New York Post
Editorial
May 19, 2012

The state Department of Health dropped the hammer on the Soundview Health Network last week ­ just days after a Brooklyn federal jury convicted its founder, ex-Sen. Pedro Espada Jr., of looting it to the tune of $500,000.

DOH ordered Soundview to turn over its operating certificate ­ the same day The Post revealed Soundview was paying Espada’s legal bills even as it was unable to meet payroll.

This is hardly a happy development for Soundview’s clientele. Yes, Albany was making other arrangements for them, but it can’t be an easy transition.

From a policy perspective, however, a shutdown should have happened a very long time ago.

New York Post
by Michael Banjamin
May 19, 2012

The conviction of disgraced former state Sen. Pedro Espada reminded me of the closing scene of “White Heat” ­ when James Cagney, standing atop a fiery tower, shouts, “Made it, Ma! Top of the world!”

In a warped sense, Espada had made it to the top, if only to set the state Senate afire. Few who knew him could applaud his pyrotechnic high-wire act.

Throughout his public career, Pedro Espada has been a charismatic, attention-grabbing narcissist. As the self-styled people’s champion in the largely minority borough of The Bronx, he once posed in red boxing gloves in one campaign. In another, he rode a white horse as though he were El Cid.

Now consumed by the flames of his criminality and hubris, Espada still insists he was railroaded by the political establishment for being a powerful minority legislator. In reality, he was a political extortionist, who brazenly put relatives and cronies on the Senate payroll, while he looted his health-care organization.

New York Post
by Kevin Sheehan and Carl Campanile
May 19, 2012

Convicted felon Pedro Espada’s medical empire has virtually no doctors or patients ­ but everything is just fine!

Alejandro Espada, Pedro’s son, claimed yesterday the Soundview Healthcare Network was still open for business even as his staff spent yesterday transferring patients and medical records to other health-care providers.

“Our doors have not closed,” he told reporters in front of the facility, which was down to six doctors and four nurses.

“It makes no sense,” he said of a state edict to shut down Soundview. “Senator Espada is no longer involved in Soundview’s operations, so the court case has no bearing.”

Nonprofit unable to pay doctors' medical malpractice premiums since March
New York Daily News
by Daniel Beekman and John Marzulli
May 18, 2012

Alejandro Espada, senior vice president of Soundview HealthCare, talks about the future of health care network in wake of his father Pedro Espada Jr.'s conviction.

Pedro Espada Jr.’s embattled Bronx health center slipped closer to the abyss as the state Health Department served formal notice Friday to start shutting it down.

Soundview, a nonprofit health network founded by Espada more than three decades ago, has been unable to pay its doctors’ medical malpractice premiums since March because of a severe financial crisis. More than 70 staffers were laid off recently.

New York Post
by Mitchel Maddux, Kate Kowsh and Dan Mangan
May 18, 2012

The state Department of Health yesterday moved to close financially crippled Soundview Healthcare Network ­ whose founder, Pedro Espada Jr., was convicted Monday of looting the Bronx nonprofit’s coffers of nearly $500,000.

“They are trying to shut us down,” said Rachel Fasciani, spokeswoman for Soundview, which serves thousands of poor South Bronx residents.

“They’re requesting we turn over our ... operating certificate,” Fasciani said, referring to a letter the Health Department sent to Soundview.

On Monday, a Brooklyn federal jury convicted Espada of looting the taxpayer-funded clinic to pay for lavish personal expenses such as lobster and champagne dinners, birthday parties, vacations and home improvements.

Just $ickening!
New York Post
by Mitchel Maddux, Erin Calabrese and Dan Mangan
May 17, 2012 12:35 am

His greed knows no bounds.

Not only did convicted ex-state Sen. Pedro Espada Jr., treat the Soundview Healthcare Network as his personal piggy bank ­ he also made the taxpayer-funded clinic pay for his defense team, The Post has learned.

The financially crippled Bronx medical charity that Espada founded ­ and from which he was convicted this week of stealing nearly $500,000 ­ has forked over an estimated $1 million to $1.5 million more to pay for the thieving pol’s lawyers, sources told The Post.

“Soundview has been paying for his criminal defense,” a source said of Espada’s fees for his lead defense lawyer, Susan Necheles, and her assistants.

The astounding double dip into Soundview’s coffers has left the once-vital health-care provider on the brink of closing, as it turns away poor patients in the South Bronx, unable to pay its malpractice insurance, staff salaries and other bills due to lack of funds.

Espada’s son Alejandro now heads the nonprofit.

The lapse left doctors at Pedro Espada's clinic exposed to huge risk
New York Daily News
by John Marzulli
May 16, 2012 2:00 am

Convicted crook Pedro Espada Jr.’s cash-strapped Bronx clinic didn’t pay for medical malpractice insurance for more than a month, keeping doctors in the dark as they continued to see patients, the Daily News has learned.

The doctors only got wind of their enormous financial risk on May 1, when St. Barnabas Hospital informed them that their patient admitting privileges had been cancelled due to lack of coverage, a source told the Daily News.

Espada was convicted Monday of stealing more than $450,000 in funds from Soundview for lobster dinner, beach getaways and spa treatments.

New York Times
by Winnue Hu
May 16, 2012

Federal prosecutors will try to recover nearly $500,000 that Pedro Espada Jr., a former Democratic state senator from the Bronx, was convicted this week of stealing from a nonprofit health care network, as they seek a retrial for Mr. Espada and his son, according to a person familiar with the case.

Mr. Espada, whom a federal jury found guilty on four counts of theft, will face a retrial on four other counts of theft, fraud and conspiracy on which the jury failed to agree after his six-week trial in United States District Court in Brooklyn.

His son, Pedro G. Espada, will be retried on all eight counts, the person said; the jury was unable to reach a verdict on any of the charges against him.

Federal prosecutors, who have not formally announced their decision, are expected to notify the federal court in Brooklyn about their plans by June 5. Previously, they said after the verdict that they were unsure if they would seek a retrial for the two men on the unresolved charges.

Wall Street Journal
by Amelia Harris and Tamer El-Ghobashy
May 15, 2012, 9:15 p.m. ET

Pedro Espada, Jr., the former state senator convicted Monday of stealing from the Bronx health clinic he founded, will be tried again on the four federal counts on which a jury couldn't agree, a person familiar with the matter said.

Federal prosecutors are expected to inform U.S. District Judge Frederic Block of their decision by June 5, the person said. A new trial date hasn't been set for Mr. Espada, 58 years old, a former Senate majority leader who faces up to 10 years in prison on each count.

Mr. Espada's son, Pedro Gautier Espada, will also face a new trial, the person said. The younger Mr. Espada's case was declared a mistrial Monday after jurors couldn't reach agreement on the same charges his father faced.

An attorney for the elder Mr. Espada, Susan Necheles, wouldn't comment Tuesday. "I haven't heard anything official," she said.

New York Post
by Andrea Peyser
May 15, 2012 6:37 am

In the blink of an eyelash, former state Sen. and miserable crook Pedro Espada Jr. was reduced from enjoying $60,000 worth of sushi and lobster feasts to subsisting on Meatloaf Surprise and communal showers.

My advice to Pedro: Don’t pick up the soap.

Yesterday, a Brooklyn federal jury nailed Espada to the wall, finding the formerly powerful state Senate majority leader guilty of four counts of theft, embezzlement and misapplication of federal funds.

SMILE WIPED OFF PEDRO'S FACE

In plain English, jurors saw that the greedy gourmand robbed the government-financed clinic that he controlled of some $480,000.