WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER SETS RECORD VISITS FOR YEAR 7,017,658 VISITS! 2,098,003 VISITORS MADE 6 VISITS A DAY EVERY DAY. 63,330 UNIQUE VISITORS MADE 133,730 VISITS IN DECEMBER. WPCNR AVERAGED 17,284 VISITORS A WEEK, VISITING 31,270 TIMES.

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WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. By John F. Bailey. November 29, 2012 UPDATED 11:25 A.M E.S.T.:

Teamsters Local 813 is picketing the White Plains garbage transfer station on Brockway Place this morning.

City of White Plains Sanitation Truck being waved off entrance to garbage offloading area this morning by Teamsters Pickets.

The picketing protests the Westchester County garbage hauling contractor hiring non-union drivers to drive the transfer trucks that cart garbage from White Plains to the county disposal plant  in Peekskill.

Phil Oliva, of the County Executive Robert Astorino’s office, told WPCNR at midday that he expected the dispute to be resolved today (and not interrupt garbage collection). He said the Carting Company had the right to hire non-union workers as long as the company paid the “prevailing wage.”

Karen Pasquale, Advisor to the Mayor of White Plains, told WPCNR this afternoon the action is not affecting city pick-up or disposal.

The protest started Thursday afternoon, pickets told WPCNR this morning and is over a contract dispute with City Carting, the county-contracted garbage hauler that has the county contract. WPCNR was told the picketing is also in effect at Yonkers and Mount Vernon. The dispute is not with City of White Plains practices.

Pickets said the teamsters  have been without a contract with City Carting for  a year and recently Carting had laid off five union drivers and started using non-union drivers to transfer the trash at least in White Plains.

The picket told WPCNR the teamsters voted down City Carting’s recent contract offering because it called for almost zero raise increase over the next three years and  raising union members’ share of medical benefits of $30 a month share the first year, $60 the second year and $66 the third year. The picketer WPCNR spoke with, who requested anonymity because of fear of retaliation said the union realizes paying more for medical benefits is needed, but said it was too much of an increase. He also said the 7 year contract over raised wages only 75 cents an hour over seven years.

Several White Plains sanitation trucks with full loads were prevented from delivering their load of leaves to the transfer area during WPCNR observation this morning.

WPCNR  has a call in to the Mayor’s Office to ascertain how the inability to transfer garbage will affect garbage collection today and tomorrow.

Other transfer stations in Yonkers and Mount Vernon are also possible picket locations, a picket told WPCNR.

Mr. Oliva, speaking for the County Executive’s office, said he had no knowledge that those cities were affected at this time.

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Everything has to be just right

She gets out her cook books the previous night.

Makes copious notes putting together the special day

That remembers the passings of our lives’ way.

The little dynamo proceeds not to be disturbed.

Selecting the keepsakes collected laying undisturbed

Appropriate to the special holiday symbols turning cloudy days to sunnies

From reindeer, to turkeys to Easter Bunnies

No nonsense, no hanging around the kitchen door

No licking bowls, no sampling the dough.

Rules on cooking day were strict and violations were scolded,

As each holiday production unfolded

Trips to markets; journeys to gift shops to flower shops,

She sought to round out menus just right, her holidays were never flops.

As enticing baking aromas filled the old homeplace,

Pesky kitties, furred and human hung about curious at ritual taking place.

Bustling about, red hair frizzed from heat,

Toothpicks ever handy to sample a crust neat,

Rescue strategies to save a sticky cake stubborn in its pan

Always ready to be deployed, she executed with love her holiday plan.

The long holiday table, old leaves stained with memories past,

Long since needing replacing but host to gatherings that still last

In memory as children grow up and leave

Awaited its annual set on holiday eve.

As turkey,ham, lamb, squash,taters, yams beans and sprouts simmered

Old dining room and parlor with seductions of the palate shimmered,

She would lay a clean tablecloth, set candles and deploy

The talismans of the season, the sleigh of holiday cards, the gay bunnies’ joy.

