Oyster Bay OKs $275G contract for firm to monitor bond disclosures 

A court-appointed monitor will review Oyster Bay’s bond disclosures under a contract the Town Board approved Tuesday as part of its settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The board approved a three-year contract with Washington, D.C.-based Ankura Consulting Group LLC for up to $275,000. Under the deal, the town has agreed to “provide Ankura with access to its files, books, records, and personnel as reasonably requested.”

“Our intent is to give them full access, to do it properly, to meet the court’s demands,” Town Supervisor Joseph Saladino said following Tuesday’s meeting.

The SEC charged Oyster Bay and former Town Supervisor John Venditto with securities fraud in 2017 for initially failing to disclose loan guarantees and then making “materially misleading” statements about them. The loan guarantees were at the heart of the federal corruption trials against Venditto, former Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano and his wife, Linda.

Venditto was acquitted in the federal criminal trial but still faces the SEC suit. Last year, Oyster Bay settled the SEC suit, but Venditto — who was acquitted in the federal criminal trial — still faces the SEC suit.

Saladino said Tuesday that since he took over in 2017, the town’s bond disclosure’s have been “full, legal and above reproach.”

U.S. District Judge Joan M. Azrack on Jan. 27 ordered the town to hire Ankura senior managing director Marc-Philip Ferzan as disclosure monitor. Ankura was one of three candidates submitted to the judge in October by the town’s outside attorney. Ferzan will lead a team monitoring the town’s dislcosures.

Under the settlement with the SEC, the appointment of Ankura sets a 120-day deadline for the company to issue a report recommending improvements to the town’s bond disclosures. The town board can then adopt those recommendations or attempt to negotiate potential alternatives, according to the settlement.

Ferzan is a former federal prosecutor who served in the U.S. Attorney’s office in New Jersey and served as senior counsel with the SEC’s division of enforcement, according to the court submission to Azrack.

Ferzan declined to comment on his appointment.

The town board on Tuesday also approved paying Venditto’s legal fees, $35,045, in his ongoing SEC case. The town is legally obligated to pay those fees. Venditto’s attorney, Marc Agnifilo of Manhattan-based Brafman and Associates PC, wrote in an email Tuesday that they are in dialogue with the SEC “but there is no clear resolution just yet.”