Tag Archives: New York City

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NYPD tells asylum seekers camped out in Midtown to leave as lawmakers head to Brooklyn to tour new shelter

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NEW YORK — Controversy continues to brew over the city’s decision to move asylum seekers from the Watson Hotel in Midtown to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal.

On Wednesday, City Council members visited the new facility.

But what do the men who have moved there think?

The lawmakers joined in on the chorus of calls, criticizing the living conditions inside the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal — the new home to 1,000 asylum seekers.

“The city of New York is trying to discourage people from staying in their care and that’s why they have set up this kind of congregate facility in the way that they have,” Councilman Lincoln Restler said.

READ MORE: Asylum seekers camped outside Watson Hotel say they want to hear from Mayor Eric Adams directly

For days, the city has struggled to convince those staying at the hotel in Midtown to move to Red Hook so that hotel rooms can be given to families.

Many have refused, choosing to camp out in the cold in front of the Watson while arguing the new shelter is isolated, lacking in transportation, with cots stacked head to toe.

CBS2’s Ali Bauman witnessed NYPD officers outside the Watson Hotel on Wednesday night telling those who were still staying on the sidewalk to pack up and leave.

Asylum seekers CBS2 spoke to in Brooklyn on Wednesday said they adjusted just fine.

“A single man can go anywhere, sleep anywhere, eat whatever, but with a kids, it’s a different matter,” said Oscar Marin of Colombia.

The city has been fighting the negative reaction by posting videos and pictures of the facility, reiterating there’s nearly 100 toilets, controlled temperature, hot showers, and three meals per day.

Mayor Eric Adams is accusing some bad actors of spreading misinformation.

“The overwhelming number of them move. From my analysis about 30 are still there, and I’m not even sure they are migrants. There are some agitators that just really … I think is doing a disservice to the migrants,” Adams said.

READ MORE: Mayor Adams’ plan to use Brooklyn Cruise Terminal as emergency shelter for asylum seekers faces backlash

But advocates say it’s no surprise why people would be upset.

“Nobody wants to be sleeping with 999 people in the same room. I think it’s a very difficult position to be put into, especially for clients who have undergone a lot of trauma,” said Kathryn Kliff, attorney at the Legal Aid Society.

Activists and council members say there’s no reason the city can’t open up more hotels for the asylum seekers, adding the move to Brooklyn is adding to their trauma.

Christina Fan

Christina Fan joined CBS2 News as a general assignment reporter in spring of 2019.



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NYC bike path terror suspect found guilty on all counts

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CNN
 — 

Sayfullo Saipov was found guilty of murder by a federal jury for using a rented truck to fatally strike eight people on a New York City bike path on Halloween Day in 2017.

Jurors deliberated about six hours over two days in the case involving the deadliest terrorist attack New York had seen since 9/11 – which left six foreign tourists and two Americans dead.

The same jury will determine whether Saipov is sentenced to life in prison or the death penalty. The vote must be unanimous for the death penalty to be imposed. The penalty phase of the trial is scheduled to begin on February 6.

The trial was the first federal death penalty case heard during the administration of President Joe Biden, who had campaigned against capital punishment at the federal level.

Jury deliberations began Wednesday afternoon after Judge Vernon Broderick read them instructions.

Saipov had pleaded not guilty.

He was convicted Thursday in the Southern District of New York of counts of murder in aid of racketeering activity, assault with a dangerous weapon and attempted murder in aid of racketeering activity, attempted murder in aid of racketeering activity, provision of material support to ISIS, and violence and destruction of a motor vehicle.

In closing arguments, defense attorney David Patton did not dispute the facts of the attack Saipov is accused of committing. But the defense disputed the prosecution’s claim that Saipov was motivated to commit the attack to gain entry to ISIS. Patton argued that the attack was spurred by religious fervor to please his God and “ascend to paradise” in his religion.

Prosecutors told jurors that Saipov carried out the attack to become a member of the terrorist group.

“People who ISIS relies upon to conquer territory and kill non-believers, those are its soldiers. Of course they are part of ISIS. That is common sense,” prosecutor Amanda Leigh Houle said. “An organization engaged in a worldwide war needs its soldiers and its soldiers are part of the group.”

The charges stemmed from the 2017 attack in which Saipov drove a U-Haul truck into cyclists and pedestrians on Manhattan’s West Side bike path. He then crashed the vehicle into a school bus and left the truck while brandishing a pellet gun and paintball gun, authorities said at the time. He was shot by an NYPD officer and taken into custody, officials said.

Investigators said Saipov told them he planned the attack for about a year and was inspired by ISIS videos, according to a criminal complaint.

Saipov became radicalized by consuming extremist content during lengthy solo stints as a long-haul truck driver, his attorney said.

He grew up culturally Muslim in Uzbekistan but was not exposed to any significant amount of religious study, and his family members are not ISIS supporters, Patton said.

Saipov came to the United States from Uzbekistan in 2010 and was living in New Jersey before the attack. He lived with his wife and three children and drove for Uber, according to officials.

Saipov came to the US on a diversity immigrant visa, which allows people from countries with low recent immigration to apply for a visa and green card, according to the Department of Homeland Security. He later became a legal permanent resident, officials said.

