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Sunday, December 8, 2024

Three People Charged With Theft of $173,000 From Bronx School M.S. 302

 

BRONX HALL OF Justice, Sept. 15, 2023
Photo by Síle Moloney

This post is a call for accountability. Neither the City of New York or the Department of Education have a strategy for stopping corruption and fraud. Over the past 25 years, I have seen such random accountability that I cannot call it that. NYC goes after people who are not politically connected or knowingly defiant of political strings. I'm only telling you what I know for a fact. I've seen it many, many times.

There are no standards for applying the law; there are only circumstances where applying the law gives the City a chance to cover up what has happened because they get financial benefits.

What if the firing of all the municipal workers who remain unvaccinated and who were denied any exemption or accommodation was just a culling of the City workforce because the prevailing policy is to make every public employee an at-will employee?

In other words, what if the Mayor and the Commissioners of all City agencies were in cahoots with changing public policy in New York City so that anyone can be fired at any time without prior notice or probable cause. That was Mike Bloomberg's mantra when he set up mayoral control of the NYC school system. That's what Jack Welch argued in his popular book Winning

We are left without full and fair investigations or accountability for any actions if money is taken from the pot that is supposed to go to the politicians and is stolen by others. Here, Rusnelly Clase, 40, of Yonkers, a community associate at M.S. 302, Clase’s husband, Justin Echevarria, 37, and Lisa Michelle Geraldino, 36, of Brooklyn all tried to get some of that pot of Federal/State funds for themselves. 

The result was that they were "caught" because they were not sufficiently aware of the need for political connections. Or,  they were aware, but the politicos assisting in their scam did not want to cooperate anymore.


Just sayin'

Betsy Combier

Longwood: Three People Charged for Stealing $173,000 from Bronx M.S. 302

By SÍLE MOLONEY

Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark and Anastasia Coleman, special commissioner of investigation for the New York City School District announced on Wednesday, Nov. 4, that a NYC public school employee, the employee’s husband, and another person have been charged with corruption, grand larceny, and fraud charges for stealing over $173,000 from a Bronx middle school’s funds.

“While working at Middle School 302 in Longwood, the defendant allegedly stole much-needed funds from the school in a fraud scheme that lasted four years, enriching herself, her husband, and her friend,” Clark said. “It is unconscionable that they would deprive children in this way.”

Coleman said the fraud lasted over a period of years and drained M.S. 302, the Luisa Dessus Cruz School, located at 681 Kelly Street in Longwood, of tens of thousands of dollars earmarked for City students. “There can be no place in our society for those who would brazenly steal the limited resources allocated for our students and their families, and there can be no tolerance for this type of fraud within the New York City school system,” she said. “I would like to thank our partners at the Bronx DA’s office, especially those from the Financial Frauds Bureau, for their efforts and assistance in this matter.”

Clark said the defendants, Rusnelly Clase, 40, of Yonkers, a community associate at M.S. 302, Clase’s husband, Justin Echevarria, 37, and Lisa Michelle Geraldino, 36, of Brooklyn, an acquaintance of Clase, were arraigned on Wednesday on a 296-count indictment by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Brenda Rivera. She said the defendants were released on a supervised basis and are due back in court in January.

The indictment charges Clase with first-degree corrupting the government, second-degree grand larceny, public corruption, and multiple counts of first-degree offering a false instrument for filing, first-degree falsifying business records, and second-degree forgery. Echevarria, and Geraldino are each charged with second-degree corrupting the government, second-degree grand larceny, and multiple counts of first-degree offering a false Instrument for filing, and first-degree and second-degree falsifying business records.

According to the investigation, from 2018 through February of 2022, Clase, a community coordinator for over ten years who had access to the school’s procurement and accounting systems, allegedly used her position to register each of her co-conspirators as a non-contracted vendor for the New York City Department of Education (DOE).

According to the investigation, over the course of approximately four years, Clase allegedly filed a substantial number of fraudulent vendor invoices, along with falsified purchase orders for “swag” clothing such as sweatshirts, shorts, t-shirts, and jackets. Clase then allegedly used unauthorized access to approve the invoices and trigger the payment of over $90,000 of funds to be directed to Echevarria and over $75,000 to be directed to Geraldino. The co-conspirators allegedly “kicked back” a portion of the money to Clase. Ultimately, no items were ever delivered.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Robert F. Lindston and Zachary Reid of the Office of the Bronx District Attorney’s Financial Frauds Bureau, under the supervision of Eugene Bykov, supervisor of the Financial Frauds Bureau, Michelle Milanes, deputy chief of the Financial Frauds Bureau, and Herman Wun, chief of the Financial Frauds Bureau, and under the overall supervision of Denise Kodjo, deputy chief of the Investigations Division, and Wanda Perez-Maldonado, chief of the Investigations Division.

