The Allure Group – $48.4M Refi for Crown Heights Nursing Home

No Mr. Landau – No picture of you here!

Firm tied to Rivington House scandal scores $48M refi in Crown Heights

The Allure Group just landed a $48.4 million loan to refinance a Crown Heights nursing home.

Maryland-based Andrews Federal Credit Union provided a new loan of $13.4 million, which is being consolidated with $36 million in previous debt, records filed with the city’s Department of Finance on Thursday show. The remaining principal on the previous loan is $34.9 million.

Allure purchased the facility at 810 St. Marks Avenue — known as the Crown Heights Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation Center — in 2014 for $13 million.

Representatives for Allure declined to comment on the refinancing.

Allure, which is led by Joel Landau and specializes in nursing homes, was at the center of the Rivington House controversy. The company purchased 45 Rivington Street in 2015 for $28 million. After succeeding in getting a deed restriction on the property lifted, the company sold the nursing home to Slate Property Group for a $72 million profit. Last year, the city admitted that it didn’t have a legal case against Allure for flipping the property.

Earlier this month, Allure prevailed over a lawsuit filed by residents of CABS Nursing Home in Bedford-Stuyvesant. CABS filed a lawsuit against Allure last year, claiming the company forced out residents soon after buying the facility in 2015. The lawsuit was dismissed Oct. 4, though the nursing home has filed a notice of appeal.

See THE REAL DEAL.

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Another Effort to Sell a Nursing Home to Allure, Joel Landau and Their Partners: Profit Before Care – Please AG PROTECT OUR MOST VULNERABLE

Another Attempted Nursing Home Purchase by Allure – Whose Pockets Will be Lined and How can the Public Help?

The below-referenced case is being heard. The Greater Nursing Home owners are attempting to sell the facility to the Allure Group cast of characters: Joel Landau (not photo attached, of cours), and the Rubin(s). The AG is attempting to prevent the sale. It’s calendared for  8/15/17 per the alert below.

 

Oral arguments will be heard at that time. Frank Carone (disinterest? – NO) (partner of Brooklyn Democrat Boss Seddio and Mayor deBlasio’s L.I fundraiser) Howard Fensterman  – the lawyer attempting to facilitate the hand-over of yet another facility to predatory owners (you’ve seen his name before).

With all of the money that incestuously changes hands among this cast of characters it’s a wonder why they don’t just all share the same bank account and be done with it.

 

Being clear, it is yet another effort facilitated by the co-opted NY State DOH and its Public Health & Health Planning Council  (think Rivington House) to  sit back and lets these corporate takeovers happen. This cast of characters is a group of morally challenged individuals who make millions of dollars off the backs of elderly and infirmed patients.

Where is the San Francisco Bee when you need it? 

 

Index Number: 155305/2016
The following case which you have subscribed to in eTrack has been updated. Changes from the last update are shown in red and are annotated.

Court: New York Civil Supreme
Index Number: 155305/2016
Case Name: GREATER HARLEM NURSING vs. X
Case Type: E-Other Special Proceedings
Track: Standard
Upstate RJI Number: 
Disposition Date: 
Date NOI Due: 
NOI Filed: 
Calendar Number: 
RJI Filed: 06/28/2016
Jury Status: 
Justice Name: KOTLER, LYNN R.

Attorney/Firm for Plaintiff: 
ABRAMS FENSTERMAN FENSTERMAN/
3 DAKOTA DR, STE 300 
LAKE SUCCESS, NY 11042
Attorney Type: Attorney Of Record
Status: Active

Last Appearance:
Appearance Date: 07/12/2017 — Information updated
Appearance Time: 
On For: Supreme Trial — Information updated
Appearance Outcome: Remove Stay — Information updated
Justice: KOTLER, LYNN R. — Information updated
Part: STATUS CONFERENCE 8 — Information updated
Comments: 

Future Appearances: — Information updated
Appearance Date: 08/15/2017 — Information updated
Appearance Time: — Information updated
On For: Motion — Information updated
Appearance Outcome: — Information updated
Justice: KOTLER, LYNN R. — Information updated
Part: IAS MOTION 8EFM — Information updated
Comments: 10AM — Information updated
ORAL ARGUMENT — Information updated
Appearance Date: 08/15/2017 — Information updated
Appearance Time: — Information updated
On For: Motion — Information updated
Appearance Outcome: — Information updated
Justice: KOTLER, LYNN R. — Information updated
Part: IAS MOTION 8EFM — Information updated
Comments: 10AM — Information updated
ORAL ARGUMENT — Information updated

Older appearances may exist but are not shown.

