April 20, 2018 | Patch
A former New York City Council hopeful will serve time behind bars for fudging her campaign donations to steal around $18,000 in matching funds from the city, prosecutors said Friday.
Celia Dosamantes, 27, ran in the 2015 special election to represent Queens' 23rd District covering Bayside and Douglaston. In February, she was convicted of upping the numbers on her donation cards to ilk more money out of the city's Matching Funds Program, which offers to match eligible residents' donations at a $6-to-$1 rate.
PatchApril 19, 2018 | Newsday
Five Long Island construction and engineering companies were indicted on corruption charges in separate schemes in New York City involving bribery, business fraud and political campaign contributions to officials in city agencies, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. announced Wednesday.
The firms are: CIMA Associates LLC of Lindenhurst; D&B Engineers and Architects PC of Woodbury; Haider Engineering PC of Farmingdale; JCMS Associates LLC of Massapequa; and MCC General Office Services LLC of Amityville.
NewsdayApril 18, 2018 | The New York Times
The courtroom fell silent. The father of two children killed by their former nanny sat in the front row, beside a pair of alternate jurors who had been released before deliberations. They held hands. Tears streamed down their cheeks.
And when a jury convicted the nanny, Yoselyn Ortega, of murder, rejecting her claim that she was too mentally ill to understand her actions or know they were wrong, the children’s father, Kevin Krim, hung his head, shook and rocked back and forth. A juror took off his glasses and wiped away tears.
The New York TimesApril 18, 2018 | Chelsea Now
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office last week indicted 10 people accused of stealing more than $500,000 from various banks through a scheme that involved check fraud and mail theft, according to court documents and a press release.
“US mail dates back to 1775 but remains a vehicle for complex frauds like identity theft in 2018,” District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. said in the Tues., April 10 press release announcing the indictment.
Chelsea NowApril 17, 2018 | Patch
A man is facing 10 years in state prison for raping a woman while she slept over at a friend's house on the Upper East Side, the Manhattan District Attorney's office announced.
George Fay, 23, was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison and five years of supervised release, prosecutors said. Fay was convicted on charges of first-degree rape, criminal sexual act and sexual abuse in February, prosecutors said.
PatchApril 16, 2018 | Patch
A man is facing more than 30 years in prison for trafficking weapons in Washington Heights, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance announced Monday.
Abdul Davis, of New Jersey, was sentenced to 35 years in prison Monday, prosecutors said. Davis, 53, was found guilty in February on more than 100 counts of charges such as criminal firearms possession, criminal sale of a firearm and conspiracy, prosecutors said.
PatchMarch 21, 2018 | Bloomberg
An Iranian businessman faces U.S. charges of evading economic sanctions on Iran by moving $115 million from Venezuela through the U.S., signifying that prosecutors are intensifying a crackdown on illicit attempts to transfer money through the American financial system.
Ali Sadr Hashemi Nejad was arrested and charged on Monday. Sadr, whose family controls the Iranian conglomerate Stratus Group, illegally moved the money through the U.S. as part of a $476 million deal to build 7,000 housing units in Venezuela, U.S. prosecutors said.
BloombergMarch 19, 2018 | The Manhattan District Attorney
“The NYPD and Manhattan DA’s Office are fully committed partners in the investigation and prosecution of sexual assault. Survivors of sexual violence and all who stand with them should know that this account does not accurately represent the strong partnership between the NYPD and Manhattan DA Cy Vance’s Office, and our unparalleled track record of holding sexual predators from all backgrounds accountable in thousands of sex crimes cases that we have successfully brought together.
The Manhattan District AttorneyMarch 17, 2018 | New York Daily News
Nikki Bell was 16 years old the first time she had sex for money. Her mother had recently died, she became addicted to drugs and alcohol, and soon thereafter, wound up in the arms of a pimp.
For 10 years, she was paid to be sexually assaulted multiple times a day in an industry that normalizes and thrives on exploitation.
“You are trying to survive at this point in your life, which is why most people enter into prostitution. Because they are at an economic disadvantage,” Bell, 37, told the Daily News.
She disputes the notion that choices existed for people like her.
New York Daily NewsFebruary 28, 2018 | Manhattan Times
Their haul’s come to a halt.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., Police Commissioner James O’Neill and New York City Department of Investigation (DOI) Commissioner Mark G. Peters announced the takedown of an expansive fraud scheme involving the city’s towing industry.
Manhattan Times