Clark thanked Julio Santiago, a Bronx DA forensic accountant, April Glenn, trial preparation assistant, Brendan Hammond, Bronx DA senior detective investigator, Detective Investigator Randy Scarpinato, Lieutenant Vincent Cantarella, Peter Holness, deputy chief of detective investigators and Frank Chiara, chief of detective investigators for their work on the case.

She also thanked SCI Investigator Daniel Sullivan, SCI Chief Investigator Michael Bisogna, SCI Special Counsel Valerie Batista, Department of Education General Counsel Elizabeth Vladeck, and the Office of Payroll Administration at the New York City Financial Information Services Agency for their work on the case.

The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law.

*********************************************

admin

Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.
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Friday, December 6, 2024

UFT Asks NY State Education Department To Hold NYC Department of Education Accountable For Failure To Provide Mandated Special Education Services

 As a parent advocate, I can say that the NYC Department of Education is committing fraud every day by giving false information to parents about the Individualized Education Plans (IEPS) being implemented for their children and students. The mandated services are not being given to the students that need them, and the money given to the school for a specific service is being spent on other people - sometimes staff - rather than the student.

It's a mess.

Betsy Combier


Michael Mulgrew, President of the United Federation of Teachers

Union urges action on city’s special education failures

Mulgrew asks state to pin down DOE

By Joe LoVerde
November 1, 2024 New York Teacher

The UFT has asked the state Education Department to hold the city Department of Education accountable for its continued failure to provide mandated special education services to students.

“Not counting the years of the pandemic, the DOE has been under a corrective action plan for roughly four years,” UFT President Michael Mulgrew said. “For these four years, the situation has gotten worse, not better.”

He connected it to a growing shortage of paraprofessionals and related service providers. “We know we are short thousands of paraprofessionals and related service providers in all sorts of titles, including therapists, speech teachers, psychologists and social workers,” he said. “Every school I walk into is missing paraprofessionals and yet the DOE has frozen the hiring of paras.”

Mulgrew said the DOE claims it doesn’t have the funding to hire staff, while the city’s Office of Management and Budget counterclaims that it has sent the necessary funds to the DOE. “Mandated services need to be funded and used,” Mulgrew said in an Oct. 15 letter to state Education Commissioner Betty Rosa. “One agency blaming the other is not helping our students. We are asking you to make it clear to both agencies that they have to stop playing these games.”

Mulgrew told Rosa that the DOE has proven incapable of providing precise information about the number of unfilled positions or the steps it is taking to address the issues.

The UFT asked chapter leaders on Oct. 15 to work with their school-based special education committee and their paraprofessional representative to gather data on special education violations and unfilled positions at their schools.

“Special education teachers, paraprofessionals and related service providers do an incredible job helping students with special needs despite the roadblocks,” Mulgrew said. “But enough is enough. We refuse to accept these learning conditions for our students and these working conditions for our members.”

Rosa agreed to bring the parties together for a meeting to start to devise a plan to address the issues.

Growing bilingual special ed ranks


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Tuesday, December 3, 2024

Feds Investigating Criminal Insurance Fraud Ring With Ties To New York City Mayor Eric Adams

 Every day, the Adams administration is exposed for possibly committing more corruption. 

Here's the newest one (December 15, 2024):

Eric Adams’ top aide Ingrid Lewis-Martin abruptly resigns in latest City Hall shakeup

See also:

The Human Trafficking Enrichment Scam by Former Principal Emmanuel Polanco....It Goes On and On

When the election for Mayor comes up (the campaigns have already started), let's view the list before we vote and get it right this time.

Just sayin'

Betsy Combier

betsy@advocatz.com

Frank Carone, counsel to the Brooklyn Democratic Party, is one of Eric Adams' closest advisers and personal lawyer. | Courtesy of Frank Carone

Company owned by top adviser to Mayor Adams has ties to criminal insurance fraud ring


A no-fault operation funded in part by the mayor’s former chief of staff, Frank Carone, has caught the eye of federal prosecutors.