Motions: Motion Number: 2
Date Filed: 07/26/2016
Filed By: PLAINT
Relief Sought: Leave To Intervene
Submit Date: — Information updated
Answer Demanded: No
Status: Open: 

Before Justice: KOTLER
Decision: 
Order Signed Date: 

Motion Number: 1
Date Filed: 
Filed By: 
Relief Sought: Other Reliefs
Submit Date: 
Answer Demanded: No
Status: Open: 

Before Justice: KOTLER
Decision: 
Order Signed Date: 

Scanned Decisions: None on file.

To access this case directly click here.
This is an automated e-mail. If you have questions about your case please contact the Court directly.

The Hopkins Center Nursing Home in Brooklyn – Your Dog Will Get Better Treatment in a Kennel

 

“The Nearby Kennel is a Far Better Place to Be Than Hudson Center”

 

Dear Readers: This week we received numerous Letters to the Editor from people who have family members in the Hopkins Center in Brooklyn, NY. There are allegations that patients are being held against their will. There are claims of fair hearings that are either not being held or are being held and then ignored. In one case, the Social Worker involved allegedly advised the family that the patient could not leave but the patient is, according to the family, well enough. The family alleges that the social workers hold patients for the purposes of continuing to collect medicaid and medicare benefits for treatments that are either unnecessary or not being performed and for medications that are not being distributed.

We take letters like these very seriously. It is our hope that someone reading this can look into the Hudson facility to investigate.

Landau and his ilk have not been given a star for excellence in the compassion and kindness department. They are experts in their capacity to manipulate the system with payoffs and financial interests. And, as we have stated many times, but for a threatened copyright litigation, we would post Joel Landau’s face for public consumption.

In the interest of protecting the elderly and most vulnerable in our society, we are reposting information from previous posts.

As to the letters we have received, they are not being posted because they contain medical information and records about patients. Subject to the authorization of the families involved, the records are available for law enforcement investigation.

LM 10-7-17

http://nursing-homes.healthgrove.com/l/9416/Hopkins-Center-For-Rehabilitation-And-Healthcare

Hopkins Center for Rehab: 

https://www.yelp.com/biz/hopkins-center-for-rehabilitation-and-healthcare-brooklyn-2

“Stay away from this place the director Eileen lies! They made my mother walk around with a hospital type looking gown; never dressed her up to sit in the dining room; left the bed wet  and walking around in her slippers nothing on her when she could’ve fell; no supervision !”

To sum it up…as long as there is a failure of moral imperative-as long as the anything goes ‘free market’ health care continues, there will be enabling of criminal behavior. There will be no questioning that something that goes on within the four walls of the nursing facilities is ‘legal.’ How could it not be when there is no guideline and rare enforcement that might curb the abuse on many levels.

If an operator, like Landau in New York must simply pay chump change penalties/settlements to ignorant or willfully complicit government officials – to continue their mismanagement, there will be no change.

The negligent Albany legislators who are kept in office by predatory real estate interests and in the pockets of nursing home lobby groups such as Leading Age, that are run by the same people profiting from the government negligence and moral blindness, our most vulnerable population at the end of their lives will continue to be preyed upon.

Brius Heathcare, Shlomo Rechnitz and Public Funds – Audit

http://www.times-standard.com/article/NJ/20170628/NEWS/170629883

State to audit nursing home company’s use of public funds

A state committee voted Wednesday to approve an audit of California’s largest nursing home owner, Brius Healthcare Services, and whether the company misused hundreds of millions of dollars in government health care funds to benefit its affiliated businesses.

North Coast Assemblyman Jim Wood (D-Healdsburg) is a member of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee that voted in favor of the audit Wednesday afternoon. He said the Los Angeles-based Brius Healthcare Services has a “very convoluted” system of nursing homes under limited partnerships and has connections with other businesses founded by Brius Healthcare’s CEO Shlomo Rechnitz.

“Brius controls one in 14 [nursing home] beds in California and it is a very convoluted network of limited partnerships and all sorts of other mechanisms out there,” Wood said to the Times-Standard. “Part of this audit is to see if they are all legitimate. … Our feeling is the way they’re doing this is to maximize profits. It’s not about providing high quality care for people.”

Brius’ spokesman Stefan Friedman wrote in a statement to the Times-Standard that Brius representatives were present at the committee hearing today and were in full support of the proposed audit.

“Not only will the audit results prove that Brius has abided by all applicable rules and regulations, it will also show that Brius went well above and beyond its duties and obligations to subsidize the care of California’s most vulnerable,” Friedman said.