Of the eight people killed in the attack, five were from Argentina, two were Americans, and one was from Belgium, police said.

The Argentinians were part of a group celebrating the 30th anniversary of their high school graduation in New York City.

Argentina’s Foreign Affairs Ministry identified them as Hernán Diego Mendoza, Diego Enrique Angelini, Alejandro Damián Pagnucco, Ariel Erlij and Hernán Ferruchi.

Nicholas Cleves, 23, from New York, and Darren Drake, 32, from New Milford, New Jersey, were the two Americans killed.

Ann-Laure Decadt, a 31-year-old Belgian woman, was also among those killed, according to a statement from her husband, Alexander Naessens. Decadt, a mother of two young sons, was on a trip to New York with her two sisters and her mother, Naessens said after the attack.

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Trump Org. fined $1.6 million after conviction for 17 felonies, including tax fraud

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New York
CNN
 — 

The Trump Organization was fined $1.6 million – the maximum possible penalty – by a New York judge Friday for running a decade-long tax fraud scheme, a symbolic moment because it is the only judgment for a criminal conviction that has come close to former President Donald Trump.

Two Trump entities, The Trump Corp. and Trump Payroll Corp., were convicted last month of 17 felonies, including tax fraud and falsifying business records.

Under New York law, the most the companies can be fined is about $1.6 million, a penalty the Trump Organization can easily afford.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked Judge Juan Merchan to make the Trump Org. pay the maximum fine, though he admitted that it will have a “minimal impact” on a multibillion-dollar company.

“We all know that these corporations cannot go to jail as Allen Weisselberg has,” Steinglass said Friday, referring to the Trump Organization’s long-time chief financial officer who was sentenced to five months in jail earlier this week as part of a deal he reached with prosecutors. “The only way to effectively deter such conduct is to make it as expensive as possible.”

New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, told CNN that the fine against the Trump Org. is important but he also wants lawmakers to raise the fines for companies that break the law.

“It’s important regardless of who the defendant is, because it’s cheating and greed and cheating the taxpayers,” Bragg said. “It obviously becomes more consequential given that it involved the former president’s corporation and CFO. It sends a message – I hope it sends a message to New Yorkers that you know we’re one system of justice and that this kind of conduct, regardless of who you are, won’t be countenanced in Manhattan.”

But, Bragg said, the fine isn’t enough of a penalty.

“It isn’t sufficient. Plain and simple,” Bragg said, saying the law should “reflect what I think many of us see, particularly those who sat through the trial and saw the 13 year you know pattern of deep greed and misconduct laid bare, we should have stiffer penalties for conduct like that.”

The Trump Org. entities have 14 days to pay the fine.

The real estate business is not at risk of being dismantled because there is no mechanism under the law to dissolve the company. No individual will go to jail based on the jury’s verdict. However, a felony conviction could impact the Trump Organization’s reputation and ability to do business or obtain loans or contracts.

Trump and his family were not charged in this case, but the former president was mentioned repeatedly during the trial by prosecutors about his connection to the un-taxed benefits doled out to certain executives, including company-funded apartments, car leases and personal expenses. One prosecutor said Trump “explicitly sanctioned” tax fraud.

One of the jurors told CNN that the jury saw a “culture of fraud,” at the Trump Organization, but referred to Trump as a nondescript “Bob Smith” at times when talking about the company owner’s awareness of the crimes in relation to the charges.

Weisselberg last year pleaded guilty to 15 felonies related to the tax fraud scheme and agreed to testify truthfully against the company at trial.

He remained on paid leave at the Trump Organization, where he was compensated a little more than $1 million a year, until Tuesday when he was sentenced. Weisselberg received a severance package that one person familiar with the deal called “generous.”

Merchan, who sentenced Weisselberg, said at the time that but for the deal he would have given Weisselberg more time in jail after listening to the evidence at trial.

Merchan said he found most “offensive” a $6,000 payroll check Weisselberg had made out to his wife, who never worked for Trump, so she could become eligible for Social Security benefits.

A Trump Org. spokesperson said that Weisselberg “is a victim,” as is the company and former president.

“New York has become the crime and murder capital of the world, yet these politically motivated prosecutors will stop at nothing to get President Trump and continue the never ending witch-hunt which began the day he announced his presidency,” the spokesperson said. “We did nothing wrong and we will appeal this verdict.”

The Manhattan district attorney’s office continues to investigate the company’s business practices.

Prosecutors are conducting a wide-ranging investigation and in recent months their focus has returned to the company’s involvement in hush-money payments made to silence adult film star Stormy Daniels from going public with an affair with Trump just before the 2016 election, people familiar with the matter said. Trump has denied the affair.

Prosecutors are also looking into potential insurance fraud after new material came to light from the New York attorney general’s civil investigation into the accuracy of the Trump Organization’s financial statements, the people said.

The biggest threat currently facing the company could be New York Attorney General Letitia James’ $250 million civil lawsuit, which has alleged Trump, his three eldest children, Weisselberg and others defrauded lenders, insurers and tax authorities by inflating the value of multiple Trump Org. properties for more than a decade.

