THE WORLD READS WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER — 8,324,077 VISITS IN ONE YEAR | 2,905,611 VISITORS VISIT 8,324,077 TIMES 3 TIMES EVERY DAY IN ONE YEAR. HIGHEST ACTIVITY IN WPCNR HISTORY.White PlainsCitizeNetReporter lifted its worldwide visits from unique visitors to wpcnr.com to 8,324,077,a 1,306,419 increase in visits in one year from 7,017,658 visits to the site last year which covers White Plains and Westchester County. The 8,324,077 visits were made by 2,005,611 unique visitors who visited wpcnr an average of 3 visits a day. ON JULY 20- -2026 visitors have accessed wpcnr and made 3,072 visits an average of 1.6 visits. In the last week 33,495 individual vistors made 54,458 visits, averaging 1.6 visits. In the last month, 152,940 visitors recorded 229,338 visits (1.5 visits)

Children’s Museum Vote Put Off. Contents of Museum Not Detailed. Deal Hazey.

Posted on June 21, 2011 by John Bailey

WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. By John F. Bailey. June 21, 2011 ( UPDATED from earlier edition of The Clacker):

At the Monday evening County Board of Legislators meeting, the public hearing to consider whether the county should lease (for $1 A Year) a portion of the Playland bathhouses to the Westchester Children’s Museum Group was closed after an hour of speakers with no vote taken.

The Children’s Museum must open within TWO years of approval of the lease date, and it promises to pay $6,441,300 to the county for “interior improvements” in return for the $1 a year, 10-year lease. To date the county has utilized $6,898,857 towards the project. The museum does not share any revenues according to the lease and the leases gives them the use of both the North and South Bathhouses.

WPCNR’s attempts to reach Bill Ryan, the White Plains representative who heads the Board of Legislators Public Works, Parks, Labor and Transportation Committee have been unable to connect with Chair Ryan to discuss the details of the contract.

North Bathhouse at Playland last week showing reconstruction by county to date that has totaled $6.8Million

South Bathhouse last week.

Peter Tartaglia, Westchester County Deputy Commissioner of Recreation and Parks told WPCNR Monday the Playland Pool, situated atop the bathhouses, will not be affected this year by the Children’s Museum.

He could not say if the pool would continue to operate in 2012, pointing out the pool was scheduled to be closed in 2011 until the county decided to re-fund it as part of the 2011 budget.

Tartaglia, asked status of construction said there is no work being done presently because the bond company is selecting a new contractor to complete the exterior renovation work. WPCNR observed construction on the interior has also been undertaken, possibly related to the exterior.

County Executive spokesperson, Edwin McCormack, was quoted today by The Journal News as stating the administration is reluctant to make a decision in favor of the Children’s Museum until “the long-term viability” of Playland is decided.

A video on the Children’s Museum website gives a general description of the museum as what WPCNR would say would be a series of whimsical experiences for children in which daily life skills are turned into play. The viewer is left to interpret what they actually mean to build. The video may be seen at http://www.discoverwcm.org/visit.cfm?navid=9

PONZI SCHEME MASTERMIND GETS 20 YEARS

Posted on June 20, 2011 by John Bailey

WPCNR FBI WIRE. From the Federal Bureau of Investigation. June 20,2011:

Philip Barry, a former investment manager who was based in Bay Ridge, New York, was sentenced today to 20 years of imprisonment by United States District Judge Raymond J. Dearie at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn.

In November 2010, Barry was convicted after trial on all counts of a 34-count indictment charging securities fraud and mail fraud for operating a longstanding and large-scale Ponzi scheme. As part of the sentencing, Judge Dearie ordered Barry to pay restitution of $24,146,540.

The sentencing was announced by Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

Barry began accepting money in the late 1970s from individuals seeking a return on investment, and he eventually called his business “the Leverage Group.” Barry told potential investors that the Leverage Group invested in stock options. To induce investments and discourage withdrawals, Barry, among other things, guaranteed specified positive rates of return,issued account statements that showed growing account balances, represented that investing in the Leverage Group was safe, and promised that withdrawals could be made easily.

