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New York Placed An $86 Million Order For Ventilators With An Engineer With No History In Medical Procurement
Hotair ^
| 05/08/2020
| John Sexton
Posted on 05/08/2020 12:17:24 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Back when Gov. Cuomo was expecting to need something like 30,000 ventilators, New York got a tip from FEMA about an Silicon Valley engineer who claimed he could procure thousands of ventilators from China. The person in question, Yaron Oren-Pines, had no history of procuring medical equipment from anywhere but the state was desperate so it agreed to this terms and signed an $86 million contract:
Interested buyers had to sign a contract within four hours of receiving a quote and pay the entirety of the order upfront. Nonnegotiable, the catalog said. And the engineer, Yaron Oren-Pines, had no apparent background in procuring medical equipment.
Federal officials passed on the vendors information to senior officials in New York and, within days, the state struck a deal to buy 1,450 ventilators from Mr. Oren-Pines for $86 million, one of the largest contracts for medical supplies since the outbreak
In a matter of days, a bank had frozen funds that the state had wired to Mr. Oren-Pines because it found a transaction from his account suspicious. State officials were then warned by Mr. Oren-Pines and his business partners of possible shipping complications and were told that the ventilators might have to be routed through Israel, where they said they had connections.
Before long, Mr. Oren-Pines and his partners began accusing the state of breach of contract. State officials later tried to send inspectors to confirm the stockpile in China; that effort was unsuccessful, and the contract was terminated.
The story from New York officials is that the contract was terminated because by that point they realized they wouldnt need nearly as many ventilators as they had expected. But the NY Times reports that the pandemic, may have clouded a decision that placed millions of taxpayer dollars at risk.
Just over a week ago, Buzzfeed reported that Oren-Pines got the contract after tweeting to President Trump that he could deliver ventilators:
But the Times reports that the deal was moving along before the tweet:
The tweet by Mr. Oren-Pines was reported last week in a BuzzFeed News article that suggested that the Twitter post to the president may have been connected to the New York State contract. Mr. Oren-Pines, however, had been in touch with federal officials days before he posted his sales pitch on Twitter.
There is a federal connection though. The tip to New York about Oren-Pines offer came from FEMA volunteers, a group put together by Jared Kushner. New Jersey received the same referral but thought that Oren-Pines non-negotiable up-front payments seemed a little sketchy, so they never placed an order.
Before Oren-Pines bank froze his funds he managed to remove $10 million of the total money the state had given him. After the state realized it couldnt verify the existence of any of the ventilators Oren-Pines claimed were available, they took back $59 million they had paid him (the frozen funds). The remaining $10 million is apparently part of ongoing negotiations.
Oren-Pines refused to speak with the NY Times but his lawyer told them, They worked tirelessly to begin delivery of the promised ventilators and they would have fulfilled the terms of the contract if the state hadnt abruptly canceled it before they were able to deliver the first set of 150 ventilators.
TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; US: New York
KEYWORDS: covid19; newyork; procurement; ventilators
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To: SeekAndFind
More of the media’s favourite Democrat governor in action, eh?
2
posted on
05/08/2020 12:19:32 PM PDT
by
OttawaFreeper
("The Gardens was founded by men-sportsmen-who fought for their country" Conn Smythe, 1966)
To: SeekAndFind
Did he have a history on money procurement?
To: SeekAndFind
Let’s see:
$86 MILLION NON-Negotiable....
EACH one costs $50,310 EACH!!!
Ventilators coming from CHINA.....!!!
How many things are wrong about all of this???
To: SeekAndFind
5
posted on
05/08/2020 12:23:49 PM PDT
by
bert
( (KE. NP. N.C. +12) Progressives are existential American enemies)
To: SeekAndFind
Heard there is a movie coming. Looking forward to the scene where De Niro orders the $80 million in ventilators from a scammer.
To: SeekAndFind
probably connected in some way....that kind of money only goes to the favored....
7
posted on
05/08/2020 12:26:32 PM PDT
by
cherry
To: ridesthemiles
How many things are wrong about all of this???
_____________________________
It doesn’t matter! They are Democrats! It is the intent that matters not the results.
