DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Hochul Orders M.T.A. to Stop Pressuring Marathon to Pay for Lost Tolls
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-04 | by ( Dana Rubinstein | More About Dana Rubinstein | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Kathy Hochul on Thursday said that she had ordered the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to drop its effort to charge the New York City Marathon roughly $750,000 for its use of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. “The marathon is an iconic symbol of New York City’s tenacity and resilience that unites communities across the five boroughs each fall,” she said in a statement. “I’ve directed the M.T.A. The bridge connects Brooklyn and Staten Island. Since 1988, the marathon has used both the bridge’s upper and lower decks.

Persons: Kathy Hochul, ”, “ I’ve Organizations: Metropolitan Transportation Authority, New York City Marathon, New York Times Locations: York, Brooklyn, Staten Island

The coordinated raids were the first public sign of a broad corruption investigation into the mayor’s 2021 campaign. and federal prosecutors in Manhattan are examining whether the Turkish government conspired with Mr. Adams’s campaign to funnel foreign donations into campaign coffers and whether Mr. Adams pressured Fire Department officials to sign off on a new high-rise Turkish consulate despite safety concerns. Both Ms. Abbasova and Mr. Öcal have ties to Turkey. She was Mr. Adams’s longtime liaison to the Turkish community when he served as Brooklyn borough president; he was the general manager of the New York office of Turkish Airlines until early last year. Ms. Abbasova, Mr. Öcal, Ms. Suggs and Mr. Adams have not been accused of wrongdoing.

Persons: Eric Adams’s, Brianna Suggs, Rana Abbasova, Cenk, Adams, Abbasova, Öcal, Adams’s, Suggs Organizations: Turkish Airlines, Fire Department, New Locations: Turkey, New Jersey, Manhattan, Turkish, Brooklyn, New York

After federal authorities raided the home of Mayor Eric Adams’s chief fund-raiser on Nov. 2, a broad criminal inquiry into the fund-raising practices of Mr. Adams’s 2021 campaign spilled into public view. Federal prosecutors and the F.B.I. are examining whether the campaign conspired with members of the Turkish government, including its consulate in New York, to receive illegal donations, according to a search warrant obtained by The New York Times. Here’s what we know about the investigation. The full scope of the federal criminal inquiry is not yet clear, but the investigation has focused at least in part on whether Mr. Adams’s 2021 campaign conspired with the Turkish government and Turkish nationals to receive illegal donations.

Persons: Eric Adams’s, Adams’s, Adams Organizations: The New York Times Locations: Turkish, New York

Mr. Adams already had a long-running relationship with the Turkish consulate general, which paid for part of his trip to Turkey while he was Brooklyn borough president in 2015, according to a public filing. The warrant to search the home of Mr. Adams’s 25-year-old fund-raiser, Brianna Suggs, indicated that the investigation was examining the role of KSK Construction, a Brooklyn building company owned by Turkish immigrants that organized a fund-raising event for Mr. Adams on May 7, 2021. On that day, 48 donors, including the company’s owners, employees and their families, along with others in the construction and real estate industries, donated $43,600, Mr. Adams’s campaign reports show. Mr. Adams’s campaign filings do not specify which donations were made through the fund-raising event. Neither Mr. Adams nor his campaign has been accused of wrongdoing, and no charges are publicly known to have been filed in connection with the investigation.

Persons: Adams, York City’s, Adams’s, Brianna Suggs, Suggs Organizations: Fire Department, Mr, Democratic Locations: Brooklyn, Manhattan, York, Turkish, Turkey

The agents approached the mayor on the street and asked his security detail to step away, one of the people said. with him and, pursuant to a court-authorized warrant, took his devices, the person said. Law enforcement investigators with a search warrant can make copies of the data on devices after they seize them. It was not immediately clear whether the agents referred to the fund-raising investigation when they took the mayor’s devices. The surprise seizure of Mr. Adams’s devices was an extraordinary development and appeared to be the first direct instance of the campaign contribution investigation touching the mayor.

Persons: Eric, Adams Locations: Turkish

The choice was unconventional: Eric Adams, the candidate who would go on to win the 2021 election for mayor of the nation’s financial capital, had picked an inexperienced 23-year-old to run his campaign’s fund-raising operation. Ostensibly, the fund-raiser, Brianna Suggs, did her job. Thanks in part to her work, the campaign would spend more than $18 million and win the election. But the unusual arrangement, which raised eyebrows in the tight-knit, professional world of Democratic political fund-raising, might have come at an extraordinary cost. On Thursday morning, federal agents raided Ms. Suggs’s home in Brooklyn and walked away with a wide range of materials, including three iPhones, two laptop computers and a manila folder labeled “Eric Adams.” The court-authorized search was part of an expansive public corruption investigation into whether the campaign conspired with the government of Turkey to receive illegal foreign donations.