As children grown return to the homeplace,

Uncles and nieces, nephews and cousins, brothers and sisters took their place,

The holiday maker, presided over a reality of love, a feast

Renewing love for one another anew.

I miss the holiday makers, those hostesses of love’s reality

The old homeplace with antiques and sagging old armchair

That would say, come on in, stranger you’re always loved here.

Enjoy the hearty fare and tastes seasoned unique with love’s sincerity.

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WPCNR D.A. REPORT. From the Office of the Westchester District Attorney. November 21,2012:

Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore announced today that Vickram Bedi (DOB 07/02/74) of 38 Hollow Oak Road, Chappaqua, New York and Datalink Computer Products, Inc. of 165-175 Main Street, Mount Kisco, New York aiding abetting and acting in concert pled guilty to:

·        one count of Grand Larceny in the First Degree, a class “B” Felony,

in a continuing scheme to defraud the victim, Roger Davidson of over $20,000,000.

Over a six year period from August 2004 through to August 2010, the defendant, through Datalink Computer Products, Inc. their computer service business located at 165-175 Main Street in Mount Kisco, New York on a continuing basis, using false pretenses, stole money from the victim.

The victim, a noted pianist and composer, is the great-grandson and great grand-nephew of the two brothers who founded Schlumberger Ltd. the multi-national oilfield services company headquartered in Houston, Texas with offices in Paris, France and The Hague.

The defendant was able to defraud the victim by fabricating various security threats and scenarios using non existent foreign nationals and false affiliations with government intelligence agencies to further the security schemes. They also instilled the fear of bodily harm to the victim, his family and the destruction of the victim’s life’s work: computers containing various musical compositions.

The scheme commenced in August 2004, when the victim’s computer developed a virus. Concerned that documents, photos and more importantly the music he had written and had stored on the computer could be lost, the victim took the computer to the defendant’s premises to have it repaired. Bedi confirmed that victim’s computer had a virus and indicated that the virus was extremely virulent, was targeted at the victim’s computer, and had also damaged Datalink’s computers.

Bedi told the victim that he had the facility, the contacts, and the means of tracking down the source of this virus that specifically targeted the victim’s computer and that he and his family were in grave danger. As a result, Bedi convinced the victim to not only begin paying for computer data retrieval and security, but also to begin paying for necessary personal physical protection.   

Bedi subsequently advised the victim that he successfully tracked the source of the computer virus to a remote village in Honduras. Bedi informed him that the hard drive was the source of the worm that had invaded the computer and advised the victim that Bedi’s uncle, who Bedi contended is an officer in the Indian military, flew to Honduras in an Indian military aircraft during a reconnaissance mission and obtained the hard drive.

Bedi further related that his uncle obtained information that Polish priests affiliated with Opus Dei were attempting to possibly harm the victim.

.

Bedi also advised the victim that the Central Intelligence Agency was watching the him. 

Over this period Datalink charged the victim’s American Express card accounts on a continuing and monthly basis.

In July of 2010, the Harrison Police Department became involved when interested parties contacted them regarding a civil matter relating to the investigation.

The Harrison Police Department and the Organized Crime Bureau of the District Attorney’s Office were the primary investigating agencies, with assistance from the Mount Kisco and New Castle Police Departments.

The defendants were arrested by Harrison Police Department at their home as they were preparing to leave the country.

“This defendant, over a six year period, preyed upon, schemed and manipulated his victim in ways that epitomize a cold calculating con man,” said District Attorney Janet DiFiore after the defendant’s guilty plea. “The systematic method with which the defendant continued the larceny over a period of years, along with the sizable amount of money that was stolen, was nothing short of Machiavellian.”

Sentencing will be on January 22^nd, 2013.

He faces a maximum of eight and one third to twenty five years in state prison.

