communities by the end of 2016.

The settlement also calls for the county to meet annual benchmarks. By the end of 2014, the county had to have 450 units with financing in place. In November of 2014, the Westchester County Board of Legislators approved financing for the Chappaqua Station project, putting the county over the benchmark by four units.

However, the federal monitor assigned to the case, James Johnson, who serves at the pleasure of HUD, and the Department of Justice claimed the units should not count because the financing was “subject to” the development receiving all the necessary approvals. Not counting the units would have left the county 24 units short.

However, U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel W. Gorenstein dismissed the federal government’s contention, saying the 28 units “should be counted.”

“The record is devoid of evidence that the inclusion of this [‘subject to’] provision makes the financing any less available for the Chappaqua Station development,” wrote Judge Gorenstein.

The magistrate also sided with the county on the contempt issue, saying the federal government had failed to meet the standard for showing such a charge was warranted. The county argued successfully that its behavior had to be measured against what the settlement actually says, not what the Monitor claimed it said in his report.

“We cannot conclude on the current record that the Settlement language was clear and unambiguous … such that the County could be held in contempt for not taking the additional actions stated in the Report.”

Astorino said the ruling was critically important for showing once again that the county has been complying with the terms of the settlement.

In September, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit gave Westchester a resounding victory when it declared that “there has been no finding, at any point, that Westchester actually engaged in housing discrimination.” That finding by the nation’s second highest court clearly repudiated the allegation that Westchester’s zoning laws are discriminatory and exclusionary.

“The federal government has tremendous power and can do tremendous damage to the reputations of people and institutions simply by throwing out charges like contempt even if they are later found to be baseless,” said Astorino. “The U.S. magistrate’s ruling corrects the false narrative by the federal government that Westchester County has done anything wrong with respect to implementing the housing settlement.”