Persons: Eric Adams, Brianna Suggs, Suggs’s, ” Organizations: Democratic Locations: Brooklyn, manila, Turkey

Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Thursday searched the Brooklyn home of Mayor Eric Adams’s chief fund-raiser, Brianna Suggs, a campaign consultant who is deeply entwined with efforts to advance the mayor’s agenda, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. The raid apparently prompted Mr. Adams to abruptly cancel several meetings scheduled for Thursday morning in Washington, D.C., to talk to White House officials and members of Congress about the influx of migrants in New York and other major cities. Instead, he hurriedly returned to New York “to deal with a matter,” a spokesman for the mayor said. Ms. Suggs, who could not immediately be reached for comment, is an essential cog in Mr. Adams’s fund-raising machine, which has already raised more than $2.5 million for his 2025 re-election campaign. A third person with knowledge of the raid said agents from one of the public corruption squads in the F.B.I.’s New York office questioned Ms. Suggs during the search of her home.

Persons: Eric Adams’s, Brianna Suggs, Adams, New York “, ”, Suggs, Adams’s, Ms Organizations: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Washington , D.C, White House Locations: Brooklyn, Washington ,, New York

☆ New York City Loses Contentious Bid for Cricket Stadium to Long Island
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-20 | by ( Dana Rubinstein | More About Dana Rubinstein | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

A contentious plan backed by Mayor Eric Adams for the International Cricket Council to build a temporary, 34,000-seat stadium in a Bronx park is dead, following heated opposition from local elected officials and some amateur cricket players. The stadium was to host part of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup next June. The venue will instead be built in Eisenhower Park in Nassau County on Long Island. The news was confirmed by an Adams administration official and in a draft news release reviewed by The New York Times. It was announced publicly by the International Cricket Council Wednesday morning.

Persons: Eric Adams, Adams Organizations: International Cricket Council, ICC, York, The New York Times, International Cricket, Wednesday Locations: Bronx, Eisenhower Park, Nassau County, Long, City

The mayor’s return to New York City from overseas was plagued by mishap. The chair of his “reception committee” was late; his aides violated the health code by boarding the mayor’s ship, the Vulcania, before the ship could be screened for contagion. And reporters — barred from asking questions on political or administrative matters — had the nerve to question the length of the mayor’s journey, which, in an apparent first for a New York City mayor, included a three-day visit to the new nation of Israel. In the 72 years since Mayor Vincent R. Impellitteri’s voyage in 1951, every single New York City mayor would follow his lead, in recognition of a faith-based political reality: New York City is home to the largest population of Jews outside of Israel. Mayor Eric Adams upheld that rite of passage this week, visiting Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in a three-day tour highlighted by meetings with Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and its president, Isaac Herzog.

Persons: ”, —, Vincent R, Eric Adams, Benjamin Netanyahu, Isaac Herzog Organizations: New, New York City, York Locations: New York City, New York, Israel, York City, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv

At a Coney Island park this summer, children in a basketball summer camp wore blue-and-white uniforms bearing the logo of “The Coney,” a proposed casino project in the neighborhood and the camp’s sponsor. A few months earlier on Long Island, where Las Vegas Sands is pitching a casino, children from local soccer teams were invited to a Sands-sponsored training session featuring the superstars David Beckham and Carli Lloyd. In the escalating race to be one of the first to open a casino in the New York City area, developers are rushing to win local support after state regulators said projects needed to be “embraced by the community.” A casino logo emblazoned across youth sports jerseys is just one example of the lengths to which gambling operators have gone to woo those communities and secure a coveted license. But their sponsorship of these recent children’s events has proved to be as divisive as the prospect of the casinos themselves.

Persons: ”, David Beckham, Carli Lloyd Organizations: Las Vegas Sands, New Locations: Coney, Long, Las, New York City, ”

A new front opened on Wednesday in an escalating battle among Democrats over how to handle large numbers of immigrants crossing the southern border and moving into major cities. The leaders of New York City and New York State, where officials say the arrival of migrants has set off a humanitarian crisis, seemed to turn on each other this week, after the state sent a scathing letter accusing the city of resisting its help and being slow to act. Kathy Hochul faulted Mayor Eric Adams’s management of New York’s migrant crisis in sharp terms, puncturing the appearance of city-state harmony that the two leaders have spent much of their tenures cultivating. New York City is struggling to accommodate more than 100,000 migrants who have arrived after crossing the border, more than 57,000 of whom remain in city shelters. Mr. Adams has said that the city is running out of space and funds to support them, and has criticized President Biden, saying “the president and the White House have failed New York City on this issue.” His posture has infuriated top Biden aides.

Persons: Kathy Hochul, Eric Adams’s, Adams, Biden Organizations: New Locations: New York City, New York State

The fanfare started building minutes before Mayor Eric Adams made his arrival on Monday. Dozens of supporters, most on Mr. Adams’s payroll, lined the City Hall rotunda staircase, behind the lectern where the mayor was about to appear. With everything in place, Mr. Adams strode in to make his announcement. He was elevating his press secretary, Fabien Levy, to become his administration’s seventh deputy mayor. In doing so, Mr. Adams was underscoring the importance he places on messaging: Mr. Levy, according to the mayor, will be the first person in New York City to hold the title of deputy mayor for communications.

