I don’t know what to make of this story. I don’t feel like it qualifies for flaming hyena status yet, but I do feel like it is noteworthy.
Up until yesterday, Matthew Bruderman was the chairman of Nassau University Medical Center. A couple of weeks ago, Mr. Bruderman announced he was cooperating with the FBI and Department of Justice in an investigation. Specifically, Mr. Bruderman claims that New York state and Long Island have stolen at least $1 billion from the organization.
Wednesday night, Mr. Bruderman’s house was burglarized. However, the only thing allegedly taken was…documents tied to the investigation.
Bruderman wasn’t home at the time of the robbery and only found out after police called to inform him they had recovered a binder with his name on it in a car driven by an unidentified couple, he said.
“I was confused because that was the binder I had on my desk when I left,” he said.
Bruderman said he later found his backdoor pried wide open.
The binder, he said, contained “sensitive” materials related to the ongoing federal investigation, including documents and records tied to the financial misconduct he claims to have uncovered while reviewing hospital finances and state reimbursements.
Things that make you go “Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm”:
At the heart of the alleged scheme is a little-known federal program called the Disproportionate Share Hospital Fund — meant to help keep afloat struggling hospitals such as NUMC, which treat large numbers of low-income patients on Medicaid and Medicare.
Under the program, the federal government agrees to give hospitals tens of millions of dollars in funding as long as their state matches the investment.
…
According to [Bruderman’s] review of internal financial records, previous hospital leadership allegedly “borrowed” what was supposed to be the state’s matching share from an offshore account tied to a Cayman Islands trust, originally set up to cover the medical center’s legal bills.
That money would be temporarily transferred into the hospital’s general fund just long enough to fool the feds into thinking New York had paid its share — unlocking the federal portion of the funding, he claimed.
But once the federal funds cleared, the state’s contribution would allegedly be moved right back offshore.
That would mean those matching funds vanished into the shadows in a conspiracy that could’ve included top officials.
More things that make you go “Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm”: Mr. Bruderman was fired on Thursday.
Bruderman, who was unpaid in his position as chairman, told The Post he was shocked by his firing and is the victim of a political scandal.
“I was told if I didn’t resign today, like a coward, I would be removed. I was told [Gov.] Kathy Hochul wanted my head for exposing the corruption and previously supporting Lee Zeldin. I was told I don’t understand how powerful these people are and the lengths they would go to hurt me. I refused to resign and they had no choice but to remove me,” Bruderman told The Post.
Again, I don’t know what to make of this. A lot of the coverage seems to be from Mr. Bruderman’s point of view, and I won’t rule out the possibility that he’s trying to divert attention away from his own activities. On the other hand, I’m absolutely not going to rule out the idea that New York state and Nassau County officials are as crooked as a three-dollar bill, and have been doing exactly what Mr. Bruderman claims.
In other news, and I guess this qualifies as a flaming hyena: Wisconsin judge Hannah Dugan has been arrested by the FBI.
Flores Ruiz, 30, had appeared before Dugan April 18 for a pre-trial conference on three misdemeanor battery charges.
ICE agents showed up outside the courtroom with a federal warrant for Flores Ruiz’s arrest but were asked by court officials to wait until the hearing had ended before cuffing him, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported, citing law enforcement sources.
Before the agents could enter, Dugan allegedly directed Flores Ruiz and his lawyer out a side door and through a private hallway to avoid apprehension.
Judge Dugan is charged with “obstruction of justice and concealing a person from arrest”. The NYTimes has additional coverage, including a link to the charging document, but share links aren’t working for me right now. I’ll try to update later.