By Maya Kaufman

NEW YORK — A complex insurance operation with ties to Mayor Eric Adams’ ex-chief of staff, Frank Carone, has landed in the crosshairs of federal prosecutors.

Manhattan federal prosecutors in October indicted three people on criminal conspiracy charges for allegedly operating an “extensive” $10 million fraud ring involving no-fault auto insurance, which covers medical expenses from car accidents.

About two months before the case burst into public view, those same three people were added as defendants in a long-running civil lawsuit by auto insurance giant GEICO that alleges a similar pattern of insurance fraud.

Simultaneously added as a defendant: Financial Vision Capital Group II, a limited liability corporation formed by Carone and attorney Howard Fensterman in 2018, when the two were partners at the powerful Brooklyn law firm Abrams Fensterman.

GEICO’s amended complaint, which was filed in August in Brooklyn federal court, includes an explicit accusation that Financial Vision “knowingly aided and abetted the fraudulent scheme” managed by the since-indicted trio and several others, including two people who pleaded guilty years ago to insurance fraud.

When taken together, the recent legal developments reveal a significant overlap between the scheme alleged in the indictment and the Financial Vision-funded operation outlined by GEICO, according to a POLITICO review of hundreds of pages of court records.

“From an investigative standpoint, this is just the tip of the iceberg,” longtime insurance fraud investigator Frank Sztuk said.

Financial Vision Capital Group II, Carone, Fensterman and Abrams Fensterman have not been charged with any crime.

Carone and his spokesperson have said repeatedly that he had no operational role in the alleged “scheme” and did nothing more than advance money to the medical providers in exchange for the right to collect their no-fault insurance payouts, plus interest. In a formal answer to GEICO’s amended complaint, Abrams Fensterman — which is representing Financial Vision — said the company had no knowledge of any “fraudulent services” or improper billing.

“Any such advances were lawful and proper and were done based upon representations that the medical providers performing such services and the services they performed were in all respects legitimate and proper,” Abrams Fensterman’s attorneys wrote in November.

Hank Sheinkopf, a spokesperson for Fensterman and Abrams Fensterman described Financial Vision as a victim and said the law firm is now “attempting to ensure justice is done on their behalf.”

“On behalf of Financial Vision II , Abrams Fensterman as early as 2022 reported these matters to law enforcement and in 2022 brought a publicly-filed lawsuit because they were among the victims of the wrongdoers,” Sheinkopf said in a written statement to POLITICO.

Stu Loeser

Stu Loeser, a spokesperson for Carone, declined to comment. See more about Stu Loeser

Carone, a well-connected attorney with deep ties to Brooklyn politics, served as Mayor Eric Adams’ chief of staff for his first year in office and remains a close friend and adviser. After leaving City Hall at the end of 2022, Carone launched his own consulting firm and returned to Abrams Fensterman on an “of counsel” basis.

The recent indictment, filed in the Southern District of New York, names Kenan Tariverdi, Nazim Tariverdi and Dilshod Islamov — as well as “others known and unknown” — as the operators of a criminal scheme that defrauded no-fault insurance. All three have pleaded not guilty.

Under state law, individuals injured in a car crash can access up to $50,000 in insurance coverage for their medical costs, regardless of who was at fault for the incident. Crash victims can file claims with insurers themselves or authorize their doctors to bill the insurers and receive the no-fault insurance payments directly.

In the scheme detailed by the indictment, Islamov and the two Tariverdis are accused of billing no-fault insurers over $10 million for expensive medical procedures — some of which were never performed — by using the names and information of licensed health care providers.

When the auto insurance companies paid the bills, the money went not to the health care providers but to unnamed “funding companies or law firms authorized to collect insurance payments,” prosecutors allege. The unnamed “funding companies or law firms” deposited the money in bank accounts that were held in the providers’ names but actually controlled by the now-indicted trio and unnamed co-conspirators, according to the indictment.

The trio and unnamed co-conspirators then used stacks of blank checks signed by the providers to launder the proceeds through a series of shell companies, prosecutors allege.

GEICO, in its amended complaint, also accuses the Tariverdis and Islamov of playing key managerial roles in the scheme — and extends the blame to another crucial contributor: Financial Vision, which provided the funding and, with the help of an unnamed law firm, handled billing logistics, according to internal emails referenced in the complaint.

The medical providers, the insurer alleges, were nothing more than “interchangeable ‘cogs’ in the fraud wheel.”

Even beyond the recent indictment, Carone’s business dealings under Financial Vision continue to dog him.

