Latest news with #NewHaven-based
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Yahoo
Woman detained by ICE in CT city, two young children allegedly left terrified in car
New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker confirmed Wednesday that the New Haven Police Department was told that a woman from the Hill neighborhood of the city was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Elicker said they are trying to confirm that the woman was with her two children, ages 13 and 8, when the arrest by ICE occurred. 'If that is true…that is deplorable and inhumane,' Elicker said. Elicker said he has two children about those ages, who would 'lose their minds' if they saw their mother arrested in such a way. It would be 'beyond the pale,' he said. He said he was told she was getting the kids ready to go to school when the arrest occurred. Further, Elicker said, ICE did not inform the city or the Police Department that the arrest would take place, which 'creates a danger' for her, police and ICE, because the arrest could be seen as an abduction by those who did not know what was occurring. 'It puts our officers and ICE at risk,' he said. Elicker, who did not name the woman, said she had been charged in March with third-degree assault following a conflict in which she and another person suffered minor injuries. He said the case remains pending. John Lugo, an organizer with New Haven-based Unidad Latina en Accion, said the woman was taken around 8:15 a.m. on Monday morning with her two children in her car. 'The woman was taken and detained and her two traumatized children remained in the car,' Lugo said. Lugo said one of the children is autistic and keeps asking for his mother. 'He wants his mom but there is no mom. Mom is sitting in jail,' Lugo said. Lugo said both children are staying with a grandmother in the state. The grandmother is visiting from Mexico but the length of her stay in the U.S. is unclear, so Lugo and his organization are worried about the future of the children once she goes back to Mexico. CT high school's joy in graduation dimmed by classmate taken by ICE. Town hopes to get him back. Lugo said the best way the public can help is money for legal representation. He said the detained woman does not have a lawyer at this time and that all other state detainees end up in Texas. He's waiting to see if she ends up transferred to Texas, which he said would only add to the financial burden. 'That's one way to punish migrants when you have to transfer someone so far away. Being in Texas adds an additional cost. Now they need a lawyer to travel there because sometimes they aren't allowed to have video conferences,' Lugo said. Lugo said since last week there have been more people being detained without any history of felonies. 'The perfect example was the Southington car wash incident,' Lugo said. 'They were just profiled. They drove by and saw a bunch of migrants and decided to stop and detained them. That happened the same day as what happened to the women in New Haven.' 'In Southington, they just detained four people because they looked like migrants. They weren't looking for a particular person. I think it's very troubling and the hard part is seeing the kids crying and being traumatized,' he added. 'Due process is not there anymore.' The reason for the Southington arrest has not been confirmed by authorities. Lugo said since the start of President Donald Trump's second term, people in his community are scared. 'They are trying to figure out what to do. Many are thinking about going back to their country because this is not a safe place anymore,' Lugo said. 'It's not just the government. We see other kids at school threatening to call ICE on classmates and parents. We see landlords taking advantage. They are raising the rent and are getting them evicted. The first threat by many is: if you don't move, 'I will call ICE.'' 'I have two cases in which New Haven restaurant bosses that have told workers if you don't stop complaining about wages or raises, I'm going to call immigration on you guys. It's not just the government. This is empowering people to hate people and hate us.' Lugo said he fears that ICE is expanding and that he knows of an office that has opened in New Haven. 'We think eventually they are going to hit us hard in Connecticut just because they want to punish the state because the state has taken a stance on behalf of the migrant community,' Lugo said. The Southington and New Haven detainments by ICE are all on the heels of a Meriden high school student and his father being detained last week.
