Abrahams Accused of Extortion

County Attorney Ciampoli Accuses Dems of Extortion

Nassau County Commissioner of Investigations and County Attorney John Ciampoli held a press conference Thursday where he accused Nassau Legislative Minority Leader Kevan Abrahams, D-Hempstead, of bribery and extortion.

According to the Long Island Press, the accusations stem from a Dec. 15 letter addressed to Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano in which the Democrats acknowledged "upcoming bond requests requiring the Democrats' cooperation for a supermajority in order for the borrowing to pass the county legislature."

The letter goes on to state: "… we cannot in good conscience consider any borrowing requests for any purpose until we arrive at a satisfactory resolution of Legislative Redistricting. ... Until there is fair, non-partisan Redistricting there will be no bonding."

Mike Florio, communications director for the Nassau Democratic Caucus, told the Long Island Press that the accusations were "groundless." 

District Attorney Kathleen Rice's office said they are reviewing Ciampoli's claims.

DA Rice Authors New Legislation To Strengthen Animal Cruelty Laws, Punish Offenders More Severely

Rice joined with Sen. Charles Fuschillo, R-Merrick, and Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal, D-Manhattan, Tuesday to announce that her office has written legislation that proposes to modernize and strengthen New York State's animal cruelty laws to ensure better protection under the law for animals and increased penalties for offenders. Fuschillo and Rosenthal will sponsor the legislation in Albany.

The legislation would move crimes like animal cruelty and dogfighting to Penal Law section of the state criminal code. These charges, and other laws designed to protect animals, are currently listed under the Agriculture & Markets Law section.

This proposed reclassification would make crimes against animals more accessible to law enforcement officers, simplify and modernize language, toughen existing statutes, create new charges and increase the maximum prison sentence for severe cases of animal cruelty and animal fighting.

Click here to read more about the animal cruelty legislation.

DSS Office of Investigations Uncovers More than $175,000 in Welfare Fraud

Last week, the Nassau County Department of Social Services Office of Investigations found multiple individuals attempting to defraud Nassau County taxpayers, most recently discovering elaborate schemes to cheat the system out of more than $175,000.

The seven separate schemes included three women from Westbury, a Huntington woman, a Great Neck man, a Merrick man, a Plainview woman and an East Meadow man.

All of these cases have been referred to the Nassau County District Attorney's Office for criminal fraud prosecution, including full restitution.