Financial Vision Capital Group II remains tied up in a civil fraud lawsuit against businessperson Daniel Kandhorov, also a close Adams associate, who helped connect the company to no-fault medical providers, according to a complaint filed in November 2022. Financial Vision claimed it advanced more than $12 million to providers referred by Kandhorov, who got a 5 percent cut, based on his “misrepresentations” that their services were proper and legitimate.

Kandhorov was allegedly assisted by restaurateur Zhan “Johnny” Petrosyants, another close friend of the mayor’s — and, as Financial Vision’s lawsuit describes him, “a felon experienced in the art of insurance (as well as other forms of) fraud.” Emails attached to the lawsuit show Petrosyants and Carone discussing the mechanics of the investment operation and specific no-fault providers’ billing practices.

Petrosyants pleaded guilty in 2014 to a federal conspiracy charge stemming from an investigation into a no-fault insurance operation.

Federal investigators are also eyeing Carone’s business dealings with a Brooklyn priest in what appears to be a separate inquiry. The U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn subpoenaed records of business transactions between Carone and the monsignor, Jamie Gigantiello, NBC New York reported in September.

Through a limited liability corporation, Gigantiello is an investor in Financial Vision Group IV, another entity set up by Carone and Fensterman — along with Fensterman’s son, Jordan — to advance money to no-fault medical providers.

The focus of Brooklyn prosecutors’ inquiry is unclear.


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Sunday, December 1, 2024

Nallah Sutherland, Mayor Adams' Coordinator in the Office of Special Projects and Community Events, Rips Down Isreali Hostage Posters

 

Nallah Sutherland, a special event coordinator for the NYC Mayor’s Office of Special Projects and Community Events, is under fire for ripping down an Israeli hostage poster in Manhattan on Nov. 2 — and then allegedly assaulting the person filming her doing it.instagram @stop_antisemitism

UPDATE: Nallah Sutherland is suspended without pay indefinitely:Adams staffer who tore down Israel hostage poster has been indefinitely suspended without pay


Mayor Adams' staff is still showing all of New York City how he should be removed from office. The problem is not just him and all his family and friends who are now implicated in corruption and fraud, but also staffers, who are careless with violating ethics and common sense. This post is about Nallah Sutherland.She should be fired.See also: 

NYC mayor Eric Adams staffer whose job is to 'promote diversity' RIPS Hamas hostage posters down and 'assaults eyewitness'

Even Richie Torres is unhappy
End Mayoral control of the New York City Department of Education!!!
Betsy Combierbetsy@advocatz.com


NYC staffer paid to promote diversity caught ripping down Israel hostage poster, allegedly assaulting person filming it

By 
Doree Lewak and
 
Rich Calder, NY POST, 
Nov. 30, 2024

An Adams administration staffer whose mission includes fostering “unity” and bridging “cultural divides,” is under fire for ripping down an Israeli hostage poster — and then allegedly assaulting an outraged eyewitness, The Post has learned.

Nallah Sutherland, a special event coordinator for the Mayor’s Office of Special Projects and Community Events, was spotted earlier this month tearing down the poster from an Upper East Side light pole, ripping it up and dumping it in a trash bin, according to video posted online by the social media platform Jews of NY and nonprofit StopAntisemetism.

“It’s an appalling act of antisemitism,” said the nonprofit’s founder Liora Rez, who demanded Adams immediately fire Sutherland.

But Sutherland, 25, only got a slap on the wrist by her bosses — who merely required her to take “multicultural training” and added a disciplinary note to her permanent work file, a City Hall source told The Post.

Footage of the Nov. 2 incident at the corner of York Ave and East 84th Street begins with Sutherland tearing off the poster and tossing it in the trash.

“Is there a reason you’re taking those down?” asks an eyewitness about the poster, part of a public art campaign to raise awareness of Israeli and American hostages taken captive by Hamas during its Oct. 7, 2023 terror attack on the Jewish state.

Sutherland, 25, only got a slap on the wrist by her bosses after they learned she ripped down the Israeli poster. She was merely required her to take “multicultural training” and had a disciplinary note added to her permanent work file, a City Hall source told The Post.instagram @stop_antisemitism

“Those were hostages. They were taken by terrorists,” adds the eyewitness, according to the 20-second clip he recorded.

Sutherland then walks toward the man and swipes his phone with her right hand, briefly knocking it out of focus, the video shows.