In addition to money, James, a Democrat, is seeking to permanently bar Trump and the children named in the lawsuit from serving as a director of a business registered in New York state. She is also seeking to cancel the Trump Organization’s corporate certificate, which if granted by a judge, could effectively force the company to cease operations in New York state.

The judge overseeing the lawsuit put an independent monitor in place to review the Trump Organization’s financial statements and business decisions. He recently denied motions to dismiss the case and said he considered sanctioning Trump’s attorneys. The trial is set for October.

Trump has denied wrongdoing and said the lawsuit is politically motivated.

This story has been updated with additional details.

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NYC nurses strike ends after tentative deal reached with hospitals

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New York
CNN
 — 

A nurses strike at two private New York City hospital systems has come to an end after 7,000 nurses spent three days on the picket line.

The New York State Nurses Association union reached tentative deals with Mount Sinai Health System and Montefiore Health System, which operates three hospitals in the Bronx that had been struck. The nurses had been arguing that immense staffing shortages have caused widespread burnout, hindering their ability to properly care for their patients.

The union said the deal will provide enforceable “safe staffing ratios” for all inpatient units at Mount Sinai and Montefiore, “so that there will always be enough nurses at the bedside to provide safe patient care, not just on paper.” At Montefiore, the hospital agreed to financial penalties for failing to comply with agreed-upon staffing levels in all units.

Montefiore said the agreement also includes 170 new nursing positions, a 19.1% increase in pay, lifetime health coverage for eligible retirees and adding “significantly more nurses” in the ER.

The deals were announced in the early hours Thursday morning — at 3 a.m. ET for Montefiore and about 30 minutes later at Mount Sinai. The nurses were expected to be back on the job for the 7 a.m. ET shift Thursday, and Montefiore Medical Center said all surgeries and procedures and outpatient appointments for Thursday and after will proceed as scheduled.

Nurses will need to vote to approve the deal before it is finalized. But the union said the tentative deal will help put more nurses to work and allow patients to receive better care.

“Through our unity and by putting it all on the line, we won enforceable safe staffing ratios at both Montefiore and Mount Sinai where nurses went on strike for patient care,” the nurses union said in a statement. “Today, we can return to work with our heads held high, knowing that our victory means safer care for our patients and more sustainable jobs for our profession.”

Mount Sinai called the agreement “fair and responsible.”

“Our proposed agreement is similar to those between NYSNA and eight other New York City hospitals,” Mount Sinai said in a statement. “It is fair and responsible, and it puts patients first.”

“From the outset, we came to the table committed to bargaining in good faith and addressing the issues that were priorities for our nursing staff,” Montefiore said in a statement. “We know this strike impacted everyone – not just our nurses – and we were committed to coming to a resolution as soon as possible to minimize disruption to patient care.”

The hospitals had stayed open during the three-day strike, using higher-cost temporary nursing services to provide care, and transferring other employees to take care of non-medical nursing duties. They had also diverted and transferred some patients to other hospitals and postponed some elective procedures.

The striking nurses have said they are working long hours in unsafe conditions without enough pay – a refrain echoed by several other nurses strikes across the country over the past year. They said the hours and the stress of having too many patients to care for is driving away nurses and creating a worsening crisis in staffing and patient care.

The union representing the nurses had reached tentative agreements offering the same 19% pay hikes at other New York hospitals, avoiding strikes by about 9,000 other nurses spread across seven hospitals in the city. But the nurses at the hospitals that went on strike said the pay raises weren’t the main problem, that the more severe staffing shortages at Mount Sinai and Montefiore needed to be addressed before a deal could be reached.

Both hospitals had criticized the union for going on strike rather than accepting offers they described as similar to those the union accepted at other hospitals in the city.

– CNN’s Chris Isidore contributed to this report

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Nurses go on strike at 2 big New York City hospitals

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NEW YORK (AP) — Thousands of nurses went on strike Monday at two of New York City’s major hospitals after contract negotiations stalled over staffing and salaries nearly three years into the coronavirus pandemic.

The privately owned, nonprofit hospitals were postponing nonemergency surgeries, diverting ambulances to other medical centers, pulling in temporary staffers, and assigning administrators with nursing backgrounds to work in wards in order to cope with the walkout.

As many as 3,500 nurses at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx and about 3,600 at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan were off the job. Talks were resuming Monday afternoon at Montefiore, but there was no immediate word on when bargaining might resume at Mount Sinai.

Hundreds of nurses picketed, some singing the chorus from Twisted Sister’s 1984 hit “We’re Not Gonna Take It,” outside Mount Sinai. It was one of many New York hospitals deluged with COVID-19 patients as the virus made the city an epicenter of deaths in spring 2020.

“We were heroes only two years ago,” said Warren Urquhart, a nurse in transplant and oncology units. “We was on the front lines of the city when everything came to a stop. And now we need to come to a stop so they can understand how much we mean to this hospital and to the patients.”

The nurses union, the New York State Nurses Association, said members had to strike because chronic understaffing leaves them caring for too many patients.

