What’s News, Breaking: Friday, November 10, 2023

November 10, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

Share this:

INDONESIAN NATIONAL FACES 16 COUNTS
IN PONZI SCHEME TARGETING SE ASIANS,
ARRAIGNMENT SET FOR MONDAY

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — AN INDONESIAN NATIONAL HAS BEEN EXTRADITED FROM SINGAPORE TO FACE charges of running a Ponzi scheme targeting the Indonesian And Indo-American community. A 16-count indictment and 16-count superseding indictment were unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn on Friday, November 10, charging Indonesian national Francius Marganda with securities fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and related conspiracy counts for running a Ponzi scheme from May 2019 to May 2021 that targeted hundreds of victim investors residing in more than 12 states including New York and Indonesia.

Marganda was extradited to the Eastern District of New York from Singapore on Nov. 9 and will be arraigned on Monday, Nov. 13, 2023, before United States Chief Magistrate Judge Lois Bloom at Brooklyn federal court on Cadman Plaza East.

✰✰✰

FBI SEIZES MAYOR ADAMS’ MOBILE DEVICES
AS PART OF ELECTION CAMPAIGN PROBE

CITYWIDE—THE FBI, IN POSSESSION OF A SEARCH WARRANT, SEIZED MAYOR ERIC ADAMS’ PHONES AS PART OF A HEIGHTENED FEDERAL CORRUPTION INVESTIGATION into his 2021 mayoral campaign. The New York Times, which broke the story, and other major news outlets reported on Friday, Nov. 10 that the federal government is probing whether Adams’ campaign conspired with the Turkish government and others to funnel money into its coffers. According to news sources, FBI agents approached the mayor on the street, instructed his security detail to step away, entered his SUV with him, disclosed the search warrant, and took at least two cellphones and an iPad, which were returned to him within days. The FBI is authorized to make copies of the data found on these devices. The Daily News reported that the mayor cooperated with them.

The Times reported this as an “extraordinary development” in the investigation of Adams, a retired police captain who is known for his stringent “law and order” approach to government. Last week, authorities raided the home of Adams’ campaign manager as part of the investigation.

✰✰✰

STATE DOT CLOSES GOWANUS NB EXIT 20
FOR PAINT PROJECT THIS WEEKEND

SUNSET PARK — THE NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (NYSDOT) IS ADVISING MOTORISTS OF A RAMP CLOSURE THIS WEEKEND OFF THE GOWANUS EXPRESSWAY. Starting at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, the Exit 20 ramp from the northbound Gowanus Expressway (I-278) to 7th Avenue/67th Street in Sunset Park will be closed until 5 a.m. Monday, Nov. 13. This closure is needed to facilitate work on NYSDOT’s $32.6 million bridge painting project.

Motorists needing to access the northbound Gowanus Expressway during this closure should take Exit 18 (at Fort Hamilton Expressway) and follow the signed detour.

Gowanus NB Exit 20 Closed for Paint Project

✰✰✰

CHILDREN WILL MARCH IN BROOKLYN
TO URGE CEASEFIRE AND RELIEF IN GAZA

EASTERN PARKWAY — EXPRESSING GRIEF FOR THE CHILDREN IN GAZA WHO HAVE BEEN KILLED, left as orphans and who lack access to food and water, a group of children here in Brooklyn are set to lead their families in a rally and march on Sunday, November 12 to demand a ceasefire in Gaza. As part of a National Day of Action for Families for a Ceasefire, they will gather at the Brooklyn Museum and start with an “art build” and music. Afterward, they will march to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s home in Park Slope to demand an end to the bombing and occupation of Gaza and guarantee of human rights for all. They will also demand that no US funding be allocated for bombing the children of Palestine.

Non-governmental and humanitarian organizations report that almost 5,000 children have been killed in Israel’s bombing of Gaza, with many more wounded, orphaned, or suffering from lack of food, water, and medical care.

