RICO IN THE NEW YORK SCHOOL YARD!

[Guest guest]

To read more on this scandal and others, go to www.schoolwatch101.com

.. Let's cheer on Cuomo so that some arrests are made.

RICO IN THE SCHOOL YARD

Attorney General Cuomo cut a deal this past week with a Buffalo

law firm, Hodgson Russ. The deal forced the firm to pay a $50,000.00

penalty for the improper arrangement of having its attorneys listed as

employees of the local BOCES, while they should have been listed as

independent contractors. Hodgson Russ cut this deal quickly, so as to

distinguish themselves from the other firms and attorneys that have

been named in the school district attorney pension scandal. None of

the Hodgson Russ attorneys were contributing to the pension system.

The Hodgson Russ arrangement simply was a means of local school

districts accessing attorneys at Hodgson Russ through the middle-man

of the BOCES. This was really a " scam " targeting the New York State

Education Department in order to claim reimbursements from NYSED for

the attorney expenses. The beneficiaries of this scam were the local

school districts, and the victim the NYSED. It is much less egregious

than the pension scandal that Cuomo is pursuing. Karl Kristoff, a

senior partner at Hodgson Russ is rumored to have approached the

Attorney General's office and brokered this deal to save the firm from

possible criminal liability.

A source at Hodgson Russ indicated that the firm's decision-makers

were aware that this scandal was explosive and that Attorney General

Cuomo is expected to select a number of those attorneys in the pension

scandal that have engaged in the most egregious conduct and arrest

them. The HR employee indicated that HR wanted to be sure to be

isolated from the " upcoming fireworks. " The deal cut by HR protected

the firm from any criminal action that is anticipated being initiated

against firms and attorneys involved in the pension scandal. The HR

employee spoke to School Watch on condition of anonymity indicated

that HR attorneys did this at the instigation of BOCES, and there was

no personal gain such as pension benefits. Apparently, the Marc Rietz

decision of 2002 that prevented CNY attorney Marc Rietz from

collecting pension benefits was known to the attorneys at HR,

therefore they did not attempt to collect pensions. " That decision

forbidding this pension scam is well-known to every attorney that

practices school law in New York. Marc Reitz has spoken openly about

it at many conferences and informal gatherings. No one in the

education law field was unaware of it. "

Cuomo is also under fierce political pressure to abandon his campaign

against the corrupt and politically connected attorneys. The attempts

to derail Cuomo's investigation include pressure from the New York

State Education Department. A source close to the A.G.'s office

reported that Cuomo is looking at each case separately, but is seeing

a growing pattern of conduct suggesting systemic abuses that go beyond

the pension scandal. Other investigations have spun off from the

pension scandal, and there is talk of a RICO task force being formed

to investigate these crimes, and that individuals working in Albany in

the New York State Education Department's Office of Counsel may also

be the targets of this RICO task force. (RICO is the acronym for the

law enforcement statute that addresses Racketeer Influenced and

Corrupt Organizations).

Interestingly, while Cuomo's office ramps up for an expanded

investigation into corruption, Mills, the Commissioner of

Education, issued a joint statement with the A.G. regarding the

pension scandal and congratulating BOCES districts for their

cooperation with the A.G.'s office. Mills has been attempting to head

off this scandal and has expressed fear to staffers of this attorney

scandal leading to connections to NYSED awareness and involvement in

other scandals. Mills is right to have these concerns, as multiple

lawyers have had their criminal defense attorneys speaking to

investigators from the A.G.'s office and brokering deals. School

Watch has learned that these " brokered deals " involve school district

lawyers providing information about other monetary scandals that they

are aware of, and that some of those scandals involve money filtering

to individuals in key positions in the Commissioner's office,

including the Office of Counsel and the Office of State Review.

School Watch has developed a number of sources that are providing

information to us on this matter. Stay tuned. There is more to come.