“That’s assault actually. You know that, right?” the man responds to Sutherland, who smirks and walks away, the video shows.

Sutherland began working for Adams – a staunch Israel supporter – in 2023. She earns $61,135-a-year helping plan celebrations he hosts at Gracie Mansion and at other sites to honor the diverse city’s many ethnic groups, records show.

She’s part of a team whose job is to “bridge cultural divides … and support key city initiatives that help provide a source of strength, unity, and resilience to New Yorkers across all communities within the five boroughs and beyond,” according to her office’s website.

Liora Rez, founder of the nonprofit StopAntisemitism, called Sutherland’s actions “an appalling act of antisemitism” and demanded she be fired.Courtesy of Liora Rez

In May, the office organized a Jewish heritage celebration hosted by Adams at Gracie Mansion. The guest speakers included Shoshan Haran, who along with her daughter and two grandchildren, were taken hostage by Hamas and released 50 days later.

“It’s extremely hypocritical that someone who supports the murder of anyone still has a job, much less in a department that plays a vital role in our city’s diversity efforts — despite the fact that she cannot tolerate innocent Jews who were kidnapped by Hamas,” said Councilwoman Inna Vernikov (R-Brooklyn) after being told about Sutherland’s action.

“Decisive action must be taken to purge this disgusting pro-jihadist sentiment from” city government “once and for all,” added Vernikov, who is Jewish.

The eyewitness, who is Jewish and didn’t report the incident to authorities, wants to remain anonymous out of fear of retribution considering antisemitism cases are soaring statewide.

“It’s a sad state of affairs when the victim doesn’t have trust in the NYPD or” soft-on-crime Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg “to properly investigate” hate crimes,” said Rez. “There’s no trust in the authorities to keep the victim safe.”

City Hall first leaned about the incident weeks ago when a tipster recognized Sutherland after watching the video posted on StopAntisemitism’s social media accounts, said a source.

The same “multicultural training” Sutherland received will also now be mandatory for all Mayor’s Office of Special Projects and Community Events staff to prevent similar hateful behavior in the future, said the City Hall source.

Sutherland is a “junior staffer” who doesn’t directly communicate with Adams as part of her duties, added the source.

“Mayor Adams has been clear that hate has no place in our city, and the same – if not higher – standard should be held for our city’s more than 300,000 employees,” the Mayor’s Office said.

“That is why disciplinary action was taken immediately after learning about this incident a few weeks ago.”

Sutherland did not return messages.

Yoav Davis, an activist and founder of Jews of NY, was stunned that Sutherland is keeping her job.

“It is especially disturbing to learn that an individual employed by the mayor’s office — particularly in a position meant to celebrate the city’s diversity — is directly connected to this culture of hate,” he said.

Additional reporting by Khristina Narizhnaya.

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Thursday, November 21, 2024

The Human Trafficking Enrichment Scam by Former Principal Emmanuel Polanco....It Goes On and On

Emmanuel Polanco was removed as principal of JHS 80 in The Bronx two years ago amid complaints he forced teachers from the Dominican Republic to pay rent for an apartment owned by his late mother and for rooms leased by a group of DOE administrators.Richard Harbus

From Betsy Combier:

Posted below is another scam created and paid for by the New York City Department of Education to use taxpayer money for the benefit of the "chosen few" but not tax-paying citizens and City workers who refused the COVID vaccination and have been left almost homeless. First responders and municipal workers who do not get the vaccine are told they cannot get remote assignments, wear masks, or get tested for COVID and get paid, because they would cause the City an "undue burden". This is, of course, a lie.

But the NY Federal and State Courts are political agencies that perform as the party machine wants them to.

Former Principal Emmanuel Polanco and his wife Sterling Baez have been posted on the blog before, in 2022:

Bronx Principal Emmanuel Polanco Accused of Shake Down of Teachers Brought To NYC From the Dominican Republic

Seems like no one has stopped them.

This is NYC, where the more willing you are to break the law to benefit the chosen few, the less likely you will be stopped of face consequences. The NYC Department of Education has been the focus of my investigations for 25 years, so I am biased when I say that I cannot image a more corrupt agency anywhere.

And what is even more despicable is, at the same time that Mr. Polanco, Ms. Baez, Mayor Adams, and thousands of others are stealing taxpayer money:

Aide to top NYPD chief raked in $400,000 as administrators cash in on overtime bonanza

Mayor Eric Adams' Administration Falls Apart Under Federal Corruption Charges


And this is only the tiny tip of the iceberg.

