Sunny Espionage Delight

 

NBC News 

A former top aide to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul was arrested Tuesday on federal charges of acting as a secret agent of the Chinese government, authorities said.

Linda Sun, 41, is accused of using her high-ranking positions in state government to serve the interests of the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party in exchange for millions of dollars. Her husband, Chris Hu, 40, was also arrested in the alleged scheme.

Sun was charged with violating and conspiring to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act, visa fraud, alien smuggling and money laundering. Hu was charged with money laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and misuse of means of identification.

Both pleaded not guilty Tuesday afternoon. Sun was set to be released on a $1.5 million bond, her husband on a $500,000 bond.

“We are disappointed by the filing of these charges, which are inflammatory and appear to be the product of an overly aggressive prosecution," Sun's lawyers, Jarrod Schaeffer and Kenneth Abell, said in a statement after the hearing. "We are also troubled by aspects of the government’s investigation. As we said today in court, our client is eager to exercise her right to a speedy trial and to defend against these accusations in the proper forum—a court of law.”

The arrests come six weeks after FBI agents searched the couple's $3.5 million home in a gated community in Manhasset on Long Island. 

Sun worked in state government for roughly 15 years, holding positions in the administration of then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo before becoming Hochul’s deputy chief of staff, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Avi Small, a spokesman for Hochul, said Sun was hired more than a decade ago and fired in March 2023 after "evidence of misconduct" was discovered. Small said Hochul's staff immediately reported her actions to law enforcement and have assisted the authorities working the case.

According to the 64-page indictment, Sun blocked Taiwanese government representatives from getting access to high-ranking New York state officials and altered the messaging of state officials on issues of importance to the Chinese government — all at the request of Chinese officials. Sun also helped Chinese government officials travel to the U.S. and meet with New York officials by providing unauthorized invitation letters from high-level state officers, according to the indictment.

"Sun’s unauthorized invitation letters for the PRC government delegation constituted false statements made in connection with immigration documents and induced the foreign citizens into unlawfully entering the United States," Brooklyn federal prosecutors said in a press release.

"Sun never registered as a foreign agent with the Attorney General, and in fact actively concealed that she took actions at the order, request, or direction of PRC government and the CCP representatives."

The mirage broker

NY Daily News 

A prominent Queens businessman and political donor is facing accusations that he and his wife lured hundreds of unwitting Chinese nationals into pouring a quarter-billion dollars into two development projects with the promise that their investments would help secure residency in the United States.

According to a complaint filed in Brooklyn Federal Court by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Yi “Richard” Xia and his wife Julia Yue persuaded more than 450 investors to shell out $229 million to fund the construction of two five-star hotels, one in Flushing and the other in Corona.

The Flushing development, which was dubbed the Eastern Mirage Project and supposed to be finished in 2013, remains incomplete, and according to the SEC complaint, is “an unfinished and empty glass tower.” The other development, the Eastern Emerald Project, is “a largely vacant dirt hole surrounded by a concrete wall.”

Xia’s solicitations for investments spanned from 2010 to 2017, the SEC contends.

According to its complaint, Xia, 52, and Yue, 41, pitched the hotel projects as a way for investors from China to obtain American residency through the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ EB-5 program, which allows foreign nationals to qualify if they invest $500,000 or more in a project that creates or preserves jobs.

But, the SEC claims, the investors who made loans to project developers were being deceived.

Instead of their cash going where it was promised, money investors sent to the Mirage project was redirected to the Emerald development, and money intended for the Emerald project was sent to the Mirage job, the complaint claims.

“Defendants represented to investors that their $500,000 capital contributions would be used only for the construction and operation of that specific project. Instead, defendants repeatedly misappropriated money from one project and used it for another,” the complaint states. “Xia also misappropriated investor funds for personal and other improper expenses.”

To that end, the complaint claims that “at least $9.7 million in ill-gotten gains” were funneled into Yue’s personal bank accounts “for no legitimate business purpose.”

Xia also promised investors the projects would be financed through government bonds and bank loans, according to the complaint, which contends those assertions were false.

Xia and his wife did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

 Campaign finance records indicate that over the years Xia has donated generously to political causes, including contributions to Assemblyman Ron Kim, Councilman Peter Koo, state Sen. John Liu and a Democratic political action committee that wheeled thousands of dollars to former Rep. Joe Crowley.

Rep. Maloney proposes bill for more LLC transparency

 

QNS

 

Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney is pitching a bill on Capitol Hill that will put an end to shell companies across the United States, and possibly alleviate some of the issues facing everyday New Yorkers in an inflated housing market.