Friedman also questioned McGuire’s and Wood’s information, which it states was provided by the National Union of Healthcare Workers. The union has been outspoken in its opposition to Brius Healthcare Services and created a website — briuswatch.org — to scrutinize the company and its CEO Shlomo Rechnitz.

“What is most disturbing though is that legislators McGuire and Wood would also glean their information from ‘newspapers’ and blogs, demonstrating their lack of understanding for the very program they oversee,” Friedman continued. “We urge the community and the media to follow the audit through to its findings.”

Brius Healthcare, which owns five of the six nursing homes in Humboldt County and over 80 nursing homes statewide, received over $500 million in reimbursement funds in 2015 from the MediCal and Medicare government health plan programs, which made up 80 percent of its profits, Wood said.

Wood and his North Coast legislative colleague Sen. Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg) said Brius paid out more than $67 million that year to businesses with similar or related ownership for the purchase of services, goods and supplies, and paid more than $46 million to companies established Rechnitz that serve as landlords for their nursing home facilities.

A letter from McGuire and Wood to the state audit committee from earlier this month states that there is evidence that Brius facilities paid inflated prices to some of these business, with some prices exceeding 200 percent of market averages.

The nursing home company has come under fire for alleged patient health care violations, which has led to state entities denying the company’s bids to acquire more nursing homes and has led to multiple wrongful death lawsuits to be filed in Humboldt County in recent months.

“This is absolutely unacceptable especially when the state and federal government is spending $500 million dollars to care for our state’s most vulnerable in Brius facilities,” McGuire said to the Times-Standard on Wednesday. “We need to hold this corporation accountable.”

Brius Healthcare has expressed dissatisfaction with the reimbursement rates it receives from the state for treating MediCal patients.

The company temporarily stopped accepting MediCal patients into its Humboldt County nursing homes in 2015 while it disputed reimbursement rates with the North Coast’s MediCal provider, Partnership HealthPlan of California. Partnership HeathPlan agreed to increase reimbursement rates to Brius and other long-term skilled nursing facilities.

In the latter half of 2016, Brius Healthcare used its plans to close of three Humboldt County nursing homes to pressure Partnership into providing higher reimbursement rates so as to prevent the closures. Brius Healthcare cited low staffing levels as their reasoning for the proposed closure.

“We are confident we can avoid these closures, but we need PHP to start paying its fair share and allow us to attract full-time staff to meet our patients’ needs,” Friedman told the Times-Standard in September.

Partnership declined to increase rates, prompting Brius to announce its intention to cancel its contract with Partnership. However, this announcement was shortly retracted after it became clear that the company would lose reimbursement funds. Brius announced in November that it would only be closing one nursing home — Pacific Rehabilitation and Wellness Center in Eureka — instead of three.

McGuire and Wood said the audit will likely be completed in 2018 and will be made public when it is given to the Legislature. McGuire and Wood said that the findings could result in legislation or, in the worst case scenario, criminal charges filed by the Attorney General’s Office.

To read the remainder of the article click here.

Shlomo Rechnitz Denied Change of Venue in Wrongful Death Suit

 

Judge Denies Skilled Nursing Defendants’ Change of Venue Bid

Judge Timothy Cissna denied skilled nursing magnate Shlomo Rechnitz’s request for a change of venue in a wrongful death and elder abuse lawsuit following a short hearing today, rejecting claims that he couldn’t get a fair trial in Humboldt County.

Cissna said the case should be tried locally because it involves a substantial personal injury that occurred in Humboldt County and a recently named defendant lives in the area.

The judge also dismissed arguments made in the change of venue motion that contended “negative news articles” would taint the local jury pool, saying there hadn’t been a showing of “undue prejudice.”

The civil case before the judge — one of three currently pending against Rechnitz and the skilled nursing facilities he owns in Humboldt County — alleges low staffing levels at Seaview Rehabilitation and Wellness Center contributed to the death of Ralph Sorensen. The 76 year old died in January of 2016 from complications related to an infected pressure ulcer.

Seaview, Rechnitz, Brius and administrative services company Rockport are named in the lawsuit. (Read more about the case here.)

After Cissna explained the reasoning for his tentative ruling, he offered attorneys each less than eight minutes to present any further points.

Rechnitz’s attorney James Yee, who appeared by phone, unsuccessfully argued that case law requires the venue be moved to Los Angeles County because that’s where most of the defendants live.

In court filings, the difficulty of traveling to Humboldt County and finding appropriate accommodations for Shlomo Rechnitz’s wife Tamar Rechnitz, who holds a share in the company, were also cited as reasons for the change of venue request.

