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The tax man comes for everyone. Seems like the Queens District Attorney does so as well. While the New York taxing authorities take their payment in money, District Attorney’s Offices seek not just your money, but your freedom as well. Unfortunately for Diana Rabin, an accountant, her mother Lyidmila Levy, sister Alisa Derabin and clients Merced R. Baumer and Nyemah Johnson, they are now facing up to fifteen years in state prison for allegedly attempting to obtain a combined $1.1 million in New York State tax refunds.

Not only are the defendants alleged to have claimed hundreds of thousands of dollars in income, but tens of thousands of dollars in taxes withheld from this purported income. According to the District Attorney’s Office, this income was made up as some of the defendants did not even work.

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Not to be mistaken with Rewarding Official Misconduct (New York Penal Law 200.20), Official Misconduct (New York Penal Law 195.00), is a unique crime prosecuted in New York associated with public servants (defined below). Official Misconduct occurs as follows:

When a public servant has the intent to obtain a benefit or deprive another person of a benefit, he:

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New York County District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. is following his predecesor’s commitment to not only cleaning up crime in the streets, but fraud in the suites as well. This mantra does not stop with white collar crime and DA Vance appears to be ready to build upon the principles and objectives of the Immigrant Affairs Program established under Robert Morgenthau. In fact, DA Vance announced yesterday an indictment of Teresa Nora Martinez for allegations of immigration fraud. If this case and others are any indication, DA Vance is fed up and displeased (dare I say incensed ?) with alleged swindlers and scammers in the arena of immigration fraud. According to the DA, Ms. Martinez stole $12,000 from immigrants after informing them she was an attorney or was associated with attorneys who could assist them with their immigration issues.

The District Attorney press release states as follows:

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Although it took months of wrangling, the New York criminal defense attorneys at Saland Law PC are pleased that our client was able to avoid a criminal record after being arrested and charged with felony Forgery (New York Penal Law 170.10) and felony Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument (New York Penal Law 170.25). Prosecutors had alleged that our client, an employee of doctor at a New York City Hospital, stole sheets of a prescription pad belonging to that physician and drafted a prescription for Oxycodone. This prescription was allegedly presented to a pharmacy where it was determined by staff that the doctor’s signature did not match prior prescriptions. Additionally, staff at the pharmacy questioned the number of Oxycodone pills requested.

After advising the prosecution of the facts of the case, providing a “package” about the client and supplying other factors to law enforcement, the prosecution ultimately agreed to dismiss the felony counts and permit our client to plead guilty to Disorderly Conduct (a violation and not a crime). Currently a nursing student, our client will now be able to proceed with her career and without the scarlet letter of a criminal conviction.

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Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. is trying to be more proactive when it comes to crimes involving knives. Last year, In Manhattan alone, there were 2,269 arrests involving the possession of illegal knives. Mere possession of certain weapons such as “gravity knives” and “switchblades” is punishable as an “A” misdemeanor pursuant to New York Penal Law 265.01 – Criminal Possession of a Weapon on the Fourth Degree.

According to the District Attorney’s website, DA Vance, Jr. has reached an agreement with national and local retailers of knives that are illegal in New York. Retailers, such as Home Depot, Eastern Mountain Sports, Paragon Sports, and four others, will enter into deferred prosecution agreements. The law permits these companies, like individuals, to be prosecuted for crimes – a fact recently addressed by DA Vance in an earlier press release. In return, these companies will provide the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office the past four year’s profit. In total, that amount is approximately $1.9 million. Additionally, the companies will finance an education campaign regarding illegal knives. Lastly, Frederico Gebauer, a managing director at Kroll, Inc. and former Manhattan prosecutor, will serve free of charge as the District Attorney’s “Knife Sales Monitor” to review and keep track of knife sales. Hopefully, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office recognizes that many upstanding people who possessed knives for legitimate purposes, such as for work, purchased these knives from these and other stores assuming (with good reason) that there was nothing illegal about it.

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The New York criminal defense attorneys and former Manhattan prosecutors at Saland Law PC routinely get telephone calls from or represent individuals charged with Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Fourth Degree in violation of New York Penal Law 265.01. Often times the story starts off the same. Not knowing it was crime to possess certain knives, a person is stopped after the police observe the clip of a knife outside their pocket. Ultimately, a knife is recovered and the police claim that the knife is a “gravity knife.” Whether their arrest is in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens or anywhere in New York, the crime is the same. That is, Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Fourth Degree is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail. It makes no difference if the person is issued a NY Desk Appearance Ticket, put through the arrest process or it is their first brush with the law.

