APPELLATE COURT GRANTS FULL STAY OF NASSAU COUNTY COURT RULING THAT NY GOVERNOR’S MASK MANDATE IS “UNCONSTITUTIONAL” IN NEW YORK STATE. STATE & 8 OTHER SCHOOL DISTRICTS ARE GIVEN UNTIL MARCH 2 TO “PERFECT” ARGUMENTS.
WPCNR WHITE PLAINS LAW JOURNAL. From the White Plains City School District. By John F. Bailey. January 31, 2022:
Children will be wearing masks to school until at least March 2, according to a ruling from the Appellate Court of Appeals, Second Department in Brooklyn. The interim ruling was distributed by White Plains Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Joseph Ricca this evening at 7:30 P.M.
New York State Governor Kathy Hochul issued this statement on the granting of the stay requested by the state:
“I commend the Appellate Division, Second Department for granting a full stay to keep our masking regulations in place for the duration of our appeal. My primary responsibility as Governor is to keep New Yorkers safe. Mask regulations keep our schools and businesses safe and open, protect vulnerable New Yorkers, and are critical tools as we work to get through this winter surge. Thanks to our efforts, including mask regulations, cases are declining and we are seeing major progress in the fight against COVID-19. I thank the Attorney General and her team for their defense of these common sense measures, and I am confident we will continue to prevail. We are committed to doing everything in our power to keep New Yorkers safe.”
The immediate impact is that masks will be worn (at least in the White Plains City School District) until the Appellate Court hears arguments sometime in March which is a 4 week school month with no holidays.
If the court expedites the case for an early argument the decision may be made before April, May and June the fourth quarter of the school year. If the arguments are heard and the Appellate court either rules against the state or denies the school districts that filed the original case in Nassau County either party is sure to appeal it to the New York State Court of Appeals.
It is possible the case may not be decided until the school year ends.
The effect of the 30 Days to ready papers has the ancillary effect of keeping students masked in schools if the school districts enforce the wearing of masks during the winter vacation during Presidents Week and over the Valentine’s Day period, perhaps limiting any growth in spread due to relaxing of the virus protection masking gives.
The current fifth wave of infections that is now being limited factors of vaccine effectiveness, intense cold weather and snowstorms.
It is noteworthy to remember that 51,296 new cases of covid were spread from December 26 through January 15 in Westchester County with a population of 1,004,000.
Nassau and Suffolk Counties with an anti-mask policy widely touted proudly by both County Executives, had a combined 169,751 cases from December 26 through January 15. Nassau County reported 89,514 during those three weeks, and Suffolk County, 80,237.
The Mid-Hudson region of 7 counties of 2.4 Million people total, according to the latest census. in those same three weeks December 26 through January 15 reported 127,257 Coviid Positives. The 2.4 million people in the 7 counties had 42,494 less covid positives than the two Long Island counties with 2,921,694 million peopled combined.
The 7 Mid-Hudson Counties have a total population in 2020 of 2,398,150 persons.
Nassau County has 1,395,774 population and Suffolk County 1,525,920 as of the 2020 census. (Previous figure was incorrect.., thank you, Cliff Blau for notifying me of the mistake.)
AUSTRALIAN TECH ENTREPRENEUR WILL BE EXTRADITED TO USA FACE CHARGES IN $41 MILLION of TEXt-MESSAGING CONSUMER FRAUD
Indictment Alleges Scheme to DEFRAUD Hundreds of Thousands of Mobile Phone Customers for Text-Messaging Services Without Their Knowledge or Consent. “Auto-subscribing” scheme charged for Gossip, Horoscopes, Trivia “alerts.”
WPCNR FBI WIRE. From the Federal Bureau of Investigation. January 31, 2022:
Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Joleen D. Simpson, the Special Agent-in-Charge of the Boston Field Office of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (“IRS-CI”), and Michael J. Driscoll, Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), announced today that–
EUGENI TSVETNENKO, a/k/a “Zhenya,” a dual citizen of Australia and Russia, was extradited from Australia and arrived in the United States this morning. TSVETNENKO was extradited on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, stemming from the defendant’s alleged participation in a scheme to charge mobile phone customers millions of dollars in monthly fees for unsolicited, recurring text messages about topics such as horoscopes, celebrity gossip, and trivia facts, without the customers’ knowledge or consent—a practice referred to as “auto-subscribing.”