The main objective of the bill, however, is national security exemplified in the history of 650 Fifth Ave., once owned by the Iranian government and used to launder money for the benefit of terrorism groups.

“It’s not owned by the government of Iran anymore. It’s owned by a private U.S. company, but for many years, Iran was able to circumvent U.S. sanctions and launder their money, right here, in the US financial system,” Maloney said. “Now, people ask how did they do this? They used two anonymous shell companies, both formed here in the United States that hid their ownership. Fortunately the era of anonymous shell companies is almost about to end.”

Synthetic pot is really bad news

From WPIX:

K2 is just one brand name among many types of synthetic marijuana flooding the marketplace in recent years — on the Internet, in gas stations, and at local delis. It’s packaged as potpourri or incense with warnings that it’s not for human consumption, but teenagers and poor addicts have been abusing it; sometimes, with deadly results.

Fifteen people have died in the United States this year from a bad reaction to synthetic pot with more than 4,300 calls made to poison control centers as of July 6. The reactions can be severe, with some users having psychotic episodes and exhibiting severely violent behavior.

Last year, federal agents raided stores in 29 states that were selling the phony pot, which is actually dried plant material sprayed with cannabinoids. The chemicals used to create the high are usually produced in China.

The feds were especially concerned about something else they found at a store in Birmingham, Ala. In Birmingham, the agents discovered $38 million worth of wire transfers to Yemen.

Yemen is known as a major base for terror training and plotting.

Why was all that money going to Yemen? Is the sale of synthetic marijuana a way to poison American youth—and finance terrorism at the same time?

Odometer ripoffs tied to Queens man and Israeli brother

From Consumer Affairs:

A Queens, New York, man and his Israeli brother were charged in indictments unsealed today with offenses related to a long-running odometer tampering and money laundering scheme, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York announced.

Chaim Gali and John Triculy, 40, of Queens Village, New York, and Shmuel Gali, 42, of Israel, are charged in a 15-count indictment in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (EDPA) with conspiracy, securities fraud and false odometer statements. The Galis are also charged in a related two-count indictment in the Eastern District of New York (EDNY) with mail and wire fraud conspiracy, and money laundering conspiracy.

“Mileage is one of the most important factors in a consumer’s decision to purchase a used car,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Joyce R. Branda for the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “Misrepresenting the mileage on a used car fraudulently induces a consumer to pay more money for less value, and it hides necessary information that will affect how a consumer maintains and repairs that vehicle.”

The indictments allege that the Galis devised a scheme to defraud buyers of used cars by misrepresenting the mileage of approximately 690 vehicles they sold beginning as early as 2006 and through at least 2011.

The indictments charge that the Galis used fictitious dealer names to purchase high-mileage, used motor vehicles from a national vehicle leasing company. The defendants are charged with conspiring to alter the odometers in these vehicles, which they purchased in Florida, Maryland, Missouri and elsewhere, to reflect false lower mileages.

The indictments allege that the Galis then fraudulently altered the motor vehicle titles to reflect the false lower mileages and as a result, the commonwealth of Pennsylvania issued motor vehicle titles reflecting the altered mileages.

The defendants subsequently sold the vehicles at wholesale automobile auctions in Pennsylvania and New Jersey using various dealerships, including Chase Auto Center and Conestoga City Autos.

At the auctions, the Galis provided the buyers with Pennsylvania titles bearing the false lower mileages. The EDPA indictment alleges that in some instances, the title indicated mileage more than 100,000 miles less than the true mileage of the vehicle.

“The defendants created an elaborate odometer tampering and money laundering scheme to con would-be buyers into purchasing used cars at inflated prices,” said U.S. Attorney Loretta E. Lynch for the EDNY. “They then used the proceeds of their crimes to continue their fraud against additional unsuspecting consumers."

Another lovely weekend in Jamaica

Just taking my Saturday morning walk to the gym on Jamaica Avenue and this is what I encounter on a regular basis and what I always have to deal with.

I head out my building walking down 170th Street towards Jamaica Avenue and have to pick up a small bag of garbage filled with all kinds of fast food crap that some low class slob dumped in front of the empty lot next to me owned by some low class third world immigrant slob. Great way to start the morning and of course the huge box of industrial fluorescent lights are still in the empty lot along with the high weeds that are getting higher every day and coming out onto the sidewalk. Even though I reported this over a week ago, THREE TIMES, nothing has changed.

