A failing restaurateur who conspired with members of his family to burn down his Hudson Valley business as part of an insurance fraud scheme is facing a host of charges, authorities announced.
Orange County resident Zef Gjurashaj, age 59, of Newburgh, and his nephew’s wife, Yonkers resident Marina Gjurashaj, age 37, were indicted and charged with a series of crimes for allegedly conspiring to burn down his restaurant in 2017.
Specifically, the two were charged by an Orange County grand jury with:
First-degree arson;
Conspiracy;
Insurance fraud;
Tax fraud;
Various other offenses.
Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler said that the indictment alleges that the two conspired with each other to intentionally burn down Andiamo’s Restaurant on Route 9W in Newburgh in September of 2017.
It is alleged that Zef Gjurashaj, who was operating the restaurant in the fall of 2017, knew that his business was in a steep financial decline and decided to burn it down for insurance purposes.
Hoovler said that three weeks before the fire, he hired his niece, Marina Gjurashaj to work at the restaurant.
The investigation into the fire found that on Sept. 6, 2017, Marina Gjurashaj intentionally set fire to the building for the financial benefit of her “uncle”.
Thereafter, beginning in December 2017, Zef Gjurashaj, presented fraudulent Proof of Loss papers to his insurance company seeking payment for damage caused by the blaze.
As part of that scam, it is further alleged that Zef Gjurashaj submitted additional fraudulent documents to the insurance company through 2018. On two occasions in 2018, he also testified falsely during an Examination Under Oath (EUO) conducted by the insurance company regarding observations of the scene of the fire.
“Arson in the first degree is one of the more rarely charged crimes in this state due to the complexity of proof and other legal issues and I highly commend all the law enforcement agencies for their tireless work on this case,” Hoovler said in a statement. “The utter disregard for human life and property exhibited in this case is appalling.
“(Their) selfish actions, in this case, were allegedly motivated by pure greed,” he continued. ”However, the hard work dedicated by the law enforcement professionals during the course of this investigation has brought to light the crimes these defendants hoped would disappear in the flames they set.”
Both Gjurashajs were arrested on Saturday, Nov. 27, and remanded to the Orange County Jail without bail. If convicted of the top arson charge, both face a term of between 25 years to life in prison.
“Insurance fraud involving arson not only burdens consumers with higher insurance premiums but also endangers lives,” acting New York State Department of Financial Services Superintendent Adrienne Harris said.
“Thanks to the excellent and diligent work by DFS investigators in coordination with fellow law enforcement partners, the perpetrators involved in this case have been apprehended.”
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SAN JOSE, Calif. — For the six days that Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of the failed blood-testing start-up Theranos, took the stand in her fraud trial, she blamed others, accused a former boyfriend of abusing and controlling her, and reframed her actions as trying to do good for her company.
On Tuesday, Ms. Holmes capped her defense with flat denials.
“I don’t think I did that,” she said in response to a question about whether she had minimized the findings of a devastating regulatory inspection at Theranos. She then blamed her company’s lawyers for “doing a lot of the talking in that meeting.”
The comments ended Ms. Holmes’s main testimony, which stood out as the rarest of rarities. Few technology executives, let alone a female tech executive, are ever charged with criminal fraud. Even fewer take the stand to defend themselves. Her time on the stand, which is likely to formally finish on Wednesday, was the climax to a trial that has captivated the business world and been held up as a parable of Silicon Valley’s fake-it-till-you-make-it culture on overdrive.
Ms. Holmes, 37, has pleaded not guilty to 11 counts of fraud for claims she made as chief executive of Theranos, which she founded in 2003. If convicted, she faces up to 20 years in jail.
Her trial is now moving into its end stage. Either side may call final witnesses over the coming days, followed by closing arguments and detailed instructions to jurors for their deliberations on a verdict.
“The jury got to know her over six days,”Jeffrey Cohen, an associate professor at Boston College Law School, said of Ms. Holmes. “If the defense is successful, that might be the decision that will make the difference.”
For most of the proceedings, the jury heard witnesses testify about the details of Ms. Holmes’s alleged fraud. Theranos rose to prominence, raising $945 million in funding, by claiming that its revolutionary machines could perform hundreds of tests using only a tiny drop of blood. The hype made Ms. Holmes a fixture on magazine covers that hailed her as the next Steve Jobs.