The evidence at trial established that Barry actually was running a Ponzi scheme, paying returns to Leverage Group investors not from any profits earned on investments, but rather from existing investors’ deposits or money paid by new investors. Barry never produced or earned the rates of return that he advertised and cited in clients’ account statements. Rather, the positive rates of return were simply pre-determined interest rates made up by Barry.

In announcing the sentencing, United States Attorney Lynch expressed her grateful appreciation to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the agency responsible for leading the government’s investigation, and thanked United States Securities & Exchange Commission for its assistance.

The government’s case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jeffrey A.Goldberg and John P. Nowak.

FBI CHARGES QUEENS MAN OF ORCHESTRATING $10M IN BOGUS LOANS W/8 BIGTIME BANKS

Posted on June 20, 2011 by John Bailey

WPCNR FBI WIRE. From the Federal Bureau of Investigation. June 20,2011:

PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced the filing of additional charges Friday against CHRISTOPHER CAVOUNIS, 30, of Fresh Meadows, New York, for organizing, managing and supervising a continuing financial crimes enterprise which orchestrated schemes to defraud several banks of at least $10 million by obtaining commercial loans and lines of credit using false and fraudulent documents.

The Superseding Indictment filed Thursday also charges JAGDESH COOMA, 27, of Fresh Meadows, New York, and THOMAS NUCCIO, 31, of Promfret, Connecticut, with participating in a bank fraud conspiracy and committing bank fraud.

As part of the scheme, CAVOUNIS, COOMA, and NUCCIO allegedly submitted applications for loans in the names of shell companies with no assets, and with straw owners, using fraudulent documents created to trick the banks into believing those entities were real. CAVOUNIS also paid bribes totaling over $135,000 to an employee of Citibank to obtain $2.45 million worth of loans.

According to the Superseding Indictment, which was unsealed Friday, and the Complaint previously filed in Manhattan federal court:

From at least 2009 to November 2010, CAVOUNIS, COOMA, NUCCIO and others allegedly obtained, through fraud, a total of at least 16 commercial loans and/or lines of credit, receiving at least $10 million, from eight different lenders—Capital One Bank, N.A.; Citibank, N.A. (“Citibank“); First Republic Bank; Herald National Bank; New York Commercial Bank; Signature Bank; Sovereign Bank; and TD Bank, N.A. (collectively, the “Lenders”). All of these loans are presently in default.

To trick the Lenders into providing the loans, CAVOUNIS, COOMA, and NUCCIO engaged in an elaborate scheme in which they prepared and then submitted applications and supporting documentation for commercial loans that contained false and misleading information on behalf of empty shell companies with no existing business or assets.

As part of the alleged scheme, CAVOUNIS and COOMA recruited straw borrowers who provided personal identifying information to the defendants in exchange for future payment. With the information in hand, the defendants represented these individuals to be the owners or executives of various companies in applications for loans from the Lenders.

In addition, CAVOUNIS and COOMA provided the Lenders with fraudulent documentation in support of those applications, which they had created, and which purported to accurately reflect the personal and financial information of each straw owner, and/or corresponding company.

This documentation included falsified tax returns, identification documents, and bank or other financial statements. Unbeknownst to the Lenders, however, the straw borrowers were in no way affiliated with those companies, which were themselves complete shams with neither existing businesses nor actual earnings and income. CAVOUNIS, in connection with certain applications, also assumed the identity of another individual himself and provided financial institutions with a fraudulent driver’s license in the name of that individual.

Furthermore, to help obtain the loans, over the course of an approximately four month period in 2010, CAVOUNIS paid a Citibank employee in excess of $135,000 in bribes to secure approval for several lines of credit, in the total approximate amount of $2.45 million, which were issued to empty shell companies he controlled.

When one of the banks froze a line of credit obtained through the scheme, CAVOUNIS allegedly resorted to threats in an attempt to obtain the loan. For example, in October 2010, after Citibank approved a $450,000 line of credit but subsequently froze funding when CAVOUNIS attempted to withdraw that entire amount within mere days of approval, he threatened two Citibank bankers with physical violence unless the loan proceeds were made immediately available to him.

* * *

CAVOUNIS was charged with organizing, managing and supervising a continuing financial crimes enterprise which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison. He also was charged with bank bribery, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. CAVOUNIS and COOMA are also each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, five substantive counts of bank fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft.