Jed Basubas said he generally attends to eight to 10 patients at a time, twice the ideal number in the units where he works. Nurse practitioner Juliet Escalon said she sometimes skips bathroom breaks to attend to patients. So does Ashleigh Woodside, who said her 12-hour operating-room shifts often stretch to 14 hours because short staffing forces her and others to work overtime.

“We love our job. We want to take care of our patients. But we just want to do it safely and in a humane way, where we feel appreciated,” Woodside said.

The hospitals said they had offered the same raises — totaling 19% over three years — that the union had accepted at several other facilities where contract talks reached tentative agreements in recent days.

Montefiore said it had agreed to add 170 more nurses. Mount Sinai’s administration said the union’s focus on nurse-to-patient ratios “ignores the progress we have made to attract and hire more new nurses, despite a global shortage of healthcare workers that is impacting hospitals across the country.”

The hospitals said Monday that they had prepared for the strike and were working to minimize the disruption. Mount Sinai called the union’s behavior “reckless,” while Montefiore said the strike was sparking “fear and uncertainty across our community.”

“In my opinion, this action was totally unnecessary,” Montefiore President Dr. Philip Ozuah told staffers in a memo Monday afternoon. Ozuah maintained that the two sides had been close to agreement on “a very generous offer.”

Some patients, meanwhile, were left in limbo.

Darcy Gervasio took medical leave from her job at a suburban college library, made child care and transportation arrangements, got tests and otherwise prepared for a gastrointestinal surgery that was scheduled Monday but now is postponed indefinitely, she said. While the procedure is considered elective, Gervasio said it’s essential to controlling her Crohn’s disease.

“As a patient, of course, I am annoyed and inconvenienced,” she wrote in an email. But Gervasio, a union member herself, said she blames the hospital management, not the nurses.

“I am very disappointed in the administration for letting the nursing staffing crisis get out of hand in the first place — especially in the wake of the tremendous strain on nurses during the COVID pandemic,” Gervasio wrote. She questioned why Mount Sinai couldn’t strike a deal with the union when several other local hospitals did in the last two weeks.

Gov. Kathy Hochul urged the union and the hospitals late Sunday to take their dispute to binding arbitration. Montefiore’s administration had said it was willing to let an arbitrator settle the contract; the union did not immediately accept the proposal. In a statement, it said Hochul, a Democrat, “should listen to the frontline COVID nurse heroes and respect our federally-protected labor and collective bargaining rights.”

A lineup of other city and state Democratic politicians, including Attorney General Letitia James, joined a midday union rally Monday.

Both hospitals had prepared for the walkout by transferring patients, including intensive-care newborns at Mount Sinai. State Health Department representatives were at the two medical centers Monday to monitor staffing levels, the agency said.

Montefiore and Mount Sinai are the last of a group of hospitals with nursing contracts that expired simultaneously. The union initially warned that it would strike at all of them at the same time, but the other hospitals reached agreements as the deadline approached. All include raises of 7%, 6%, and 5% over the next three years.

___

Associated Press writer Karen Matthews contributed to this report.

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Nurses from New York City hospitals set to strike as contract negotiations stall

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New York
CNN
 — 

A walk-out by more than 7,000 nurses at two major New York City hospitals is set to begin at 6 a.m. ET Monday after talks aimed at averting a strike broke down overnight.

Tentative deals had been reached in recent days covering nurses at several hospitals, including two new agreements late Sunday evening. But talks with Mount Sinai hospital in Manhattan and Montefiore in the Bronx failed overnight.

“After bargaining late into the night at Montefiore and Mount Sinai Hospital yesterday, no tentative agreements were reached. Today, more than 7,000 nurses at two hospitals are on strike for fair contracts that improve patient care,” the New York State Nurses Association said in a Monday statement.

Both hospitals said earlier on Monday morning that efforts to reach an agreement were unsuccessful.

“NYSNA leadership walked out of negotiations shortly after 1 a.m. ET, refusing to accept the exact same 19.1% increased wage offer agreed to by eight other hospitals, including two other Mount Sinai Health System campuses, and disregarding the Governor’s solution to avoid a strike,” Lucia Lee, a spokesperson for Mount Sinai, said in a statement to CNN.

Montefiore said it was “a sad day for New York City.”

“Despite Montefiore’s offer of a 19.1% compounded wage increase — the same offer agreed to at the wealthiest of our peer institutions — and a commitment to create over 170 new nursing positions … NYSNA’s leadership has decided to walk away from the bedsides of their patients,” the medical center said in a statement.

The tentative deals reached at other hospitals provide nurses with a combined 19.1% in pay increases over the three-year life of the agreements and includes promises by management to increase staffing to address the union’s major complaint of nurses being overworked and facing burnout.

Mount Sinai and Montefiore said they had agreed to meet the wage demands of the union, but the union claimed that staffing levels remain the sticking point in reaching deals at the two remaining hospitals.

“We need management to come to the table and provide better staffing,” NYSNA President Nancy Hagans said in a press call Sunday afternoon.

According to Hagans, Montefiore has 760 nursing vacancies, adding that “too often one nurse in the emergency department is responsible for 20 patients instead of the standard of three patients.”

