New Year, Sorta Same Old Shit
Potential fraud, Sun Ra, and a podcast about grief! A full spectrum here. #28
I started the new year off with a story I’d been working on for a few weeks. If the story seems familiar, that’s because the “friends of Mayor Eric Adams involved in seemingly suspect scenarios” storyline has been frequent since he was sworn into office last year in Times Square.
In this case, it involves a medical-billing investment scheme that didn’t yield the type of investments some investors wanted. The players include Daniel Kandhorov, who said he’s good friends with the mayor and who is being sued by an LLC run by Howard Fensterman, of the powerful law firm Abrams Fensterman. Fensterman said he lost money on the deal (more here.)
It also involves the Petrosyants brothers, although their lawyer told me they denied any involvement in the company that up until a few months ago ran their restaurants. Life moves fast, I guess.
A few more end-of-year stories
I also had a sit-down with Mayor Adams before the new year. [THE CITY]
Team Adams also keeps growing (w/ Yoav Gonen) [THE CITY]
Federal legislators are getting involved to help people get their stolen SNAP and other benefits restored [THE CITY]
LISTEN
The New York Times asked musicians to share their favorite Sun Ra songs. [NYT]
I’m late to Anderson Cooper’s podcast about grief, but it is phenomenal. I recommend his interview with Laurie Anderson, but they’re all great. [CNN]
Her interview was a good chance for me to re-read her tribute to her husband Lou Reed, published in Rolling Stone soon after he died. But I often return to this essay because I found her description of their relationship and his death to be so beautiful.
And finally: One note about 2023
I’ve been a sporadic new year’s day dipper for the last 15 years or so (I don’t go if I don’t feel like it, or if it’s too cold, because why suffer?) But I went in TWICE this year, mainly because it was so warm out. I found it so exhilarating. The goal of jumping into the Atlantic Ocean in New York City on Jan. 1 is to cleanse yourself, to set yourself up for a wonderful year, to set yourself up for the best year of your life. It doesn’t always work; I dipped Jan. 1, 2020, and we all saw what happened next. But the day left me feeling so happy and invigorated — seeing friends, enjoying a beach bonfire, eating great food — and I hope that feeling remains through the rest of the year. I hope I can continue to be bold and have fun and enjoy everything around me, like I did for 60 seconds in the ocean. I hope you all will, too.
Thanks for reading!