Everything the Democrats touch turns to s**t. They are just haters and liars.
PS and stupid.
8
posted on
05/08/2020 12:26:57 PM PDT
by
dirtymac
(Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.(DT4POTUS))
To: SeekAndFind
As a general comment, after 9-11, all states should have put together think tank-like consultants to think through any number of possibilities of what could happen, what the national security implications were/are, and what needed to be in place to deal with any contingencies. This would have included stockpiles of equipment in the context of chemical or biological attacks. If it was mandated that all such stockpiles of equipment must be made in America, this would generate commerce and jobs - in addition to fulfilling national security needs.
One of the takeaways from this pandemic is that terrorists (or governments) can cripple an economy by a group of well placed infected people. Covid essentially took out an aircraft carrier, and it's not the most potent of pathogens. There is so much hate in the world (including from within our own borders), AND, so many governments and people clamoring for power, such that anything is possible. It's a dangerous world.
To: SeekAndFind
Mr. Oren-Pines must have a cousin-uncle-aunt etc etc somewhere high up in New York. That is how these contracts are given out.
10
posted on
05/08/2020 12:37:23 PM PDT
by
certrtwngnut
(4- Do something,,,,even if it's wrong.)
To: dirtymac
“Everything the Democrats touch turns to s**t.”
We have way too many anti-American Americans. There are still people defending the Rosenbergs. Still people who think Marx was a genius. Still people who think it's totally justifiable to subvert our government as long as it leads to socialism.
To: SeekAndFind
God all of your lives must be as boring as mine to focus on a city and state you don’t live in :-)
12
posted on
05/08/2020 12:49:30 PM PDT
by
dp0622
(Radicals, racists dloont point fingers at me I'm a small town white boy Just tryin to make ends meet)
To: ridesthemiles
“EACH one costs $50,310 EACH!!!”
Given the history of China’s reliability of their medical equipment they probably cost $100,000 apiece.
To: SeekAndFind
I found the NYT article that HotAir refers to.... I was actually surprised that 10% of the commenters (there were about 130 comments at the time I read it) correctly placed blame on Cuomo & Co. for screwing this up. Nearly all the others were some form of Trump/Kushner bashing based on the idea that FEMA “vetted” these folks so it was somehow OK. Nearly all of them ignored that both FEMA/The Feds *and* NJ took a look at the terms offered and declined to do business with them.
So at the end of the day Cuomo was negligent, but somehow that’s the President’s fault. It’s no wonder that they blindly voted for him three times (I’m happy to say that I’ve never voted for Cuomo).
14
posted on
05/08/2020 1:12:25 PM PDT
by
mjustice
(Apparently common sense isn't so common.)
To: SeekAndFind
Check to see if anyone of Governor Cuomo’s family members, friends, or big donors have ties to this guy. It’s a regular game that Cuomo plays with taxpayer money. Invest in projects that go bust, but the money that was invested goes into the pockets of close friends, and donors.
15
posted on
05/08/2020 1:14:05 PM PDT
by
mass55th
("Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway." ~~ John Wayne)
To: SeekAndFind
How much did Oren-Pines contribute to the Democrat party?
16
posted on
05/08/2020 1:14:12 PM PDT
by
reg45
(Barack 0bama: Gone but not forgiven.)
To: SeekAndFind
Democrats are masters at creating pools of taxpayer monies in order for them and their cronies to loot via kickbacks. That’s exactly how the democrat politicians become millionaires while holding public office. Obviously State democrat politicians are no different than those in DC. This incident with Cuomo as an example as well as Gov. Newsom who just sent $1 billion to a Chinese car company in China for it to manufacture face masks. Newsom refuses to give any information on that deal he made with China.
To: SeekAndFind
Cuomo trying to cover his tracks
To: proxy_user
Gift card from Uncle Sam....
That Grinch Trump may spoil the party. /humor
19
posted on
05/08/2020 1:44:50 PM PDT
by
ptsal
To: SeekAndFind
Well, then, the more responsible states should bail out NY, right?
20
posted on
05/08/2020 2:19:28 PM PDT
by
Rocky
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