On Sunday evening, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul had urged the management and the union to agree to binding arbitration as a way of avoiding the strike. Although the management of the two hospitals embraced the idea, the union did not.

“We will not give up on our fight to ensure that our patients have enough nurses at the bedside,” the union said in response to Hochul’s arbitration suggestion.

New York Mayor Eric Adams had encouraged all parties on Sunday night to “remain at the bargaining table for however long it takes to reach a voluntary agreement.”

The hospitals have been preparing for a strike since the nurses union gave notice of its plans 10 days ago. The affected hospitals plan on paying temporary “traveling” nurses to fill in where possible and some had already begun transferring patients.

Montefiore released a notice to staff, obtained by CNN, telling nurses how to quit the union and stay on the job if they wanted to continue to care for their patients.

Mount Sinai, which operates two hospitals that reached deals Sunday evening in addition to the one still facing a strike, started transferring infants in the neonatal intensive care unit at the end of this past week. Hospitals facing the possibility of strikes had already taken steps to postpone some elective procedures.

The union says the hospitals will be spending more on hiring temporary nurses at a significantly greater cost. It argues the hospitals should agree to their demands to hire more staff and grant the raises the union is seeking.

“As nurses, our top concern is patient safety,” Hagans said in a statement Friday. “Yet nurses … have been forced to work without enough staff, stretched to our breaking point, sometimes with one nurse in the Emergency Department responsible for 20 patients. That’s not safe for nurses or our patients.”

The hospitals say they are doing what they can to hire more nursing staff.

“Mount Sinai is dismayed by NYSNA’s reckless actions,” Mount Sinai said in a statement Friday. “The union is jeopardizing patients’ care, and it’s forcing valued Mount Sinai nurses to choose between their dedication to patient care and their own livelihoods.”

Nurses at the first hospital to reach a tentative deal, New York-Presbyterian, voted on Saturday. It was a close call with 57% of nurses voting yes and 43% against. The tentative deals reached over the last few days still need to be ratified by rank-and-file union members before they can take effect.

Strikes have become more common nationwide, as tight labor markets and unhappiness with work conditions have prompted unionized employees to flex their muscles more often at the bargaining table.

There were 385 strikes in 2022, up 42% from 270 in 2021, according to the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations. The US Labor Department, which tracks only major strikes by 1,000 or more workers, recorded 20 strikes in the first 11 months of 2022, up 33% from the same period in 2021.

Numerous nursing strikes were among the recorded work stoppages, with many unions citing instances of burnout and health problems among members.

Four out of the 20 strikes reported by the Labor Department last year involved nurses unions. The largest was a three-day strike by the 15,000 members of the Minnesota Nurses Association involving 13 hospitals in the state.

— CNN’s Tina Burnside, Artemis Moshtaghian and Ramishah Maruf contributed to this report.

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Lightfoot, NYC Mayor Pen Letter Demanding Colorado Gov. to Halt Bussing of Migrants to Chicago, NYC – NBC Chicago

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Over three months since the first bus of asylum-seeking migrants arrived in Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and New York City Mayor Eric Adams penned a letter to Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, demanding the state stop bussing migrants to Chicago and New York.

The first bus of migrants arrived from Texas on Aug. 31, with dozens more buses arriving in Chicago since then. The bussing started as part of the controversial “Operation Lone Star” from Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has sent migrants to Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C.

Additionally, Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis flew asylum-seeking migrants to Martha’s Vineyard this fall, an island part of Massachusetts that is mostly known as a summer colony.

The letter from Lightfoot and Adams reads in part:

“It is apparent that the influx of asylum seekers has provoked consternation amongst states. Although we share the concerns of accommodating the flood of asylum seekers, overburdening other cities is not the solution. We respectfully demand that you cease and desist sending migrants to New York City and Chicago. Since December of 2022, Chicago and New York City have received hundreds of individuals from Colorado. Before the first bus arrived in either of our cities, we informed a Colorado official directly that neither city had any additional room to accommodate any more migrants because of the thousands of migrants that had already been inhumanely bused to our respective cities from Texas since spring of 2022.” 

As of the most recent update given by city officials on Dec. 20, 2022, 3,854 asylum-seeking migrants have arrived in Chicago from Texas. In the full letter, Lightfoot said that more migrants have arrived into the city through other means, including buses from Colorado.

The letter from Lightfoot and Adams comes days after President Biden announced tougher border restrictions, with Cuban, Haitian and Nicaraguan migrants starting to be immediately turned away at the southern border.

In the past nine months, more than 36,400 migrants have been processed through New York City’s emergency intake system, adding that more were staying with family, friends and other networks, Adams said in the letter.

Adams adds that New York City is estimated to spend $1 billion in fiscal year 2023 on costs to address the asylum crisis, with the expense expected to grow with further exacerbation to the system.

The letter acknowledges New York and Chicago’s status as sanctuary cities while criticizing Polis for not taking decisive action to help migrants who had arrived in Colorado.

