Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is suing Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada Jr., again, claiming he and his son are violating state labor laws and shortchanging workers through a sham job training program. The suit says Espada and Pedro G. Espada created a for-profit management company to siphon money from their nonprofit health centers in the Bronx. Cuomo says company workers are mislabeled as trainees, who get little training and are paid less than minimum wage. Cuomo says some people are being paid about $1.70 an hour. The state minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. Cuomo says at least 100 workers have been victimized since 2005. Last week, Cuomo filed a lawsuit against Espada, claiming that the senator siphoned $14 million from his Soundview clinic, which gets state and federal money. Espada has called allegations baseless. http://www.ag.ny.gov/media_center/2010/apr/apr28a_10.html

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo issued a subpoena to the State Senate this afternoon, asking for employee records connected to an ongoing investigation into Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada Jr. The subpoena is part of Cuomo's ongoing investigation into allegations that Espada siphoned more than $14 million from his Bronx based non-profit Soundview Healthcare Clinic. On Wednesday FBI and CIA agents raided Soundview. Officials say the FBI is building a case against Espada that could result in fraud and money laundering charges. http://www.ag.ny.gov/media_center/2010/apr/apr22b_10.html

New York Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada Jr. is accused of using money from a charitable foundation to pay for hundreds of dollars worth of meals for himself and political supporters and for trips to Las Vegas and Puerto Rico for himself and his family. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed the lawsuit today against Espada and 19 current and former officers and directors of Soundview, a not-for-profit healthcare organization that receives a vast majority of its funding from the state and federal government. The suit says that in the past five years, Espada siphoned more than $14 million out of Soundview. The lawsuit seeks to permanently remove Espada and current CFO Kenneth Brennan as officers of Soundview and, to remove all of Soundview’s directors from the Board. http://www.ag.ny.gov/media_center/2010/apr/apr20a_10.html