The portion of the fraudulent scheme that TSVETNENKO and his co-conspirators orchestrated defrauded mobile phone users of approximately $41,389,725, and netted TSVETNENKO and his co-conspirators more than $20 million in proceeds. TSVETNENKO will be presented today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ona T. Wang. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Eugeni Tsvetnenko is alleged to have surreptitiously subscribed hundreds of thousands of cell phone users to a $9.99 per-month charge for recurring text messages they did not approve or want. As a result of their auto-subscribing scheme, Tsvetnenko and his co-conspirators are alleged to have silently drained over $41 million in illegal proceeds from their unknowing victims. Thanks to the continued efforts and coordination with our Australian law enforcement counterparts, Tsvetnenko, an Australian national, has now been extradited to the U.S. to answer the call of American justice.”
IRS-CI Special Agent in Charge Joleen D. Simpson said: “Today’s extradition is clear proof that Mr. Tsvetnenko’s vast fortune and residence on another continent did little to shield him from answering the charges brought against him by American authorities. The defendants in this case have learned the hard way that the reach of Federal law enforcement extends far beyond the borders of the United States.”
FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Michael J. Driscoll said: “Tsvetnenko and his co-conspirators concocted a scheme that turned thousands of mobile phone customers into unwitting subscription service participants, as alleged.
These customers incurred monthly charges for services they never subscribed to and, in many cases, disregarded as spam until the charges turned up on their monthly statements. Ultimately, as we allege, the defendants were able to steal more than $40 million and realize more than $20 million in profits. Today’s case is a reminder for all of us to maintain awareness of the charges we incur on our financial statements. No matter how insignificant a fraudulent charge may seem, the bigger picture often tells a different story.”
According to allegations in the Superseding Indictment against TSVETNENKO, evidence presented at the trial of co-conspirators Darcy Wedd (Wedd) and Fraser Thompson (Thompson), and other public filings:
From at least in or about 2012 through in or about 2013, TSVETNENKO, Wedd, Thompson, and others engaged in a multimillion-dollar scheme to defraud consumers by placing unauthorized charges for premium text messaging services on consumers’ cellular phone bills through a practice known as auto-subscribing.
TSVETNENKO owned and operated several content provider companies and mobile industry companies in Australia that, among other things, created and sold premium text messaging content to consumers.
Wedd operated Mobile Messenger, a U.S. aggregation company in the mobile phone industry that served as a middleman between content providers (such as some of TSVETNENKO’s companies) and mobile phone carriers.
Mobile Messenger was responsible for assembling monthly charges incurred by a particular mobile phone customer for premium text-messaging services and placing those charges on that customer’s cellular phone bill.
Beginning in or about early 2012, Wedd, Thompson, who was the Senior Vice President of Strategic Operations for Mobile Messenger, and two other senior executives of Mobile Messenger (CC-3 and CC-4) recruited TSVETNENKO to their auto-subscribing scheme to increase revenues at Mobile Messenger.
TSVETNENKO agreed and established two new content providers based in Australia, CF Enterprises and DigiMobi, to auto-subscribe on Mobile
Messenger’s aggregation platform. CC-3 furnished lists of phone numbers to TSVETNENKO, along with an auto-subscribing “playbook,” which provided TSVETNENKO with guidance on how to auto-subscribe without being caught. The “playbook” described how to conceal the fraud scheme by making it appear as if the customers had, in fact, elected to purchase the text-messaging services, when in truth they had not.
The consumers who received the unsolicited text messages typically ignored or deleted the messages, often believing them to be spam.