The conspiracy and bank fraud charges each carry a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. The aggravated identity theft charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison which must run consecutively to any other sentence imposed. NUCCIO was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one substantive count of bank fraud.

CAVOUNIS and COOMA were previously charged in a Complaint and an Indictment, and were arrested on November 26, 2010. NUCCIO was arrested this morning in Promfret, Connecticut, and was arraigned in Manhattan Federal Court before U.S. District Judge ROBERT PATTERSON.

Mr. BHARARA praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service.

This case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Complex Frauds Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys ZACHARY FEINGOLD and CHRISTOPHER D. FREY are in charge of the prosecution.

The charges contained in the Superseding Indictment are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

FAA: 4 Die in Westchester Airport Crash. Investigation Under Way

Posted on June 20, 2011 by John Bailey

WPCNR AIR NEWS. Special to WPCNR by Peter Katz. Originally published Saturday evening exclusively on WPCNR.June 19, 2011:

WPCNR was advised by the Federal Aviation Administration Saturday night that it has been confirmed there were four occupants of the single-engine Cessna 210 airplane which crashed while was trying to make an emergency return to Westchester County Airport on Saturday afternoon, and that all four people were killed in the crash.

As of late Saturday night, the FAA said it did not have confirmed identification of the pilot or passengers. A post crash fire followed impact. As of Monday morning there is no new information available as to cause.

The airplane went down in woods behind an MBIA office building at 113 New King Street in Armonk (BLUE ARROW IN CENTER OF SATELLITE PHOTO). According to the FAA, the airplane departed Westchester County Airport with a destination of Montauk Airport on Long Island.

Shortly after becoming airborne, the pilot radioed that there was a problem and they needed to return to the airport. The airplane was making an approach to runway 16 at the airport when it crashed.

Late Saturday, WPCNR was told by a source at the National Transportation Safety Board that reports by some media

(not WPCNR) that there was a fourth person on board, who survived, appeared to be incorrect.

Satelite view of 113 King Street (MBIA Headquarters). Crash occurred in woods to left (West) of the building complex. Route 120 King Street is the road immediately to the East of the green arrow. I-684 is the roadway to the East.

Returning to an airport by turning and flying back to the runway in the opposite direction after takeoff, and before excess altitude has been attained, can be a difficult maneuver.

Pilots often are advised the safest thing to do is to land straight ahead in event of a power loss during initial climb after takeoff. It’s not yet known if this scenario reflects what happened in Saturday’s accident.

The Cessna 210 normally can carry up to 6 people. The airplane was equipped with a Continental Motors engine. It is expected that the aircraft manufacturer, Cessna, and the engine manufacturer will be parties to the NTSB’s investigation.

An investigator from the NTSB’s Atlanta Office was en route to Westchester Saturday evening to take charge of the investigation. Ralph Hicks was expected to meet with FAA investigators and local officials and would likely hold a news briefing on Sunday.

Tapes of radio communications between the pilot and air traffic control have been preserved, and the NTSB was expected to transcribe pertinent sections of contacts between the pilot, Westchester Tower, and any other New York controllers.

WPCNR learned that the airplane was registered to Wein-Air Aviation Ltd., which is located in Wilmington, Delaware. Corporations based in Delaware are sometimes used for aircraft ownership because, in some circumstances, they provide financial benefits and/or legal protections which could not be otherwise obtained. The airplane was built in 1980. It was registered to the current owner in June of 2008. The airplane was based at Panorama Flight Service at Westchester County Airport, a general aviation facility located across the field from the main passenger terminal.

As part of the investigation, the NTSB is expected to interview controllers working at the Westchester control tower who had handled the accident airplane and, reportedly, could see the fire from their position overlooking the airport and surrounding terrain. The Safety Board expects that it likely will take up to a year to finalize the investigation and adopt the probable cause of the accident. However, a preliminary report should be prepared in a few days. This report will not offer any conclusions.

(Editor’s Note: The Department of Environmental Protection has identified the deceased as Keith Weiner, Lisa Weiner, Isbel Weiner and Lucy Weiner from Manhattan.)

(Editor’s Note: Mr. Katz is publisher and editor of Aviation Monthly, and NTSB Reporter and holder of a private pilot’s license and avid flyer for forty years.)