But a 2015 expose in The Wall Street Journal exposed problems with Theranos’s blood tests, kicking off a downward spiral of regulatory crackdowns and lawsuits. The company dissolved in 2018, and Ms. Holmes was indicted.
Who’s Who in the Elizabeth Holmes Trial
Erin Woo📍Reporting from San Jose, Calif.
Who’s Who in the Elizabeth Holmes Trial
Erin Woo📍Reporting from San Jose, Calif.
Carlos Chavarria for The New York Times
Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced founder of the blood testing start-up Theranos, stands trial for two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and nine counts of wire fraud.
Here are some of the key figures in the case →
Who’s Who in the Elizabeth Holmes Trial
Erin Woo📍Reporting from San Jose, Calif.
Stephen Lam/Reuters
Holmes founded Theranos in 2003 as a 19-year-old Stanford dropout. She raised $945 million from investors and was crowned the world’s youngest billionaire, but has been accused of lying about how well Theranos’s technology worked. She has pleaded not guilty.
Who’s Who in the Elizabeth Holmes Trial
Erin Woo📍Reporting from San Jose, Calif.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Ramesh Balwani, known as Sunny,was Theranos’s president and chief operating officer from 2009 through 2016 and was in a romantic relationship with Holmes. He has also been accused of fraud and may stand trial next year. He has pleaded not guilty.
Who’s Who in the Elizabeth Holmes Trial
Erin Woo📍Reporting from San Jose, Calif.
Jefferson Siegel for The New York Times
David Boies, a prominent litigator, represented Theranos as its lawyer and served on its board.
He tried to shut down whistle-blowers and reporters who questioned the company’s business practices.
Who’s Who in the Elizabeth Holmes Trial
Erin Woo📍Reporting from San Jose, Calif.
Getty Images
The journalist John Carreyrou wrote stories exposing fraudulent practices at Theranos.
His coverage for The Wall Street Journal helped lead to the implosion of Theranos.
Who’s Who in the Elizabeth Holmes Trial
Erin Woo📍Reporting from San Jose, Calif.
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, via Getty Images
Tyler Shultz and Erika Cheung are former Theranos employees and were whistle-blowers. They worked at the start-up in 2013 and 2014.
Shultz is a grandson of George Shultz, a former secretary of state who was on the Theranos board.
Who’s Who in the Elizabeth Holmes Trial
Erin Woo📍Reporting from San Jose, Calif.
Eric Thayer for The New York Times
James Mattis, a retired four-star general, was a member of Theranos’s board.
He went on to serve as President Donald J. Trump’s secretary of defense.
Who’s Who in the Elizabeth Holmes Trial
Erin Woo📍Reporting from San Jose, Calif.
Edward Davila, a federal judge for the Northern District of California, will oversee the case.
Kevin Downey, a partner at the Washington law firm Williams & Connolly, is the lead lawyer for Holmes.
Robert Leach, an assistant United States attorney for the Northern District of California, will lead the prosecution for the government, along with other prosecutors from the U.S. attorney’s office.
Read more about Elizabeth Holmes:
Since her trial began in September, prosecutors have called dozens of witnesses, including former board members, lab directors, employees, investors, patients and business partners. They have revealed the details of falsified documents, outlandish financial projections, unrealistic promises and faked demonstrations at Theranos. Witnesses often spent hours on the tedious minutiae of finance, chemistry, technology and phlebotomy.
Much of the case against Ms. Holmes has relied on her emails and text messages to tie her directly to the company’s problems. Prosecutors must convince the jury that Ms. Holmes knew about the problems and failed to disclose them to the people pouring money into Theranos and to the patients relying on its blood tests to make medical decisions.
In her defense, Mr. Holmes’s lawyers tried showing that the witnesses’ stories were more complicated than they had let on. Defense lawyers hit investors for not doing enough research on Theranos before investing. And they tried blaming lab directors for problems with the accuracy of Theranos’s tests.
Through it all, Ms. Holmes sat up stick-straight in her chair and stared straight ahead, her expression obscured by a mask.