Persons: Eric Adams, Jay, Alicia Keys —, Letitia James, Adams strode, Fabien Levy, Adams, Levy Organizations: of Locations: New York City

Divisions among New York Democrats widened on Thursday around the influx of migrants arriving from the southern border, as the state attorney general took the unusual step of declining to represent Gov. Kathy Hochul in legal proceedings over how to care for thousands of newcomers. The attorney general, Letitia James, did not immediately publicize her reasoning. But a person familiar with her thinking said that Ms. James, a New York City native, had fundamental policy disagreements with the governor over the state’s role in managing the crisis. As thousands of new migrants overwhelm the five boroughs, he has asked the governor to provide greater financial assistance to the city and develop a coordinated plan to send arriving migrants across the state.

Persons: Kathy Hochul, Letitia James, James, Eric Adams Organizations: New York Democrats, Gov Locations: New York City, Manhattan

☆ Should Bronx Parkland Be Used for a Cricket World Cup Stadium?
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-08 | by ( Dana Rubinstein | More About Dana Rubinstein | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Mayor Eric Adams has made no secret of his desire to push New York City as a sports mecca. He struck a deal in November to build the city’s first professional soccer stadium. He has pitched the region as a site for the 2026 World Cup final. But the mayor’s latest campaign — having the city be one of the hosts for next year’s Men’s T20 World Cup in cricket — has run into significant opposition. Mr. Adams wants to allow the Dubai-based International Cricket Council to build a temporary stadium with roughly the seating capacity of Fenway Park in the middle of Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, right over the city’s largest expanse of cricket pitches.

Persons: Eric Adams, —, Adams Organizations: New, —, Cricket Council Locations: New York City, Dubai, Van Cortlandt, Bronx

☆ For Mayor Adams, Any Day Has the Makings of Flag Day
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-05 | by ( Dana Rubinstein | More About Dana Rubinstein | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On any given weekday, there is a statistically significant chance that Eric Adams, the mayor of America’s largest city, will be conducting official New York City business next to the upturned tail of the famed “Charging Bull” sculpture, engaging in what appears to be one of his favorite activities: Raising flags. He does it with such frequency that it borders on obsession: Since taking office in January 2022, Mr. Adams has raised flags for at least 31 countries representing 16 percent of the United Nations’ member states. He has honored some places twice: Haiti, Ireland, Ukraine and the Philippines. He has also raised the flags for one U.S. territory, two transnational organizations and one holiday, Juneteenth. If he keeps his current pace, Mr. Adams is on track to raise flags for roughly 80 percent of the world’s countries by the end of 2029, should he win a second term in 2025 and serve it to completion.

Persons: Eric Adams, Adams Organizations: New, United Nations Locations: America’s, New York City, Haiti, Ireland, Ukraine, Philippines

New York City’s complex campaign finance law sits at the heart of the events sketched out in the court papers. The defendants are accused of trying to mask large donations by funneling them through straw donors. On Friday, Evan Thies, a spokesman for the 2021 Adams campaign, thanked prosecutors for “their hard work on behalf of taxpayers.”“The campaign always held itself to the highest standards and we would never tolerate these actions,” Mr. Thies said. The second took place after Mr. Adams had won his primary, effectively ensuring his election as mayor of the heavily Democratic city. For each fund-raiser, according to prosecutors, the defendants recruited straw donors and then reimbursed them.

Persons: Montgomery, Riza, Evan Thies, Adams, ”, ” Mr, Thies, “ Organizations: Mr, Campaign Finance Board, Democratic Locations: York, , New York City

☆ Orthodox Men Dominate Mayor Adams’s New Jewish Advisory Council
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( Dana Rubinstein | More About Dana Rubinstein | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Mr. Schumer declined to comment. The dispute comes just a week after Mr. Adams got into a verbal altercation with a Jewish housing activist whose family fled the Holocaust, and whom Mr. Adams compared to a plantation owner. Many of the Jewish leaders now criticizing him are of a progressive bent, and Mr. Adams is not popular with progressives. A City Hall spokeswoman noted that within Orthodox ranks, there is a great deal of diversity — there are both modern Orthodox, and Jews associated with the Lubavitch movement, for example. “This esteemed council comprises a diverse assembly of Jewish men and women hailing from various religious and cultural backgrounds, including Chabad, Conservative, Hasidic, nondenominational, Modern Orthodox, Reform, Sephardic, and Yeshiva Orthodox affiliations,” said the spokeswoman for the mayor.

Persons: Beth Elohim, Chuck Schumer, Nadler, Ruth Messinger, David Saperstein, Schumer, Adams, ” Organizations: Jewish World Service, Manhattan, Hall, Lubavitch, Conservative, Yeshiva Orthodox Locations: Brooklyn, Manhattan, New York

Search resuls for: "More About Dana Rubinstein"

17 mentions found