Co-defendant Helga Invarsdottir (DOB 10/10/71) of 38 Hollow Oak Road, Chappaqua, New York plead guilty on December 14^th , 2010 to:

·        one count of Grand Larceny in the First Degree, a class “B” Felony,

·        one count of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, a class “C” Felony.

She will be sentenced on January 29^th, 2013.

Assistant District Attorney Steven Vandervelden, Chief of the Organized Crime and Criminal Enterprise Bureau, and Assistant District Attorney Nicole Gamble of he Economic Crimes Bureau prosecuted the case.

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WPCNR FBI WIRE.  From the Federal Bureau of Investigation. November 21, 2012:

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and April Brooks, the Special Agent in Charge of the Criminal Division of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), announced today the unsealing of insider trading charges against Mathew Martoma, a former portfolio manager for a division of a group of affiliated hedge funds (the hedge fund). Martoma allegedly used material, non-public information (“inside information”) that he received from a doctor who served as an adviser to Elan Corporation PLC (“Elan”) on the clinical trial of an Alzheimer’s Disease drug to make profits and avoid losses for the hedge fund in an amount totaling approximately $276 million.

Martoma was arrested at his home in Boca Raton, Florida, and made an initial appearance in federal court in West Palm Beach, Florida. He will appear in Manhattan federal court on Monday, November 26, 2012, at 10:00 a.m.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said, “Today, yet another privileged hedge fund professional stands accused of insider trading. The charges unsealed today describe cheating coming and going—specifically, insider trading first on the long side, and then on the short side, on a scale that has no historical precedent. As alleged, by cultivating and corrupting a doctor with access to secret drug data, Mathew Martoma and his hedge fund benefited from what might be the most lucrative inside tip of all time. As Martoma allegedly got sneak peeks at drug data, he first recommended that the hedge fund build up a massive position in Elan and Wyeth stock and then caused the fund to shed those shares after getting a secret look at the unexpectedly bad results of a clinical drug trial. And so, overnight, Martoma went from bull to bear. As a result of the blatant corruption of both the drug research and securities markets alleged, the hedge fund made profits and avoided losses of a staggering $276 million, and Martoma himself walked away with a $9 million bonus for his efforts. The SEC and FBI deserve particular praise for uncovering the facts leading to today’s charges.”

FBI Special Agent in Charge April Brooks stated, “Today’s arrest is the latest in the FBI’s five-year campaign to root out insider trading at hedge funds and expert networking firms, which has resulted in more than 70 arrests to date. What we see again is an unholy alliance between an insider willing to divulge valuable non-public information and a money manager to whom that information is as good as gold. The recurring theme through all of the contact between the insider and Martoma was their knowledge that what they were doing was wrong, prohibited by their respective employers’ policies, and illegal. They engaged in continual subterfuge to disguise or conceal their communications. A competitive advantage gained through superior research and analysis is one thing. Cheating is another matter altogether. If the information isn’t public, you can’t trade on it. We will continue to bring these cases so long as people fail to act accordingly.”

According to the allegations in the three-count criminal complaint unsealed today in Manhattan federal court:

During the period of the insider trading scheme, Martoma was a portfolio manager of the hedge fund and was responsible for investment decisions in public companies in the health care sector, including those at issue here, the drug companies Elan and Wyeth, that were involved in the development of experimental drugs to combat Alzheimer’s Disease. At the time, scientists and investors alike were awaiting the results of a clinical trial being conducted by Elan and Wyeth of a drug called bapineuzumab, which offered a novel but untested approach to the treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease (the “drug trial”).

In order to obtain inside information about the drug trial, Martoma arranged for approximately 42 paid consultations between 2006 and July 2008 with a leading Alzheimer’s Disease doctor (the doctor) who chaired the Safety Monitoring Committee (SMC) for the drug trial and who engaged in paid consultations with financial industry clients through an expert networking firm. Through an exploitation of Martoma’s personal and financial relationship through the expert networking firm with the doctor, Martoma used these consultations to obtain inside information about the drug trial that the doctor learned at the SMC meetings and through other communications with Elan and Wyeth. The doctor is now a cooperating witness (the “CW”) for the government and has entered into a non-prosecution agreement.