“Our understanding is that Colorado purports to be a welcoming state. At least as far as we are concerned, whether a welcoming state or welcoming city, the leaders must make sure that those values are lived in good times and especially in challenging times. That is what we have done and we urge you as governor of Colorado to do the same.  We know it is hard because we have been facing these challenges for the last nine months. Colorado must reconsider its decision to send people, who are sheltered and receiving services from Denver-based community organizations, out of state, and particularly to cities like ours.“

“We have seen your statements in the media that you are simply accommodating the wishes of migrants to come to cities like New York City and Chicago. Both our cites are working tirelessly to ensure that migrants are able to reach their desired destinations where they are reunited with loved ones.  However, you are sending migrants and families to New York City and Chicago that do not have any ties, family members or community networks to welcome them, and at a time where both cities are at maximum capacity in shelter space and available services.”

The letter then alleges that some of the migrants sent to New York City and Chicago had been in Colorado for weeks, some of whom had established connections at that point.

“The city of Denver is known nationally for providing some of the best services for unhoused populations—setting best practices throughout the country—it is unusual that you would deprive new arrivals from accessing those resources. In fact, many new arrivals from Colorado had been in your care for weeks, receiving services, and establishing connections only to be uprooted with a promise the receiving cities cannot keep.”

Lightfoot and Adams then plead with Polis to work with them on pressuring the federal government to adopt a solution to the burgeoning crisis that the letter calls “manufactured”, alluding to Abbott’s policy that has now been in effect for nine months.

“Let us work together to advocate to the federal government for a national solution that responds to this need.  New York City and Chicago have always been cities of immigrants. While we are all grappling with a manufactured humanitarian crisis, we must all come together to address this nationwide problem and look forward to working together to meet this challenge.”

The full text of the letter can be read below:

Dear Governor Polis: 

It is apparent that the influx of asylum seekers has provoked consternation amongst states. Although we share the concerns of accommodating the flood of asylum seekers, overburdening other cities is not the solution. We respectfully demand that you cease and desist sending migrants to New York City and Chicago. Since December of 2022, Chicago and New York City have received hundreds of individuals from Colorado.  Before the first bus arrived in either of our cities, we informed a Colorado official directly that neither city had any additional room to accommodate any more migrants because of the thousands of migrants that had already been inhumanely bused to our respective cities from Texas since spring of 2022. 

Despite this information, you have bused migrants to our cities. The buses have arrived, without any regard to either city’s ability to appropriately shelter them.  

Our understanding is that Colorado purports to be a welcoming state. At least as far as we are concerned, whether a welcoming state or welcoming city, the leaders must make sure that those values are lived in good times and especially in challenging times. That is what we have done and we urge you as governor of Colorado to do the same.  We know it is hard because we have been facing these challenges for the last nine months. Colorado must reconsider its decision to send people, who are sheltered and receiving services from Denver-based community organizations, out of state, and particularly to cities like ours. 

We have seen your statements in the media that you are simply accommodating the wishes of migrants to come to cities like New York City and Chicago. Both our cites are working tirelessly to ensure that migrants are able to reach their desired destinations where they are reunited with loved ones.  However, you are sending migrants and families to New York City and Chicago that do not have any ties, family members or community networks to welcome them, and at a time where both cities are at maximum capacity in shelter space and available services. 

Since August 31, 2022, the City of Chicago has welcomed 3,854 migrants bused to its city from Texas and additional numbers of migrants who have arrived in Chicago through other means.  In part, as hopefully you know, none of the asylum-seekers have work permits, and thus Chicago is currently providing services to over 1,600 individuals in its shelter system who have no place else to go. The City of Chicago is a welcoming city and is providing wrap around supports including emergency shelter; diversion services; necessities like food and showers; long-term housing; legal services; and both the physical and behavioral health support needs for individuals. Because of all these factors, its shelter system is now over capacity.  

For the past nine months, New York City has welcomed an increase of asylum seekers. As of January 4, 2023, an estimated 36,400 asylum seekers have gone through New York City’s emergency intake system, with more staying with family, friends, and other networks. New York City has opened emergency shelters and Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers to meet this unprecedented need. New York City is providing many forms of support, including shelter, food, legal services, household items like clothing and health care, but its ability to provide services is strained.  New York City’s shelters are over capacity. In fiscal year 2023 alone, New York City will spend about $1 billion to address the asylum crisis, and this number will continue to rise if current arrival trends persist. 

We urge you to follow the best practices set by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that identifies receiving states as leads in providing housing and wrap-around services to asylum-seekers. Additionally, the city of Denver is known nationally for providing some of the best services for unhoused populations—setting best practices throughout the country—it is unusual that you would deprive new arrivals from accessing those resources. In fact, many new arrivals from Colorado had been in your care for weeks, receiving services, and establishing connections only to be uprooted with a promise the receiving cities cannot keep.  

To reiterate, you must stop busing migrants to Chicago and New York City. In the case of family reunification, let us work together to ensure that people are reconnected with their loved ones, however sending migrants to our cities whose systems are over capacity, where they may struggle to find shelter and other services is wrong and further victimizes these most vulnerable individuals. These actions do not live up to the values of a proclaimed welcoming state and should stop immediately.  

Instead, let us work together to advocate to the federal government for a national solution that responds to this need.  New York City and Chicago have always been cities of immigrants. While we are all grappling with a manufactured humanitarian crisis, we must all come together to address this nationwide problem and look forward to working together to meet this challenge. 

