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New York State Attorney General Letitia James is in charge of the health of about half a dozen guardianship organizations and hundreds of elderly and frail New Yorkers deemed unable to care for themselves, according to people familiar with the matter. The government is investigating how the government is managing its financial issues.
The investigation, conducted by attorneys in the firm’s Charities Bureau, follows a year-long series by ProPublica that found some guardians ignored the vulnerable clients entrusted to their care and others It revealed how guardians took advantage of their court-appointed positions to obtain benefits for their wards. cost.
Judges often rely on guardianship companies to care for so-called “indigent people,” people who don’t have friends or family to care for them. However, supervision of these parents is inadequate, and staff rarely visit the wards to check on their care. Courts that appoint guardians, on the other hand, rely primarily on financial documents to determine a person’s well-being. News outlets have found that this dynamic results in fraud, abuse, and neglect of the nation’s most vulnerable people.
One of the people familiar with the state probe said the groups being scrutinized by law enforcement include the New York Guardianship Service, which was featured in the ProPublica piece, and that other law enforcement agencies are scrutinizing the organization. Similarly, he spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive law enforcement activities.
ProPublica revealed that NYGS was unable to meet the needs of more than a dozen people entrusted to its care, including an elderly woman who was placed in a dilapidated home with rats, bed bugs and lack of heat. NYGS collected $450 a month in compensation from the woman’s limited income, saying in a court report that her living conditions were “adequate.” This was despite company records and her own emails showing that the woman had repeatedly complained about the conditions.
After ProPublica’s first article was published, a judge wrote that the company had provided “minimal, if any, services” during that time and awarded NYGS $5,400, which was about a year’s worth of fees. ordered repayment.
In another example, ProPublica reported that the company collected monthly fees from an elderly man after he left the country and even after his death.
Highlights of this series
Company executives have declined to answer questions about specific customers, but previously told ProPublica that NYGS is accountable to the courts and that its work is done by examiners with the power to raise any issues. He said it was being scrutinized.
But ProPublica’s investigation found that there are too few examiners in the system to provide timely and thorough oversight. According to the latest court data, there are only 157 examiners responsible for reviewing reports in New York City’s 17,411 wards. And there are about 12 judges to check their work. As a result, ProPublica found that annual assessments detailing district finances and care can take years to complete, depriving judges of vital information about residents’ well-being. I discovered it.
Courts have similarly taken a lenient approach to vetting guardianship providers. ProPublica found that NYGS had not registered as a nonprofit organization with state and federal authorities, despite calling itself one.
The attorney general’s investigation is not the attorney general’s first foray into the world of guardianship. Ten years ago, the department investigated a nonprofit guardianship organization called Integral Guardianship Services, and ultimately found that the organization had accused its executives of several hours while wards were unnecessarily placed in nursing homes, according to court records. It was discovered that he had improperly loaned $100,000. To resolve the lawsuit, Integral agreed to various reforms, repaid loans, and hired management consultants Harvard Business School Club in New York to review its systems, operations, and finances.
Still, Integral closed just a few years later, leaving hundreds of wards stranded and the cases absorbed by other nonprofits and private attorneys. That included NYGS, which was founded in part by Sam Blau, Integral’s former legal compliance director, but was not named in the attorney general’s lawsuit. Other Integral employees also remained in the guardianship business, starting their own groups or serving as court-appointed trustees, according to court and tax records.
Some of those successor companies are currently among those being investigated by state investigators, according to a person familiar with the attorney general’s investigation.
NYGS executives Sam and David Blau did not respond to emails seeking comment. So did the attorney general’s office.
News of the attorney general’s investigation comes as court administrators and Albany state lawmakers face increasing pressure to fix the guardianship system. Court officials say they need more funding to address the problem, and last fall announced the appointment of a dedicated special prosecutor and a statewide coordinating judge to oversee the reforms.
Advocacy groups are conducting their own lobbying efforts, urging Gov. Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders to support a statewide network of nonprofits experienced in handling government contracts that serve underprivileged populations. pressure to contribute $15 million a year to the Another proposal, submitted by the state court system’s advisory committee, advocates creating a $72 million, independent, statewide agency to serve as a public guardian.
Court appoints special prosecutor to oversee New York’s troubled guardianship reform
It is unclear what Hochul, a Democrat, foresees regarding the guardianship system ahead of the upcoming Congress. She plans to submit an executive budget later this month. Last year’s $229 billion spending plan included just $1 million to fund a statewide guardianship hotline. A spokesperson for his office did not respond to questions about his financial plans or comment on the AG’s investigation.
Guillermo Quiuhan, a former NYGS ward lawyer who has since passed away, said he was heartened to hear the company might have to answer for what he described as blatant theft. He is asking NYGS to reimburse Ward’s heirs for the thousands of dollars the company received in compensation while his family cared for him in Columbia. So far, those efforts have been unsuccessful. The Blouses did not respond to questions about Qiuhan’s claims.
“We’re very frustrated,” he said in an interview. “We hope this is an opportunity to get the authorities involved and prevent more people from having the same problem.”
