Courts

(WNY News Now) Attorney General Letitia James enforces accountability for labor crimes during the pandemic and recovers stolen earnings for more than 250 workers at CleanTech. NEW YORK Attorney General Letitia James of New York said today that she has recovered about $1.13 million in salaries that were taken from employees of CleanTech, a professional maintenance business that cleaned Rikers Island buildings during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Widespread labor breaches, such as illegal kickbacks, failure to provide paid sick leave, wage theft, and retaliation against employees who complained, were discovered during an Office of the Attorney General (OAG) inquiry. CleanTech will reimburse around 250 affected employees $1,029,175 as a result of OAG's inquiry. Attorney General James s...

(WNY News Now) BUFFALO, N.Y. U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced that Erin Martin, 52, of Tonawanda, NY, entered a guilty plea to wire fraud before U.S. Magistrate Judge H. Kenneth Schroeder, Jr. The maximum punishment for the charge is 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. The case's prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul E. Bonanno, disclosed that Martin worked as a Senior Staff Accountant for her Amherst-based employer from April 2022 to June 10, 2024, when she committed fraud. Martin was in charge of making sure that vendor invoices were paid on time, and he reported to the chief financial officer. Martin's plan involved creating fake vendor invoices and using them to start illegal electronic money transfers from the business's bank account to her own. Martin embezzled $440,39...

(WNY News Now) After an examination into the company's failure to disclose tax implications from modifications to its retirement programs, Vanguard Group has agreed to pay $106 million in restitution to investors. NEW YORK Vanguard Group, Inc., an investment advice firm, and its subsidiary Vanguard Marketing Corporation provided $106 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), New York Attorney General Letitia James, and a bipartisan, multistate coalition of 45 securities regulators. The settlement comes after hundreds of thousands of investors' capital gains tax payments increased as a result of Vanguard's failure to inform them of changes to its retirement programs. Vanguard reduced the minimum criteria on one of its retirement funds without informing investors that the ch...

(WNY News Now)U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross stated that Anita D. Miller, 41, of Jamestown, NY, has entered a guilty plea to six counts of mail theft and two counts of delaying mail while working for the Postal Service. U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo heard the accusations, which carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000. Miller acknowledged that he stole money and gift cards from mailing envelopes six times in February and March of 2022. Additionally, in March 2022, she twice postponed mail delivery. The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General, led by Special Agent-in-Charge Northeast Field Office Matthew Modafferi, conducted the investigation that led to the plea. Judge Vilardo will deliver the sentence on May 29, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. Share this...

(WNY News Now) A guy from Amherst was given a prison sentence for committing a hit-and-run accident in the Town of Tonawanda last year that left a motorcyclist gravely injured.Perrin, Brian J. Erie County DA's Office Photo Brian J. Perrin, 34, of Amherst, was sentenced this morning before Erie County Court Judge Kenneth Case, according to a statement released by Erie County District Attorney Michael J. Keane today. He was given an indeterminate prison term ranging from two to six years. At around 4:22 a.m. on Saturday, May 11, 2024, Town of Tonawanda police officers were called to the scene of a motorcycle accident involving injuries at the intersection of Colvin Boulevard and Eggert Road. The injured and unconscious motorcyclist was discovered by officers in the road. After being transp...

(WNY News Now) Drug trafficking leader and two-time convicted felon Walter H. Bennett is sentenced to 16 years in prison for possessing a handgun and distributing fentanyl. New York's Rochester. In addition to illegally possessing firearms, Walter H. Bennett, 34, of Rochester, was sentenced to 192 months in federal prison for organizing a narcotics trafficking scheme including cocaine and fentanyl, a deadly equivalent. U.S. District Judge Charles J. Siragusa imposed the sentence, which was announced by U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross. In addition to possessing guns in support of narcotics trafficking, Bennett entered a guilty plea to conspiracy to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl, 10 grams or more of a fentanyl analogue, and 500 grams or more of cocaine. Bennett ran a drug trafficking n...

(WNY News Now) Eagle Rock Resort Co., LLC and its parent firms are being sued by Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry for allegedly engaging in dishonest business practices by overcharging for undeveloped land lots. Attorney General Michelle Henry revealed that a complaint has been filed against Eagle Rock Resort Co., LLC, a resort developer, as well as its parent firm and co-subsidiaries, for using false and exaggerated values to sell undeveloped land lots. Eagle Rock, the owner and operator of a resort in Hazelton, markets to customers from Pennsylvania and other states, offering real estate for sale on the property. According to the lawsuit, Eagle Rock uses deceptive comparisons regarding the undeveloped properties' potential for value growth in order to misrepresent their wor...

(WNY News Now) In two different criminal cases, a man from North Tonawanda has acknowledged responsibility for a fatal stabbing on Kenmore Avenue and financial theft from a former employer. John A. Rudes, 29, entered a guilty plea to Manslaughter in the First Degree, a Class B dangerous crime, before Erie County Court Judge Susan Eagan, according to Erie County District Attorney Michael J. Keane. In a separate theft case, Rudes also entered a guilty plea to Grand Larceny in the Fourth Degree, a Class E felony. The violent encounter on September 17, 2023, is the basis for the manslaughter charge. Rudes fatally stabbed Terry Jackson, 59, several times in the neck at an apartment complex on the 1000 block of Kenmore Avenue at around 3:46 a.m. At the scene, Jackson was declared deceased. Rudes...

The FTC Secures Settlement for Deceptive Practices with Attorney General Letitia James (WNY News Now)NEW YORKFollowing an inquiry that uncovered misleading advertising tactics, workers who were misled by Handy Technologies, a division of Angi Inc., are scheduled to earn $2.95 million. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the New York Attorney General's Office (OAG) discovered that Handy misrepresented payment schedules and exaggerated hourly wages in ads to recruit workers for household service positions. According to the research, Handy's advertisements often inflated hourly wages, with some employees making almost 50% less than what was reported. Workers usually had to wait up to seven days for payment unless they paid a fee, so claims of daily pay were also deceptive. Additionally, Ha...

Extended Deadline for Eligible Drivers to Get Benefits and Back Pay Compensation New York, New York (WNY News Now)Current and former Uber and Lyft drivers who feel they were underpaid are being urged to submit claims for their portion of a $328 million settlement by New York Attorney General Letitia James. The extended filing deadline is January 31, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. NEW YORK In order to obtain the money they are entitled to under settlements negotiated by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG), New York Attorney General Letitia James today urged rideshare drivers who feel they were underpaid by Uber and Lyft to file claims by January 31, 2025, at the latest. Following an OAG investigation that revealed Uber and Lyft had withheld money from drivers and had failed to offer significant...