Regardless, the consumers were billed for the receipt of the messages, at a rate of $9.99 per month, through charges that typically appeared on the consumers’ cellular telephone bills in an abbreviated and confusing form, such as with nonsensical billing descriptors that often consisted of random letter and numbers. The $9.99 charges recurred each month unless and until consumers noticed the charges and took action to unsubscribe. Even then, consumers’ attempts to dispute the charges and obtain refunds from CF Enterprises or DigiMobi were often unsuccessful. Wedd, to whom CC-3, CC-4, and Thompson all reported, oversaw the scheme at Mobile Messenger.
TSVETNENKO, with the assistance of Wedd, Thompson, CC-3, and CC-4, started auto-subscribing co nsumers in approximately April of 2012. TSVETNENKO’s auto-subscribing activities, which continued into 2013, victimized hundreds of thousands of mobile phone customers, who were auto-subscribed through Mobile Messenger and charged a total of approximately $41,389,725 for unwanted text messaging services. Wedd, Thompson, CC-3, and CC-4 agreed that TSVETNENKO would keep approximately 70% of the auto-subscribing proceeds generated by CF Enterprises and DigiMobi, and that the remaining 30% of the auto-subscribing proceeds would be divided evenly among Wedd, Thompson, CC-3, and CC-4.
After obtaining proceeds of the fraud scheme, TSVETNENKO worked with other co-conspirators to launder the proceeds. TSVETNENKO and his co-conspirators distributed the proceeds of the fraud scheme among themselves and others involved in the scheme by, among other things, causing funds to be transferred through the bank accounts of a series of shell companies and companies held in the names of third parties. This was done to conceal the nature and source of the payments and TSVETNENKO and his co-conspirators’ participation in the fraud.
Through their successful orchestration of this fraud scheme, TSVETNENKO and his co-conspirators generated more than $20 million in fraud proceeds for themselves. TSVETNENKO personally retained approximately $15.4 million in fraud proceeds for his role in the scheme.
* * *
TSVETNENKO 41, of Perth, Australia, is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison; one count of wire fraud, which also carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison; one count of aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory sentence of two years in prison, consecutive to any other sentence imposed; and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence 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.
Survey Finding Home Values Decline when Solar Fields Introduced Next Door Does Not Apply to Planned 1133 Westchester Avenue Installation.
WPCNR REALTY REALITY. By John F. Bailey. January 31, 2022:
White Plains Community opposition to the planned installation of solar panels on canopies planned to cover parking spaces for the new apartments and the office building at 1133 Westchester Avenue has centered on a survey by the University of Rhode Island conducted two years ago on the effects of solar panel fields adjacent to homes on real estate values.
WPCNR asked a professional who happens to be familiar with both the University of Rhode Island survey and the project as to what the survey says. He wrote me the following opinion:
“We are aware of the URI 2020 study of the impact of ground-mounted solar arrays on home value. This study examined the impact on home values within a 3 mile radius of large-scale ground-mounted solar arrays located in MA and RI. These solar farms were all located on either greenfield or rural locations with a minimum of 1 megawatt capacity occupying 4 to 6 acres of land or larger.
The community solar proposal for 1133 Westchester Avenue is entirely different as it compromises a significant roof-mounted component (that is not visible from the street level) coupled with new parking canopies that will cover existing impervious surface lots.
No green space is being lost whatsoever. The view changes from a sea of cars to canopies over cars, a much less dramatic change than a greenfield becoming acres of solar arrays.
Therefore, the URI study is not applicable to the 1133 Westchester Avenue proposal. We know of no study on the impact of parking lot canopies, generally considered an amenity, not a nuisance, whether mounted with solar arrays or not, on the value of nearby homes.
To the question of noise from the equipment associated with the solar arrays proposed at 1133 Westchester Avenue, we know that G&S Solar, the developer, has already conducted an analysis using a leading acoustic engineering firm.
The major point here is that the level of ambient noise for the residents of the two closest streets, McGuiness Lane and Woodbrook Road, far exceeds any peak projected sound from the solar equipment. The existing ambient noise is largely due to the proximity of these residential areas to the highways.”
The project is scheduled for a public hearing on February 7.