After prosecutors rested their case last month, and before calling Ms. Holmes to the stand, her lawyers introduced brief testimony from a biotechnology executive who joined Theranos’s board of directors after it came under fire from the media and regulators.
Ms. Holmes then offered a variety of excuses for Theranos’s shortcomings. She said others had misinterpreted her statements about what Theranos’s technology could do. She said that, until a 2015 regulatory inspection revealed a host of problems and forced Theranos to void its tests, she believed its tests worked. She said she hadn’t been qualified to run a lab and had relied on the statements of others.
She also admitted to adding the logos of pharmaceutical companies to a series of reports, which implied the drug makers had endorsed Theranos’s technology when they hadn’t. For this, she expressed regret.
Her direct testimony ended with a bombshell revelation that Ramesh Balwani, her former boyfriend, business partner and alleged co-conspirator, emotionally and physically abused her. Through tears, she testified that Mr. Balwani had controlled every aspect of her life — including her schedule, diet and presentation — and had even forced her to have sex with him against her will.
On cross-examination, she choked up again when prosecutors had her read text messages with Mr. Balwani that showed a more affectionate side of their relationship. Prosecutors elicited several more mea culpas from Ms. Holmes, including regret over how she handled the Journal exposé and a positive Fortune cover story about the company that was later heavily corrected.
This week, prosecutors homed in on the discrepancies between what Ms. Holmes said in her testimony and what investors said she had told them. Numerous Theranos partners and investors testified that they had believed the company had contracts with the military and deployed its technology in medevacs and on battlefields, for example.
One of the prosecutors, Robert Leach, an assistant U.S. attorney, asked Ms. Holmes different versions of the same question repeatedly to hammer the lack of military contracts. She confirmed that Theranos had not had the contracts.
To show that Theranos was never paid for work with the drug maker GlaxoSmithKline, Mr. Leach also repeatedly asked Ms. Holmes about the lack of revenue, posing the question for each year from 2007 to 2014. Ms. Holmes said no each time.
Ms. Holmes resisted many of Mr. Leach’s lines of questioning by testifying that she didn’t recall or didn’t know. She also tried to dispute details in certain questions.
Ms. Holmes’s lawyers questioned her for a second time Tuesday afternoon with a rapid-fire series of statements meant to undermine Mr. Leach’s points and reiterate her initial testimony. Once again, Ms. Holmes said that Mr. Balwani had created Theranos’s unrealistic financial projections and that Theranos’s scientists had put together reports on its technology.
Until a regulatory inspection revealed deeper problems, she testified, she thought Theranos’s lab was “excellent.” Ms. Holmes also repeatedly stressed her concerns over exposing Theranos’s trade secrets as an excuse for withholding information from investors and partners, testifying again that she worried the company would lose its ability to compete. Discussing Theranos’s use of third-party machines would have violated Theranos’s own trade-secret policy, she said.
Mr. Leach tried knocking down that argument by noting that most of Theranos’s investors and partners had signed nondisclosure agreements that Ms. Holmes expected to be followed.
He further noted that, despite Ms. Holmes’s holding a patent for some technology, a patent did not “necessarily mean the invention described in the patent works.” Mr. Leach asked her if she had created a pill that measures lipids in blood, as described in one Theranos patent.
Ms. Holmes smiled, leaned into the microphone and said, “Not yet.”
If you run a small business, you need insurance. There are various types of coverage available and the exact insurance you need will depend on your industry and precise circumstances.
However, some insurance policies are vital for every type of small business. Here are some of the most common types of insurance policies that small businesses could require.
General Liability Insurance
If someone makes a claim against your business because he or she has suffered a bodily injury while on your premises, such as slipping in a store, general liability insurance will protect you and help to pay for things like medical expenses. General liability insurance covers property damage too.
Also, if your business sells products, you should get general liability insurance that includes product liability insurance to help protect your business against property damage or injuries caused by the products you sell.
Professional Liability Insurance
Professional liability insurance protects your business against claims related to mistakes in your professional services.
For example, if a customer has to pay a penalty due to an accounting mistake that your business made, the person could sue your company.
By having professional liability insurance in place, legal costs for such lawsuits will be covered.