Exiled NYC school staffers rake in fat paychecks as two-year human trafficking probe drags on

By 
Susan Edelman and
 
Georgia Worrell, NY POST, November 17. 2024

A NYC principal and his wife, accused masterminds behind a bilingual teacher scandal exposed by The Post, have raked in more than $500,000 in salary for the past two years — while the foreign educators they recruited are forbidden to visit their families back home if they want to keep their jobs.

Some 20 teachers from the Dominican Republic have been barred from traveling outside the US without losing their well-paying Department of Education jobs and enrollment in a city-paid Master’s Degree program amid a federal probe of Bronx principal Emmanuel Polanco, his wife, teacher Sterling Baez, and a group of Dominican-American administrators who allegedly exploited the newcomers.

The Department of Homeland Security has given the teachers, who lost their original visas in the turmoil, a “Continued Presence” status, which is meant for victims of human trafficking to remain in the US as potential witnesses to crimes. Under the rules, they can’t travel outside the country and return pending the probe, teachers told The Post this week.

“The last we heard was that they were still investigating,” one said. “Sometimes I wonder when this is going to end, because it’s been two years already, and we are still waiting.”

“We don’t know what’s happening.” said another Dominican teacher who was warned she might lose her job and protected status if she visited the DR when her mother underwent cancer surgery. 

“We are in limbo.”

A third teacher, working in a Bronx high school, can’t visit his family in the DR, though his wife and three kids have come to the US twice to see him in the last two years.

“Nobody tells us anything,” he said.  “How long do we have to wait?”All three teachers asked for anonymity, saying supervisors warned them not to speak to reporters. But they want their plight known.

Sterling Baez, Polanco’s wife, personally collected rent from Dominican teachers for the apartment owned by her late mother-in-law.

Homeland Security launched a probe in November 2022 amid complaints that Polanco, principal of JHS 80, led a shake-down scheme to force the teachers to rent overpriced rooms leased by ADASA, a fraternal group of Dominican-American administrators — and threaten them with deportation if they balked.

The DOE yanked Polanco from JHS 80. His wife Sterling Baez, a teacher at PS 595 in the Bronx, was also removed when it emerged she personally bagged more than $3,000 a month from three teachers told to share a Marion Avenue apartment owned by Polanco’s late mom.

Neither has been charged with a crime. They did not return requests for comment.

Polanco and Baez have not returned to their schools, but remain on the city payroll – collecting a combined $245,850 in Fiscal Year 2023 and $311,303 in FY 2024, records show. Polanco’s current salary is $185,112;  Baez’’ is $95,365. 

Polanco, as first vice president of ADASA, was a pet of then-Chancellor David Banks, who praised the group – dormant since the scandal erupted – for “getting stuff done,” using Mayor Adams’ mantra.

But disturbing details soon emerged. 

ADASA put 11 teachers in a cramped two-family house on Baychester Avenue in the Bronx, charging 10 of them $1,450 a month each, and one $1,300 a month for single rooms with a shared kitchen and bath, The Post  reported.

The total $15,800 in revenue would net an $8,900 monthly profit over what ADASA paid to lease the duplex.

Daniel Calcaño, an ADASA treasurer and former assistant principal, rounded up rent payments from three Dominican teachers and one spouse required to live in a three -bedroom apartment on Pilgrim Avenue.Obtained by The New York Post

Daniel Calcaño, an ADASA treasurer and former assistant principal, rounded up rent payments of some $4,500 a month from three teachers and one spouse in a three -bedroom apartment on Pilgrim Avenue – once banging on their doors at 11 pm.

Calcaño, still on the city payroll, makes $151,409 a year.

Calcaño, Polanco and Baez, have all been “reassigned to central administrative roles,” the DOE said, refusing to specify their duties, if any. “Reassigned” is DOE lingo for rubber-roomed, which means they do little or nothing while under investigation.

Five Dominican teachers have given up their DOE jobs in frustration, and gone back to the DR permanently. The 20 remaining have since found housing on their own. They get DOE salaries of $66,000 to $75,000, plus overtime.

They also attend City College for a Master’s Degree in education – paid by the DOE –  which can lead to certification and permanent status as working immigrants.

A spokeswoman for Homeland Security Investigations would not answer questions about the probe: “Due to law enforcement sensitivities, HSI is unable to confirm or deny the existence of an open investigation.” 

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