✰✰✰

POLICE SAY PLAYGROUND HATE CRIME VICTIMS
WERE TARGETED FOR BEING PALESTINIANS

FORT GREENE — EVEN WITH CONGRESS ADVOCATING FOR THEM, PALESTINIANS IN THE U.S. AND HERE IN BROOKLYN HAVE BEEN TARGETED IN HATE CRIMES since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack against Israel. Police told the Daily News (reported on Friday, Nov. 10) that a woman who had tossed hot coffee at a man and child in Fort Greene’s Edmonds Playground earlier in the week had called them “terrorists” and that the child’s father was wearing the black and white checkered keffiyeh, recognized internationally as the Palestinian scarf. The father took out his camera to record the incident, prompting the woman, whom police are still seeking, to flee the scene. Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny on Thursday told the Daily News that hate crimes in the city have spiked since the Oct. 7 Hamas strike in Israel, with 82 anti-Semitic incidents and six anti-ethnic incidents. Four of those six involve Palestinians or those whom the attackers assume to be Palestinian.

Most international authorities and historians recognize Jews, Arabs, as well as the Biblical-era Babylonians, Moabites, Assyrians and others as being Semitic (which is a language group). Palestinians—many of them Arab Christians and Arab Jews — do not monolithically support Hamas or terrorism.

✰✰✰

LAWMAKERS URGE
TEMPORARY PROTECTED STATUS
FOR PALESTINIANS IN THE U.S.

BROOKLYN AND NATIONWIDE — THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION NEEDS TO AUTHORIZE TEMPORARY PROTECTED STATUS (TPS) for Palestinians in the United States, says a group of Congressmembers, including Rep. Dan Goldman (D-10) of Brooklyn. The Temporary Protected Status and Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) for Palestinians in the United States designations would prevent Palestinian immigrants who are already in the United States from being sent to an active war zone in the Palestinian territories. The U.S. Department of State extended a Level 4 Travel Advisory for Gaza due to “terrorism, civil unrest and armed conflict” and a Level 3 Travel Advisory for the West Bank earlier this month for terrorism and civil unrest. Providing TPS and/or authorizing DED would protect Palestinians in the United States from being forced to return to these dangerous conditions, the lawmakers say.

Rep. Goldman, who with his family was in Israel during the October 7 Hamas attack, had to shelter in a stairwell. Joining him in the letter to Biden were Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), Congressmembers Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (IL-09).

✰✰✰

POLICE SEEK WOMAN SUSPECTED OF
HATE CRIME ATTACK IN
FORT GREENE PLAYGROUND

FORT GREENE — POLICE ARE SEARCHING FOR A WOMAN WHO ALLEGEDLY MADE ANTI-ISLAMIC STATEMENTS to a man in Edmonds Playground in Fort Greene and then threw a hot cup of coffee and her cell phone at him. The attack took place on Nov. 7 at about 12:30 p.m., and the victim was not injured, police said. The incident is being investigated by the NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force. The suspect is described as having a light complexion and small build. She was last seen wearing a black and white baseball hat, black sunglasses, gray scarf, black zip-up jacket, black fanny pack, black sweatpants, and white sneakers.

Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782), or visit https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/

WOMAN WHO ALLEGEDLY MADE ANTI-ISLAMIC STATEMENTS in Fort Greene. — Photo: NYPD

✰✰✰

FORMER NYS COMPTROLLER ALAN HEVESI DIES AT 83

QUEENS — FORMER NYS COMPTROLLER ALAN HEVESI, who helped reform the state’s nursing home industry and inaugurated the first investigations unit in the state comptroller’s office, has died at 83 after a “prolonged illness,” NY1 reported on Thursday. Hevesi, a Queens Democrat, served in the state Assembly and as New York state comptroller before resigning in 2006 when it came out that he had been using state employees to care for his sick wife. He later served time in prison over a “pay-to-play scheme” involving the New York State Pension Fund.

Hevesi and his wife, Carol, had three children, including former New York state Sen. Daniel Hevesi and current Assemblymember Andrew Hevesi.