Huge box of over a dozen industrial fluorescent lights that were dumped into this lot at 170th St/ 90th Ave over a week ago and still lying there. It has been reported three times: told a sanitation officer the first day I saw it, called DOS and filed a 311 report and let our elected officials know. NOTHING DONE.

As I turn right onto Jamaica Avenue off 170th Street into a pretty disgusting nasty block, I encounter this mess on the sidewalk.

The definition of “ghetto”, crap all over early in the morning.

Across the street, where a very ugly empty lot is, they have put up a wooden fence and the sign states that a retail project will be taking place here (not the $50 million retail project that will be on 168th St/90th Avenue). I do have to say that the building that has just been fixed up is very nice and hopefully low crap retail, a nail salon, a wig place or a 99 cent store will not go in there and when the retail project is built it also will not contain a bunch of low class shit. I am crossing my fingers, but not holding my breath.

Future sight of another retail project on Jamaica Avenue between 169th and 168th Pl

Okay, I have some hope, till I encounter a space that they had been working on and wondered what was going to go in there. After attending the “Jamaica Revealed” event and hearing that they wanted to bring in some high end retail and restaurants, I was very depressed to see this:

Another fucking beauty supply store going to open on Jamaica Avenue right across from a huge beauty supply store already in place. That brings the count up to 10 of these places on Jamaica Ave.

Really, this is “Jamaica Revealed”, another fucking beauty supply store on Jamaica Avenue. There is already a huge one directly across the street that just opened up not too long ago.

This place which opened not too long ago is directly across from the new place which is opening soon.

Is this what is meant by “Diverse and Vibrant” that I keep hearing all of our elected officials and business leaders saying. Ten huge beauty supply stores on Jamaica Avenue and about 10 more on the side streets does not say “Diverse and Vibrant”, it says “laundering dirty money”. Am I the only one that gets that. There are not enough people in Jamaica to sustain that amount of beauty supplies stores. Oh well, depression is really setting in, so I pop into my gym, Blink (actually a great addition to Jamaica Ave) to work out my frustration.

Leaving the gym to pick up my dry cleaning on Hillside Avenue, my depression begins to sink further as I walk this stretch of low class third world immigrant crap and garbage.

The law offices of Z.A. Wani. Now this is class for an attorney.

Well if there is no garbage can, just pretend there is one and dump your shit on the sidewalk

Not much different from this scene from an actual third world country:



Now back to our third world country, along Hillside Avenue.

It does not matter where these people put shit.

Now if this little tour does not spell out low class ghetto behavior/low class third world bullshit, I do not know what does. Oh and I am sorry if I offend anyone…………………well no not really, I do not really give a shit who I offend, because I am offended by this morning walk and what I have to see on a daily basis due to people’s bad behavior, corrupt or do nothing elected officials and community leaders and the apathy that has spread like wild fire in our community. I just keep thinking on this walk if our community was a better class of White, Black , Hispanic and middle class immigrants would it look like this and the answer is a definite NO, NO, NO.

Speaking of apathy, if you did not sign my petition to some of our elected officials including Governor Cuomo (http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/clean-up-jamaica-queens.fb28?source=c.fb&r_by=7853233) to clean up Jamaica, then you are no better than the low life people who throw garbage all over the place and have no respect for our community. You also do not get to complain or bitch about the garbage problem because YOU are part of the problem by doing SHIT.

“Jamaica Revealed” my ass, this Saturday morning walk showed  the “Real Jamaica Revealed”, not the “Make Believe Jamaica Revealed”. Wow, some of  you are as bad as the Republicans who live in the bubble.

Supposed clean and repaired Jamaica Subway Station women’s restroom. 5.17.13. Not much different before it was closed for repairs.

Joe Moretti
Jamaica, NY  11432
http://cleanupjamaicaqueens.wordpress.com/
https://www.facebook.com/CleanUpJamaicaQueens

Richmond Hill scammers sent up the river

From the NY Post:

A seething Queens judge walloped three members of a crooked Richmond Hill family yesterday, sending them upstate to serve a combined 418 years for a brazen immigration and real-estate scam.

The mom, dad and daughter — dubbed “The Ramsundar Gang” by Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder — paid a shocking price for defrauding 19 families of $1.8 million over six years.

Holder said his harsh sentences are nothing compared to the street justice the Ramsundar family would have faced back in their native Trinidad.

“You and I know, that if you did this fraud and paraded and strutted it in your own country, you would have probably been hacked to death,” Holder told the family, which immigrated from Trinidad in the ’90s.