Cyber Liability Insurance
In today’s world, most businesses, both big and small, have some kind of digital infrastructure. While the digital world has enabled operations to become more efficient and productive in numerous ways, the drawback is your company can potentially be a victim of cybercrime.
Therefore, you should consider getting a business insurance policy known as cyber liability insurance. It can cover your business in the event of things like data breaches and theft or loss of customer data.
Commercial Property Insurance
Whether you own or rent a building, you should take out commercial property insurance. It covers the building and the equipment in the building should a thief break in and steal items.
So, if laptops are stolen, for example, commercial property insurance can help to cover the replacement cost.
Workers’ Compensation Insurance
Most states in the US require businesses to have workers’ compensation insurance. It provides employees with benefits to cover things like medical treatment should they experience work-related injuries or illnesses.
Employment Practices Liability Insurance
Also known as employers’ liability insurance, employment practices liability insurance helps to protect your small business from employment-related claims. That includes claims like sexual harassment, discrimination, and wrongful termination.
Business Income Coverage
When your small business cannot operate due to property damage, you can help to replace your loss of income when you have business income coverage.
Also known as business interruption insurance, the coverage protects your loss of income when your property has been damaged by things like a fire, a storm, or theft.
Business Owner’s Policy
If you are planning on getting business income insurance in addition to general liability insurance and commercial property insurance, you should go with the umbrella business owner’s policy, which covers all three types of insurance policies.
Commercial Auto Insurance
Should you or an employee be involved in an accident that causes injuries or property damage while driving a company vehicle, damages can be paid for when you have commercial auto insurance in place.
That means you or the employee can gain financial compensation for things like repairing property and getting medical treatment.
Personal Accident Insurance
If you should experience an injury or illness that stops you from performing your regular work duties, your loss of income can be covered when you have a personal accident insurance policy.
As a small business owner, it makes sense to have personal accident insurance should the unexpected occur.
BEIJING (AP) — Financial markets can cope with the impact of a Chinese real estate developer that is struggling to avoid defaulting on $310 billion in debt, the central bank governor said Thursday, in a new effort to assure the public the economy can be shielded from fallout.
Yi Gang’s comments by video to a seminar in Hong Kong added to indications Beijing has no plans to bail out Evergrande Group. Fears of a default have rattled financial markets, but economists say the ruling Communist Party wants to avoid sending the wrong signal at a time when it is trying to force companies to cut high debt burdens.
“The short-term risks of individual real estate companies will not affect the normal financing function of the medium- and long-term market,” Yi said, according to a transcript released by the central bank.
“Evergrande’s hazard is a market event that will be properly handled in accordance with market principles and law,” Yi said. Investors’ interests “will be protected in accordance with the law,” he said.
Political Cartoons
Default is all but certain after Evergrande, the global real estate industry’s most indebted company, warned Friday it might run out of cash. The company says it has 2.3 trillion yuan ($350 billion) of assets but it is struggling to sell them fast enough to pay its debts.
Beijing can keep lending markets functioning if Evergrande defaults, and local officials can mobilize to contain turmoil in real estate markets, economists say. The central bank released 1.2 trillion yuan ($190 billion) from bank reserves for additional lending on Monday.
Evergrande and its creditors have yet to confirm news reports the company failed to make a payment due this week on a U.S.-dollar-denominated bond sold abroad.
Evergrande, headquartered in the southern city of Shenzhen, is the biggest company caught in a campaign launched by Beijing last year to force developers to reduce soaring debt that is seen as a threat to economic stability. Smaller developers have gone bankrupt, missed debt payments or warned they might default.
Total Chinese corporate, government and household debt has risen to about 300{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} of annual economic output from 270{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} in 2018, unusually high for a middle-income country.
Another developer, Kaisa Group Holdings Ltd., warned it might fail to pay off a $400 million bond due Tuesday. The company has yet to confirm news reports that it missed the payment, but Fitch Ratings on Thursday cut Kaisa’s credit rating to “restricted default” while it waited for confirmation.
The slowdown in real estate sales and construction caused by the debt campaign helped to depress China’s economic growth to an unexpectedly low 4.9{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} over a year earlier in the three months ending in September. Forecasters expect growth to decelerate further if the financing curbs stay in place.
Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
DAKOTA, ILL. — Berner Food & Beverage LLC, a private label and contract manufacturing supplier of food and beverage products, has unveiled a new leadership team, including a new chief operations officer, chief financial officer and director of procurement, sales and operations planning, Alternative Medicine.
Kelly Diamond has been promoted to COO. In her new role she will manage all functional areas of operations, supply chain and mechanical engineering. Ms. Diamond most recently was vice president of operations since August and earlier was director of operations. Before joining Berner in 2017, she spent nearly a decade at Dean Foods. She also brings experience from positions at Woodward, Inc. and Anderson Packaging Inc.
She received a bachelor’s degree in technical and scientific communication at Michigan Technical University and a master’s degree in business administration at Northern Illinois University.
David Dunavant has joined Berner as CFO. Mr. Dunavant has more than 15 years of experience as a CFO, most recently with Vital Records Control Companies. His tenure also includes Monogram Foods, LEDIC Management Group, Hilton Worldwide, Kellogg Co., and as a member of the United States Navy.
A certified public accountant, Mr. Dunavant received a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a master of business administration degree in finance, insurance and real estate, both from the University of Memphis.
Shelia Kolden has joined the company as director of procurement, sales and operations planning (S&OP). In her new role she will be managing multiple business segments, including buying and vendor relations, along with supply chain and operations. Prior to Berner she was procurement manager at Monogram Foods. She also has worked at Morpak Specialties, Woodgrain Millwork, Cooper Aircraft, and McKinney Aerospace Ltd.
Ms. Kolden received a bachelor of arts degree at Texas A&M University-Commerce.
“Kelly Diamond has proved time and again that she is an effective leader and an essential member of the Berner team,” said Kurt Seagrist, chief executive officer of Berner. “We cannot wait to see the impact she makes, guiding Berner forward as our new chief operations officer. We are also extremely excited that David Dunavant and Shelia Kolden have also joined our leadership team. They will bring new energy and further support our efforts, as our organization moves into the future as a leading supplier of food and beverage products for our customer and retail partners.”
In the era of Covid-19, many charitable organizations find themselves in a precarious financial position while experiencing unprecedented demand, and they could benefit greatly from the generosity of those in their community.
This may present an opportunity to instill the value of giving to others in your child. If you’re a parent, here are some ways you can encourage your kids to become budding philanthropists.
Talk about why you giveHelp your child understand the importance of giving to others in need. Talk early and often about why sharing your knowledge, abilities, possessions or wealth matters to you. Instilling a culture of giving in your family is a process—not a one-time event. Remember to embrace the joy of giving, doing your best not to make giving back feel like a homework assignment or chore.
Find causes your child cares aboutYour child is more likely to develop a habit of giving back when he or she is passionate about the cause. Start by brainstorming the possibilities of who your child can help, such as their classmates, animals, the homeless, or the environment. Then, encourage him or her to identify what talents to offer in service. Does he love to bake? Does she enjoy music or caring for animals? Next, help your child choose one or two charities whose missions reflect his or her interests. Involve older children in the search and vetting process, teaching them how to have confidence that a charity is doing its best to help the cause.
Give and volunteer togetherWhen your children see you volunteering your time, talent and treasure, they see your values at work. Find ways to involve your children in your own giving. Your children will learn first-hand how rewarding giving to others can feel, and you’ll have the bonus of creating family memories to cherish too.
Encourage disciplined savingKids need to learn how to manage their own money in order to become responsible givers as they grow older. When your children get an allowance, or otherwise receive money, they can practice making responsible choices. Introduce the idea of “save, share and spend” — setting aside a portion of their money for the future, a portion to help others and a portion for fun spending.
Create a family foundationConsider establishing a foundation to fund causes you care about. Formalizing your giving in this way creates ongoing opportunities for you and your children to make a lasting impact on the community. Talk to your financial advisor for advice regarding establishing a foundation and leaving a legacy of service to the next generation.
Holley Smaldone-Cragg, CMFC, is a Financial Advisor with Ameriprise Financial in Geneva. She specializes in fee-based financial planning and asset management strategies and has been in practice for over 35 years. Her website is ameripriseadvisors.com/holley.com.