Sincerely, 

Lori E. Lightfoot 

Mayor 

Chicago 

Eric Adams 

Mayor 

New York City 

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Business

Sam Bankman-Fried pleads not guilty to fraud charges in New York

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Former FTX chief executive Sam Bankman-Fried (C) arrives to enter a plea before US District Judge Lewis Kaplan in the Manhattan federal court, New York, January 3, 2023. 

Ed Jones | AFP | Getty Images

Sam Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty in New York federal court Tuesday to eight charges related to the collapse of his former crypto exchange FTX and hedge fund Alameda Research.

The onetime crypto billionaire was indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and securities fraud, individual charges of securities fraud and wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to avoid campaign finance regulations.

Bankman-Fried arrived outside the courthouse in a black SUV and was swarmed with cameras from the moment his car arrived. The scrum grew so thick that Bankman-Fried’s mother was unable to exit the vehicle, falling onto the wet pavement as cameras scrambled to catch a glimpse of her son.

Bankman-Fried was hauled by security through the throng and into the courthouse in a matter of moments, with photographers scrambling to get out of the way.

Earlier in the day, attorneys for Bankman-Fried filed a motion to seal the names of two individuals who had guaranteed Bankman-Fried’s good behavior with a bond. They claimed that the visibility of the case and the defendant had already posed a risk to Bankman-Fried’s parents, and that the guarantors should not be subject to the same scrutiny. Judge Lewis Kaplan approved the motion in court.

Bankman-Fried returned to the U.S. from the Bahamas on Dec. 21, and the next day was released on a $250 million recognizance bond, secured by his family home in California.

Federal prosecutors also announced the launch of a new task force to recover victim assets as part of an ongoing investigation into Bankman-Fried and the collapse of FTX.

“The Southern District of New York is working around the clock to respond to the implosion of FTX,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement Tuesday.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the SDNY had argued that Bankman-Fried used $8 billion worth of customer assets for extravagant real estate purchases and vanity projects, including stadium naming rights and millions in political donations.

Federal prosecutors built the indictment against Bankman-Fried with unusual speed, packaging together the criminal charges against the 30-year-old in a matter of weeks. The federal charges came alongside complaints from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

They were assisted by two of Bankman-Fried’s closest allies, Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of his hedge fund Alameda Research, and Gary Wang, who co-founded FTX with Bankman-Fried.

Ellison, 28, and Wang, 29, pleaded guilty on Dec. 21. Their plea deals with prosecutors came after rampant speculation that Ellison, Bankman-Fried’s onetime romantic partner, was cooperating with federal probes.

Another former FTX executive, Ryan Salame, apparently first alerted regulators to alleged wrongdoing inside FTX. Salame, a former co-CEO at FTX, flagged “possible mishandling of clients’ assets” to Bahamian regulators two days before the crypto exchange filed for bankruptcy protection, according to a filing from the Securities Commission of the Bahamas.

Bankman-Fried was accused by federal law enforcement and financial regulators of perpetrating what the SEC called one of the largest and most “brazen” frauds in recent memory. His stunning fall was precipitated by reporting that raised questions on the nature of his hedge fund’s balance sheet.

In the weeks since FTX’s Nov. 11 Delaware bankruptcy filing, the extent of corporate malfeasance has been exposed. Replacement CEO John J. Ray said there was a “complete failure of corporate control.”

Bankman-Fried was indicted in New York federal court on Dec. 9, and was arrested by Bahamas law enforcement at the request of U.S. prosecutors on Dec. 12. Following his indictment, Bankman-Fried’s legal team in the Bahamas flip-flopped on whether or not their client would consent to extradition.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

WATCH: Sam Bankman-Fried arrives in court

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US

Brazilian authorities intend to revive fraud case against George Santos

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Washington
CNN
 — 

Law enforcement officials in Brazil will reinstate fraud charges against Rep.-elect George Santos, the Rio de Janeiro prosecutor’s office tells CNN, as the New York Republican officially assumes his role in the US House Tuesday under a cloud of suspicion over his dubious resume.

Prosecutors said they will seek a “formal response” from Santos related to a stolen checkbook in 2008, after police suspended an investigation into him because they were unable to find him for nearly a decade.

Authorities, having verified Santos’ location, will make a formal request to the US Justice Department to notify him of the charges, Maristela Pereira, a spokeswoman for the Rio de Janeiro prosecutor’s office, told CNN. The prosecutor’s office told CNN the request will be filed upon reopening on Friday.

CNN previously confirmed that Santos was charged with embezzlement in a Brazilian court in 2011, according to case records from the Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice. However, court records from 2013 state that the charge was archived after court summons went unanswered and they were unable to locate Santos.

CNN has reached out to a lawyer for Santos for comment. The reinstatement of the fraud charges was first reported by The New York Times.

According to the Times, citing court records it has reviewed, the criminal case stems from a visit Santos made to a small clothing store in Niterói, a city outside of Rio de Janeiro, where Santos spent nearly $700 out of the stolen checkbook using a fake name.