Shane Ramsundar, 53, wife Gomatee, 47, and their oldest daughter, Shantel, 24, were found guilty of grand larceny, money laundering, criminal impersonation and other charges during a three-month trial.

Holder had no sympathy for any of the grifters. The tough judge even had one victim, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, stand up in court, so Shane could see him. Holder said the family’s crimes nearly killed this victim, who lost so much money he couldn’t afford medication.

Rug seller in big trouble

From the Times Ledger:

A Rosedale rug dealer who violated the trade embargo with Iran was ordered to be held in prison and pay the federal government hundreds of thousands of dollars for his illegal sales, the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan said.

Reza Safarha, 55, an Iranian immigrant, was sentenced Friday to more than eight years in prison after he was convicted of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, conspiracy to launder money and stealing government money, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

A federal judge convicted Safarha, who owned the KP House of Carpets, at 134-35 Brookville Blvd., in February for sending nearly $300,000 in cash to Iran in violation of the trade embargo with the nation that has been in effect since 1995.

The immigrant used an informal money-transferring system known as a “hawala,” where funds never physically cross boundaries through a banking system, the U.S. attorney’s office said. The funds are transferred from one country by a hawala operator and distributed to recipients in another nation by the operator’s associates.

CityTime consultants busted

From the Daily News:

Four highly paid consultants hired to computerize the municipal payroll to eliminate waste and fraud were charged Wednesday with using the city as a "cash cow" to steal $80 million.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara unsealed charges against the four hired as part of a project called CityTime that Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez first revealed was hobbled by waste and bloat.

The four were arrested Wednesday morning, along with the wife and mother of one of the consultants. All were charged with with using a network of shell companies to siphon off millions of taxpayer dollars.

Bharara said the plotters "used the the city as their own personal cash cow, making misrepresentations that led to the misappropriation of tens of millions of dollars."

Consultant Mark Mazer put front companies in the names of his wife and mother to pocket more than $25 million, according to a criminal complaint filed in Manhattan federal court.

Prosecutors said the defendants also took kickbacks and engaged in money laundering.

More from Daily News:

Read on for more fallout from the CityTime mess, including from Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who insists no one could have known the scope of what was happening -- even the Daily News (despite the fact that our Juan Gonzalez has been exposing problems with CityTime for ages)...

"No one, even in the Daily News, would have thought this was happening. ... The Council's had a number of oversight hearings on CityTime. I think we're all anxiously awaiting the results of what the deputy mayor will find. You know, everyone was very unhappy I think across the city to hear this yesterday. But I was grateful to the mayor that he reacted quickly and thoroughly and that he's putting the deputy mayor in charge. ... I don't know that he could have done anything more quickly than as soon as he found out yesterday. You know, you can't, sometimes these investigations start and you can't, you may even know about them, and you can't do anything. They have to play their course out to get to the point where law enforcement can make the arrest. So really, the mayor could not have done anything until after yesterday. He didn't let any grass grow under his feet."

Brooklyn pols support money launderer

From the NY Post:

A Brighton Beach-connected international money launderer — who worked under the European equivalent of John Gotti — counts ranking New York politicians among his friends.

A trio of powerhouse politicos is coming to the aid of Nikolai Dozortsev: state Sen. Carl Kruger, Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny, and even Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz. The elected officials all sent letters on his behalf to the Brooklyn federal court judge who will sentence Dozortsev later this week.

Dozortsev – a twice-convicted felon with a criminal career spanning two decades – was the money man for a violent organized crime syndicate. The group’s illegal activities in the U.S. and Europe easily exceeded $50 million a year, officials say.

He worked alongside the legendary European mob boss Ricardo Fanchini, and faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced.

But Brook-Krasny calls Dozortsev a man "of integrity and strong moral fiber" in a letter written on Assembly letterhead and addressed to the judge presiding over the case.

Kruger, another Brighton pol, who sits on the state Senate’s Crime Victims and Crime and Corrections committees, urged Judge Frederic Block to kindly "take under consideration" the assistance Dozortsev and his family has given to other immigrants from Russia settling in New York.

Markowitz wrote Block a letter praising the character of Dozortsev’s parents and explaining that although he had never met "Nick," he hopes their qualities had been passed on to him.

P.S. Pedro Espada's been indicted.

City employees had sports betting ring

From NY1:

Investigators in Queens arrested dozens of people, allegedly tied to two major sports betting rings.