As I have noted in the past, New York Penal Law 265.01(1) is a per se offense, meaning, the possession of certain weapons is an automatic crime. Possession of a “gravity knife” is one of the specified weapons regardless if your intended use was for work or protection. Having said that, one imperative step, which is fairly obvious, is to ascertain if in fact the alleged “gravity knife” is in fact a “gravity knife.” As both a prosecutor and a New York criminal defense lawyer I have seen police make a mistake as to the nature if the knife. In those cases where the weapon is wrongly alleged to be a “gravity knife” and there is no intent to use the knife in a criminal way, the case may be one which should be dismissed.

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While it may be the functional equivalent to a theft of nickles and dimes to the average New Yorker, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. has announced the indictment of John Haggerty for defrauding New York’s billionaire mayor out of over $1 million. Charged with Grand Larceny in the First Degree, Money Laundering in the Second Degree and Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree, Mr. Haggerty faces up to 25, 15 and 4 years respectively on each offense.

According to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, Mayor Bloomberg was duped out a cool million after Mr. Haggerty received the monies to operate an Election Day security and polling organization to be run by the New York State Independence Party. It is alleged that Special Election Operations LLC was to run the security. Instead, prosecutors claim that Mr. Haggerty’s Special Election Operations LLC was a scam. In lieu of using this money to secure the polls, Haggerty is alleged to have spent merely $32,000 for this purpose while using approximately $600,000 to purchase his own home. Compounding matters, prosecutors claim that Mr. Haggerty did not come clean when questions arose as to where the money went. It is further alleged that Mr. Haggerty produced fraudulent paychecks to corroborate that staffers were paid the missing money to watch the polls on Election Day.

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One of the most common crimes prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys in New York (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx and beyond) is the offense of Assault in the Third Degree pursuant to New York Penal Law 120.00. When one is accused of Assault in the Third Degree, the prosecution must set forth certain elements. One critical element is that the complainant or victim must have suffered physical injury. Generally, “physical injury,” as defined under section 10.00(9) of the New York Penal Law, is an “impairment of physical condition or substantial pain.” Having presented this definition, is a complaint sufficient accusing you of Assault in the Third Degree if it merely states that the complainant suffered “substantial pain” as a result of your actions, but without “fleshing out” the “substantial pain?” Is more needed for the prosecution’s case to survive a motion to dismiss from your New York criminal defense attorney?

According to a Manhattan Criminal Court Judge, merely asserting that a complainant suffered “substantial pain” without more is not sufficient. In People v. A. S., decided May 11, 2010, the complaint against the accused alleged as follows:

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If you possess a fake, fraudulent or forged credit card, you may be charged with a “D” felony in New York in violation of New York Penal Law 170.25, Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the Second Degree. It makes no difference whether the credit card is completely fake, has altered names on it, incorrect information on the magnetic strip or is fraudulent in many other ways. In fact, depending on how the credit card is manipulated, you may also face numerous other felonies including, but not limited to, Identity Theft in the First Degree and Criminal Possession of Stolen Property in the Fourth Degree. These crimes are “D” and “E” felonies punishable by up to seven and four years in state prison respectively.

A common defense to the charge of possessing a forged credit card asserted by the accused is that they were not using the alleged fake credit card. Even if they were using the forged credit card, the accused may argue that they were unaware that the credit card was in fact a forged instrument (fake). While this may be a viable defense, prosecutors won’t merely roll over. Certainly, it is the prosecution’s burden to prove your knowledge and intent (Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument requires your intent to defraud or deceive another), but is there anything in their legal arsenal that may assist them in proving that you knew that the credit or debit card was in fact forged despite your claim?

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Grabbing yet another headline, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced the indictment of four individuals and numerous companies for their involvement in an alleged Medicaid Fraud Scheme to the tune of $5.7 million. According to Attorney General Cuomo, three men, David Ibragimov, his son Arthur Ibragimov and his son-in-law Mikhail Isakov, operated three dental clinics in New York City (Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens). Although they owned these establishments, the men were not dentists and, if true, were not permitted to own those dental clinics.

It is alleged that these men had arrangements with dentists that they hired. This deal was that the dentists must pay the men’s companies – AN International LLC, MA Concord LLC and MB Globus LLC – two thirds of the revenues received through Medicaid. Compounding matters, it is alleged that “flyer boys,” the term us for recruiters, brought Medicaid patients to the clinic for treatment that was unecessary. In return, it is alleged that the “flyer boys” were compensated as well as the patient. It is alleged that not only did these patients receive cash and unecessary procedures, but sometimes they were paid with electronics such as CD players as well as coupons for McDonalds. It is alleged by the Attorney General that the defendants were so zealous that they pushed the dentists in their clinics to force “Medicaid recipients to agree to being fitted for dentures the same day their teeth were extracted and before their gums could heal.”

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