In an interview with the New York Post last week, Santos denied that he had been charged with any crime in Brazil, saying: “I am not a criminal here – not here or in Brazil or any jurisdiction in the world. Absolutely not. That didn’t happen.”

Santos, who helped Republicans win a narrow House majority last year when he flipped a Democratic-held seat, is set to take office on Tuesday despite admitting to lying about parts of his resume after The New York Times first revealed that Santos’ biography appeared to be partly fictional.

CNN confirmed details of that reporting about his college education and employment history and uncovered even more falsehoods from Santos, including claims he was forced to leave a New York City private school when his family’s real estate assets took a downturn and that he represented Goldman Sachs at a top financial conference.

Santos’ claims that his grandparents fled the Holocaust as Ukrainian Jewish refugees and that his mother died as a result of being present in the South Tower during 9/11 have also come under scrutiny, CNN’s KFile found.

In interviews with WABC radio and the New York Post on December 26, Santos admitted to lying about attending Baruch College and New York University as well as misrepresenting his employment at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup but said at the time he still intended to serve in Congress.

Two days later, CNN reported that the US attorney’s office in the Eastern District of New York had begun investigating the finances of Santos, who faces questions over his wealth and loans totaling more than $700,000 he made to his successful 2022 campaign.

The same day, the Nassau County district attorney’s office announced it was also looking into fabrications from Santos.

“No one is above the law and if a crime was committed in this county, we will prosecute it,” Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said at the time.

The district attorney’s office did not specify what fabrications it was exploring and the US attorney’s office in the Eastern District of New York declined to comment.

CNN has reached out to a representative for Santos for comment on the probes.

Santos’ FEC reports contain a number of unusual expenditures, including exorbitant expenses on air travel and hotels, as well as a number of expenses one penny below the dollar figure above which the FEC requires campaigns to keep receipts.

“Campaign expenditures for staff members including travel, lodging, and meals are normal expenses of any competent campaign. The suggestion that the Santos campaign engaged in any unlawful spending of campaign funds is irresponsible, at best,” Joe Murray, a lawyer for Santos, said in a statement to CNN on Saturday.

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US

Times Square New Year’s Eve attack: Suspect arrested and faces attempted murder charges

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CNN
 — 

The 19-year-old suspect accused of attacking New York police officers with a machete near Times Square on New Year’s Eve has been arrested and faces charges of attempted murder of a police officer.

Police are recommending the suspect, Trevor Bickford, be charged with two counts of attempted murder of a police officer and two counts of attempted assault in the attack, the New York Police Department said.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s office has said that they do not yet have details of when Bickford will be arraigned. It’s unclear whether he has an attorney.

The formal arrest comes two days after Bickford allegedly attacked police officers at a security screening area outside Times Square, the center of the city’s famed New Year’s Eve celebrations.

A diary was found in the suspect’s backpack, which had been left on the street and placed in a pile with other backpacks that had been taken from people trying to enter security checkpoints around Times Square, multiple law enforcement sources with direct knowledge of the case said.

The diary ends with a last will and testament, according to the source. The final entry, dated December 31, begins with, “This will likely be my last entry,” and goes on to leave instructions on how to divide the author’s belongings among his family and instructions for his burial.

The diary expressed a desire to join the Taliban and it criticized his brother for joining the US military, the sources said.

“There was a time when we were close but that time has since passed,” writings in the diary say, according to the sources. “You have joined the ranks of my enemy.”

The suspect also worried his mother would not repent to Allah, according to another writing in the diary, the sources said.

“And therefore I hold hope in my heart that a piece of you believes so that you may be taken out of the hellfire,” he wrote, according to the sources.

Just after 10 p.m. he went to the Times Square checkpoint at West 52nd Street and 8th Avenue where officers check bags for weapons or suspicious items, NYPD Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell and police said.

At the security area, Bickford allegedly pulled out a machete, struck one officer with the blade and another officer in the head with the handle, and then swung the blade at a third officer, who shot Bickford in the shoulder, according to the sources and the NYPD. The officers have been treated and released.

For the past two days, Bickford had been in custody and under police guard at Bellevue Hospital, where he was being treated for the gunshot wound, sources said.

Even before the attack, Bickford was on the FBI’s radar.

Bickford was interviewed by FBI agents in Maine in mid-December after he said he wanted to travel overseas to help fellow Muslims and was willing to die for his religion, according to multiple law enforcement sources.

Bickford’s mother and grandmother became increasingly concerned about his desire to travel to Afghanistan to join the Taliban and reported this to the Wells, Maine, police department out of concern for him on December 10, the sources said.

When the FBI opened its wider investigation they also placed him on a terrorist watch list, according to sources. Because the Taliban is not designated a foreign terrorist entity, planning to travel to Afghanistan to join the group does not constitute the federal crime of “attempted material support of a terrorist group.”

Multiple law enforcement sources told CNN that Bickford traveled to New York via Amtrak, so those travels would not have tripped any watch list databases.

His original destination was Miami, the sources said, but he stopped in New York and checked in at the Grand Hotel near the Bowery in Manhattan on December 29. He checked out on New Year’s Eve with all his luggage before allegedly conducting the Times Square machete attack, the sources said.

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