The Queens district attorney's office has indicted 38 people in connection with the two nationwide operations that spanned from Queens to Nevada, Florida and as far as Costa Rica.

Seventeen of the defendants were arraigned Wednesday in Queens. All of the defendants face multiple charges including enterprise corruption and money laundering.

The two operations allegedly worked together to make close to $178 million over nearly a three year period. Investigators say a majority of the money came from online betting sites.

Among those charged are a city sanitation worker, DOT highway repairman and a firefighter who prosecutors say delivered gambling money using a New York City Fire Department vehicle.

Prosecutors say gambling rings often lead to more criminal behavior.

Fraud was family business

NEW YORK (AP/1010 WINS) -- Prosecutors have charged a father, mother and daughter in a $1.75 million immigration and real estate fraud targeting the Queens West Indian community.

Shane, Gomatee and Shantal Ramsundar pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges including grand larceny, money laundering and scheme to defraud. They were being held on a combined $8 million bail.

The Queens district attorney's office claims the family members used their connections to the West Indian community to scam 19 people over nearly six years. Prosecutors say some victims were promised assistance with getting legal immigration status. Some were offered cheap access to federally seized properties.

Lawyer John A. Scarpa Jr. says his client, 23-year-old Shantal, was not a knowing participant and believed whatever she was told by her dad.

Councilman Larry Seabrook indicted by the Feds

From The Wonkster:

Councilmember Larry Seabrook, who served in the state Assembly and just started his third term at the City Council, is being charged with money laundering, extortion and fraud, according to an indictment released today by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District.

Some of the charges directly stem from the City Council’s slush fund scandal — which brought down former Councilmember Miguel Martinez last year.

But they also go beyond that.

According to the indictment, Seabrook also solicited payments from a Bronx subcontractor competing for a boiler contract for the new Yankee Stadium and subsequently used the payments for personal expenses.

Beyond that, the indictment alleges Seabrook directed more than $2.5 million in the City Council’s discretionary funding to nonprofits he in fact controlled. Seabrook negotiated office space for the groups (which was reported in the Times last year) and often made decisions for the groups, the indictment states.

Through these nonprofits, Seabrook paid “hundreds of thousands of dollars” to his girlfriend, sisters, nephews and brother in consulting fees. At the same time, these groups fell far short of meeting goals laid out in the council’s discretionary funding initiatives.

Personal banking thief

From the NY Post:

A personal banker at the Long Island City branch of Astoria Federal Savings was charged last week with stealing more than $90,000 in customers’ funds over five months, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.

Eman Mazhar, 30, of College Point, was charged Jan. 15 with grand larceny, possession of stolen property, falsifying business records and money laundering. If convicted, she faces up to seven years in prison. Her next court date is Jan. 26.

“The defendant is accused of using her position to take the proceeds of checks submitted to her for deposit in customers’ annuity funds, cashing stolen checks against customers’ accounts and taking the proceeds of checks submitted for deposit into customers’ accounts,” Brown said in a statement. “The lesson to be learned from this case is that there is a penalty to be incurred for early withdrawal — especially of other people’s money.”

This week's Queens terrorism news

From Eyewitness News:

Adis Medunjanin, who was interviewed twice in the immediate aftermath of the bomb plot, left his Flushing home driving erratically following the execution of the warrant there, investigators said.

Medunjanin's attorney, Robert Gottlieb, said investigators were looking to seize his passport.

Law enforcement sources said a surveillance team was following Medunjanin, who they said rear ended another vehicle at the Whitestone Expressway and then attempted to flee the scene.

Medunjanin was charged with leaving the scene of an accident.

He was treated for injuries sustained in the accident at New York Hospital Queens. He was then taken by investigators to the 109th precinct stationhouse in Flushing for questioning.

From the Times Ledger:

The former president of the nonprofit that acts as landlord to Woodside’s Razi school and is suspected of laundering money for the Iranian government pleaded guilty last week to destroying documents related to the case, the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan said.

Farshid Jahedi, 55, admitted to two counts of felony obstruction of justice last Thursday for destroying the documents in December 2008 after receiving a federal grand jury subpoena requesting records tying the nonprofit Alavi Foundation to Bank Melli Iran, which is owned by the Iranian government. He faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of as much as $250,000, federal prosecutors said.

FBI agents saw Jahedi tossing out torn documents near his home in Ardsley, N.Y., Dec. 18, 2008, the day after he was subpoenaed and cautioned not to destroy any records, the U.S. attorney’s office said. He was arrested the next day.