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Discovery and response to $80 million unauthorized account withdrawal
4:17:11
ยท
172 sec
Councilmember Brannan inquires about the discovery of an $80 million unauthorized withdrawal from a city account and the administration's response.
- The withdrawal was noticed due to a $79 million overdraft in the general treasury
- The issue came to light because of the overdraft, not the withdrawal itself
- The law department filed strong papers arguing against the seizure of funds
- Comptroller Lander expresses optimism that the judge will rule in the city's favor
- The federal government had previously approved the invoice for services provided to individuals with A numbers
Justin Brannan
4:17:11
Could you last thing, can you quickly walk us through how and when you noticed the $80,000,000 had been taken out of the account, and how long did it take the administration to care about it?
Brad Lander
4:17:28
So I learned about it from executive deputy controller Brindisi.
4:17:32
So on that more yeah.
4:17:34
Well, go ahead.
4:17:35
Mean, I
Justin Brannan
4:17:35
You just wake up and refresh the accounts?
Francesco Brindisi
4:17:38
Yeah.
4:17:38
It is.
4:17:39
It is.
4:17:40
Well, you know, there is very little left at the end of the day.
4:17:42
It's all invested in short term and before there was a big
Justin Brannan
4:17:45
So you just seriously, you just happened to notice that there was like, walk us through exactly what happened.
Francesco Brindisi
4:17:52
Well, there there is a there was a in the general treasury, there was a negative bonds of 79,400,000.0.
4:17:59
Wow.
Brad Lander
4:17:59
It was really because of the overdraft.
4:18:02
Right.
4:18:02
You know, it wasn't that we that that staff noticed the withdrawal.
4:18:07
Right.
4:18:07
Right.
4:18:07
It that because the balance had been brought down and therefore went to about a million dollars, and then when they took the 80.5 out, that led to a $79,000,000 overdraft, and that is what called attention to it.
Justin Brannan
4:18:22
And at that point, OMB had no idea.
Francesco Brindisi
4:18:27
We don't know about that.
4:18:28
I mean, you know, we call our accountancy folks call DOF when DOF was aware.
4:18:34
I'm not sure what OMB knew at what time.
4:18:37
And
Justin Brannan
4:18:40
even though it took them time to do anything about it, you're pleased with the strong paper that the law department put forward.
Brad Lander
4:18:49
Yes.
4:18:50
The papers that the law department filed ten days ago now, a week ago, Friday, I urge people to read.
4:18:56
I mean, they're they're both it's a strong argument that'll make you feel proud of the law department of the City Of New York, and it's just so clear what an utter violation of law the seizure was.
4:19:08
There's they had you know, I learned some things in in reading those papers.
4:19:15
Every single individual who was provided services under this has an A number that was required by the federal government.
4:19:22
That means they were released to us essentially by the federal government, every single person.
4:19:28
They even took out 1.2% because of some questions around the a numbers.
4:19:34
The federal government came FEMA came and did a site visit at the Roosevelt Hotel, and FEMA issued a written approval of the invoice in the during the Trump administration.
4:19:48
Sorry.
4:19:49
I apologize.
4:19:50
So they had literally zero basis for clawing that money back.
4:19:57
And, yes, the papers make that very clear, and I'm optimistic the judge will rule in our favor.