Those issues were not brought up during the court hearing.

Yee also told the judge that the most recently named defendant was added to the lawsuit as a “doe” in “bad faith” because her name should have been readily attainable and asked Cissna to disregard her Humboldt County residency as a factor in his decision.

Attorney Timothy Needham, who represents Sorensen’s family, told Cissna that Yee was citing an archaic case law in his claims about the naming of the latest defendant, who is the administrator of Seaview.

“The arguments they’re making are over 100 years old and they are just wrong,” Needham said.

Cissna told the attorneys he was following through with his tentative ruling and denied the change of venue motion. The next hearing in the case is set for Sept. 5

To read article in the original format click here.

Healthcare Abuse and Neglect – NYS – A Whistle-blower’s Account, Video

Published on May 1, 2017

THE G-MAN INTERVIEWS: JACK HALPERN

Whistleblower Says Managed Long-Term Care and Home Health Agencies Have No Real Oversight in NYS, Warns the Elderly Will Continue to Be Abused or Die

**FAIR USE NOTICE**

These Videos May Contain Copyrighted (©) Material. The Use of Which Has Not Always Been Specifically Authorized by The Copyright Owner. Such Material is Made Available to Advance Understanding of Ecological, Political, Human Rights, Economic, Democracy, Scientific, Moral, Ethical, Social Justice Issues, Teaching, and Research. It is believed that this Constitutes a ”Fair Use” of Any Such Copyrighted Material as Provided For in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In Accordance With Title – 17 U.S.C. Section 107, This Material is Distributed Without PROFIT to Those Who Have Expressed a Prior General Interest in Receiving Similar Information For Research and Educational Purposes. For More Information: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode

Welcome.

Jack Halpern, who’s made two previous appearances on this show, is the CEO of the New York City-based “My Elder Advocate, LLC”, an organization provides advocacy services and helps seniors with issues such as eviction prevention, nursing home or assisted living placement and long term care planning.

Mr. Halpern, a 40-year veteran of the industry, joins me to explain why Managed Long-Term Care, also known as MLTCs, and home health care agencies in New York State have no real oversight, He will also explain why he believes thousands of seniors will continue to be abused or die as a result.

The interview was conducted on April 24, 2017.

Information pertaining to this episode is available through the following links:

My Elder Advocate, LLC.
http://myelderadvocate.com/

Home Health Care News
http://homehealthcarenews.com/

• Category

  • News & Politics

• License

  • Standard YouTube License

The Allure of Stealing Identities – Will the real Joel Landau of Rivington Please Take a Bow.

Dear Mr. Joel Landau (not Rabbi Landau):

At the risk of violating your attorney’s copyright claims, we did not use your picture. You might have wanted us to in this instance since it looks like your name is being used in multiple places. 

Dear Rabbi Landau (not Joel Landau of Rivington fame (notoriety):

Please submit a photo of yourself if you would like us to publish a clear and unequivocal distinction. We hope to be of some assistance in clearing this up for you. We did not even seek out a publicly available photograph since your identity appears to have been trampled on enough.

LM

https://therealdeal.com/2017/04/24/california-rabbi-says-hes-not-the-joel-landau-promoting-allure-group-online/

California rabbi says he’s not the Joel Landau promoting Allure Group online

Online posts use San Francisco man’s photo and bio to talk up shamed real estate firm

A California rabbi named Joel Landau says he has nothing to do with posts made online under that name promoting the Allure Group.

The San Francisco rabbi’s photo and biography were used to promote the Allure Group, run by a different Joel Landau, to promote the company online, the New York Daily News reported.

A post on the Times of Israel website, for example, talks about growth in the healthcare sector and points to Allure as a firm that “managed to position themselves as the best possible alternative for elderly patients, providing them with affordable quality care.”

The post then links to the website of Allure’s Landau, who played a key role in removing a deed restriction from the Lower East Side’s Rivington House before selling the property to Slate Property Group, China Vanke and Adam America Real Estate for $116 million.

The Landau based out of San Francisco said he had nothing to do with the posts.

“For some strange reason, someone is using me to blog,” the rabbi said. “Anyone who does a little bit of research on Allure sees that they’re embroiled in some less than savory things.”

“None of that is mine,” he added. “Absolutely, positively nothing. Zilch.”

Allure, which specializes in nursing homes, did not return a request for comment. In December, CABS Nursing Home filed a lawsuit against Allure, claiming the company forced out residents shortly after buying the property, and it ultimately led to the deaths of some of the facility’s residents.