FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—January 21, 2025
Contact: Jon Schneider, (631) 897-5439
j.schneider@mcbrideny.com

GARDEN CITY PARK WATER/FIRE DISTRICT FILES SUIT AGAINST FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF LONG ISLAND TO RECOVER $11M+ IN STOLEN FUNDS
Suit Details How Bank’s Negligence and Failure to Follow Established Procedures Allowed Cyber-Criminals to Steal $15M+ From District’s Accounts

Mineola, NY—Today the Garden City Park Water/Fire District (District) filed suit in New York State Supreme Court against First National Bank of Long Island for allowing the theft of more than $15 million in funds from the District’s accounts.  After the District was able to recover some funds with the help of law enforcement, there is currently approximately $11 million outstanding which is being sought through this action.

This lawsuit follows the District’s extensive efforts to recover the stolen funds, including working with federal and local law enforcement. Unfortunately, these efforts have not resulted in the recovery of the full amount of the District’s stolen funds.

“As the complaint outlines, First National Bank of Long Island’s failures allowed cybercriminals to steal more than $15 million from the District,” the Garden City Park Water/Fire District Commissioners said in a statement. “As fiscally responsible stewards, we are undertaking this legal action because the District should not suffer for the Bank’s failures and incompetence.  We will continue to do everything possible to fight for our residents and hold responsible parties accountable.  Because we are now in a legal process, we will refer all future comments to counsel.”

“What happened to the District is every bank customer’s nightmare,” lead attorney for the District in the litigation, Jon Ward, Co-Managing Member, Sahn Ward Braff Coschignano, said. “The District relied on their bank to protect the security and integrity of its deposits, and First National Bank of Long Island failed. Now, we are asking the Court to hold First National Bank of Long Island accountable for its failure.”

As the filing outlines, cybercriminals, impersonating District personnel, contacted First National Bank of Long Island and convinced the Bank to make a number of unauthorized changes to the District’s account settings, including allowing online international and domestic wire transfers, services never previously requested or used by the District. They also convinced the Bank to provide them with confidential login information, or the means to create such information, that then enabled them to access the District’s bank accounts to initiate wire transfers.

The next business day, the cybercriminals logged in to District’s banks accounts and initiated and authorized 15 wire transfers, totaling more than $15 million, including over $12 million sent to banks in China, within a span of just four hours. Despite numerous irregularities and red flags, including exceedances of the Bank’s own limits on wire transfers by a customer, the Bank processed each of the unauthorized transfers.

Upon discovering the fraudulent activity, the District immediately contacted the Bank and federal and local law enforcement authorities. As a result, over $4.4 million of the stolen funds were recovered. The District continues to work with law enforcement to track the remaining funds. In addition, the District has moved its banking relationship to a different banking institution.

The lawsuit lists eight causes of actions against the Bank requesting approximately $11 million plus interest in addition to attorney’s fees and punitive damages through the lawsuit.

In a note being sent to District residents today, the District outlined several important points:

— This theft has not impacted the District’s operating funds or in any way impeded the District’s work and ability to serve the community.
— At no time was personal information of District residents compromised.
— At this time, the District does not anticipate increases in the District’s tax rate or taxes as a direct result of the fraud.  The stolen funds were in an account for prospective capital projects.
— The District is also consulting with other Town, County and State agencies and representatives to keep them informed of the situation.

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The following letter has been mailed to all residents of the Garden City Park Water and Fire District.

Please Click Here to view the letter.

Please Click Here to view this notice.

Please Click Here to view the 2023 Annual Water Quality Report

CLICK HERE to view the annual financial report.

Please Click Here to view this notice.

To further enhance our water conservation efforts, The Garden City Park Water District is proud to present a smart irrigation controller rebate program. This program offers qualified consumers who currently have a conventional sprinkler system controller a one time account credit of up to $150 towards the purchase of a new WaterSense labeled smart controller.

Please click here to learn more about this rebate program and apply.

Smart911 Notification System

In our efforts to provide more reliable communications with Residents and Businesses in the Garden City Park Water District, we have implemented Rave Mobile Safety as our Emergency Notification service provider.

Rave Mobile Safety in its simplest form is a system that makes phone calls to specific people or areas in the event of an emergency or for sharing important information.

If you are not receiving these calls, please fill out the form below to add or update your contact information. You may also remove yourself from our lists.

The Garden City Park Water District has implemented a hydrant flushing program and plans to flush hydrants throughout the district over the next few weeks during the hours of 10pm and 12am.

Under this flushing program, fire hydrants are opened in order to remove sediment that may have collected within our water mains to ensure that we provide the residents of our district with the highest quality water. This program also allows us to test that our fire hydrants function properly and provide sufficient fire protection.

Hydrant flushing in your area may be responsible for temporary lower water pressure, discolored water and/or water collecting in the street where maintenance is being performed. Rusty or discolored water is a normal result of the flushing process and is not harmful to your health. If you experience discolored water it should only last for the day on which work is conducted. We recommend running the cold water from a faucet at the closest point to where your water service enters your home, discolored/rusty water typically clears within an hour.

Please click here to view the 2022 Annual Water Quality Report

Construction at Plant 8 has been progressing nicely. The newly installed AOP (Advanced Oxidation Process) and GAC (Granular Activated Carbon) Vessels are the newest cutting edge technology used to remove 1,4 Dioxane and PFOA/S. We anticipate Plant 8 being operational for the 2023 pumping season!

     

(11/23/2022)                                                           (2/9/2023)