A number of the consultations were scheduled to take place soon after scheduled SMC meetings at which representatives from Elan and Wyeth reported on the status of the bapineuzumab drug trial and other developments. Because the expert networking firm had explicit rules prohibiting consultants from sharing inside information with clients, and because Martoma was required to inform the Expert Network of the purpose of his proposed consultations, Martoma and the CW would disguise the agenda for their conversations. In one case, for example, they claimed they would be talking about multiple sclerosis treatments and in another, Parkinson’s Disease, concealing that, in fact, they were discussing the drug trial.

The inside information Martoma initially received from the doctor consisted of generally positive safety data about which the doctor was aware through his chairmanship of the SMC. As a result, Martoma increased the holdings of Elan and Wyeth, and further recommended that the owner of the hedge fund (the “hedge fund owner”) increase the hedge fund’s position in Elan and Wyeth, which the hedge fund owner did. By June 30, 2008, the hedge fund held approximately $700 million worth of Elan and Wyeth equity securities.

In late June 2008, the CW was asked to present the detailed results of phase II of the drug trial at the International Conference on Alzheimer Disease (the “ICAD presentation”) on July 29, 2008. Until that time, he had only been privy to the safety results of the drug trial. In preparation for the ICAD presentation, the CW was made aware—for the first time—of the efficacy results scheduled for July 15, 2008, and they were negative, particularly in comparison with market expectations. The results raised serious questions about how well the drug worked and, in fact, whether it worked at all.

On July 17, 2008, the CW shared the negative results in a call with Martoma and also provided him with a draft power point presentation that had been created for the ICAD meeting and that was marked “Confidential, Do Not Distribute.”

Three days later, on July 20, 2008, Martoma sent the hedge fund owner an e-mail in which he wrote that “…It’s important [that we speak],” which they did, for approximately 20 minutes. The hedge fund owner then directed the hedge fund to sell Elan and Wyeth securities prior to the ICAD presentation. Over the next seven days, the hedge fund liquidated its entire position in Elan and almost all of its position in Wyeth—a total of 17.7 million shares worth approximately $700 million. The hedge fund also shorted Elan and Wyeth by approximately 7.75 million shares. This trading represented over 20 percent of the reported U.S. trading volume in Elan and 11 percent of the volume in Wyeth.

The day after the ICAD presentation, Elan stock closed approximately 42 percent lower and Wyeth shares fell approximately 12 percent.

Through this trading activity, the hedge fund is alleged to have earned profits and avoided losses of approximately $276 million.

* * *

Martoma, 38, is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and two counts of securities fraud. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for the conspiracy charge and 20 years in prison on each of the two securities fraud charges. With respect to the conspiracy charges, he faces a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss derived from the crimes, and for the securities fraud charges, he faces a maximum fine of $5 million or twice the gross gain or loss derived from the crime on each charge.

Mr. Bharara praised the efforts of the FBI and also thanked the SEC for its assistance in the investigation. He added that the investigation is continuing.

This case was brought in coordination with President Barack Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, on which Mr. Bharara serves as a Co-Chair of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Working Group. President Obama established the interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to wage an aggressive, coordinated, and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. The task force includes representatives from a broad range of federal agencies, regulatory authorities, inspectors general, and state and local law enforcement who, working together, bring to bear a powerful array of criminal and civil enforcement resources. The task force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch and, with state and local partners, to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes, ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes, combat discrimination in the lending and financial markets, and recover proceeds for victims of financial crimes.

This case is being handled by the Office’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorney Arlo Devlin-Brown is in charge of the prosecution.

The charges contained in the complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.