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Two people rescued from small plane crash in Long Island Sound
June 1 (UPI) -- Crews rescued two people aboard a small plane that crashed into Long Island Sound Sunday near a Connecticut airport, according to the FAA and U.S. Coast Guard. The Piper PA-32 plane went down about 10:30 a.m. south of the Tweed New Haven Airport in New Haven, a statement from the FAA said. "The two persons onboard the aircraft were rescued and in stable condition," the Coast Guard said in a statement, according to ABC News. The Coast Guard dispatched a 45-foot New Haven-based rescue boat to the scene after the Sector Long Island Sound Command Center received notification of the incident from the air traffic control tower that the plane had gone down near the Thimble Islands close to Branford, Ct. The rescued passengers were taken to the Stony Creek Pier in Branford, the Coast Guard said. The FAA is investigating the incident.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Owner of multiple CT businesses admits to defrauding COVID relief program out of over $2.3M
A Woodbridge man has pleaded guilty to federal charges in connection with a scheme to defraud a COVID-19 pandemic relief program out of more than $2.3 million. Yasir G. Hamed, 60, waived his right to be indicted and pleaded guilty during a hearing last Friday in federal court in Bridgeport, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut. He pleaded guilty to bank fraud and engaging in illegal monetary transactions. The charges expose Hamed to a combined 40 years in prison. Sentencing has been scheduled for Aug. 8. According to federal officials, the fraud occurred between June 2020 and September 2021 when Hamed submitted fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan applications on behalf of multiple companies with which he had an affiliation. Authorities said the fraud involved overstating employee numbers and average monthly payroll, and making other phony representations. As part of the applications, he submitted false tax filings that had never been filed with the IRS, according to officials. Hamed had an ownership interest or representative relationship with several New Haven-based businesses including Access Consulting and Professional Services Inc., Connecticut Medical Transportation Inc., Arabic Language Learning Program Inc., Institute for Global Educational Exchange Inc., Access Medical Transport Inc., Ikea Car & Limo Inc., Center of the World Tours, North America LLC and Sudanese American Friendship Association Inc., officials said. Hamed, an accountant, also reportedly submitted PPP loan applications on behalf of companies owned by his clients. In at least one instance, officials said Hamed convinced the owner of a business that was not active and had no employees to seek PPP funding. Hamed prepared the paperwork for the application and then took a 'significant portion' of the loan proceeds, authorities said. According to federal authorities, Hamed obtained more than $2.3 million in PPP loans for his businesses and for his clients. His cut reportedly totaled more than $1 million 'for himself and his family, and significant kickbacks from his clients,' the U.S. Attorney's Office wrote in a statement. Hamed reportedly used the money for personal expenses, including education expenses for a family member, and for a down payment on an $880,000 house in Woodbridge that he purchased in October 2020. As part of the plea deal, he agreed to pay a little more than $2.3 million in restitution. Hamed was arrested in November 2024 and is free on a $500,000 bond while he awaits sentencing.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Woodbridge man pleads guilty to COVID fraud scheme
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (WTNH) — A Woodbridge man last week pleaded guilty to offenses connected to a scheme to defraud a COVID-19 pandemic relief program of more than $2.3 million, according to the office of Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut Marc Silverman. Yasir Hamed, 60, waived his right to be indicted on May 9 in front of a judge in Bridgeport. He pleaded guilty to bank fraud and engaging in illegal monetary transactions. Woodbridge Animal Control searching for information on abandoned dogs He faces up to 30 years in prison for the first charge and 10 years for the second. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 8. Information from court shows as an accountant, Hamed had an ownership interest or representative relationship with several New Haven-based businesses. From June 2020 to September 2021, he's accused of submitting false PPP loan applications on behalf of the companies, overstating employee numbers and average monthly payroll, and making other fraudulent representations. Throughout the scheme, Silverman's office says Hamed gained $2.3 million in PPP loans for his businesses and his clients. He used some of the funds for personal expenses, including education expenses for a family member and a down payment on a $880,000 house in Woodbridge he bought in 2020. According to Silverman's office, Hamed agreed to pay $2,384,772 in restitution. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Forbes
04-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
How Two Yale Juniors Just Raised $3.1 Million For Their Social Network
Series founders Nathaneo Johnson and Sean Hargrow New Haven-based start-up Series is a social network founded by two students at one of the US's most prestigious colleges. But if that makes you think of another well-known social network launched in similar fashion some 20 years ago, co-founders Nathaneo Johnson and Sean Hargrow are keen to put you right. This isn't another Facebook. 'Series tells a new story of how people connect online,' Johnson explains. Investors like the sound of that. Series in its current form is just a few months old but is today announcing that is has raised $3.1 million of pre-seed funding to turn its founders' vision into reality. That investment came in over the space of just two weeks after a trailer that Johnson posted on another social network, LinkedIn, went viral, attracting interest from venture capital funds and business angel. Johnson and Hargrow are both juniors at Yale, where both joined the university's society for would-be entrepreneurs. 'One thing we quickly realised from meeting successful entrepreneurs and business founders was that they had engineered their own luck,' Johnson says. 'They didn't just trust that fate would connect them to the people they needed to meet.' That prompted the duo to think again about the social networks that have come to dominate our lives. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and others have attracted huge user numbers but still rely on what Hargrow describes as a 'spray and pray' approach. 'As a user, you're putting your content out there to everyone who follows you and hoping that someone will take notice,' he says. 'The narrative is that online metrics such as likes, followers and reposts equate to real-life value.' Series takes a different approach. Users joining the network are able to make requests for support from other network users – perhaps they're entrepreneurs writing a business plan, say, and looking for someone to help, or app developers in need of a coder. The request is made to an artificial intelligence-powered agent – Series calls the agent your 'AI friend' – which then scours the network to introduce the user to other members who might be able to help. 'Your AI friend makes warm introductions,' explains Johnson. 'It matches you with people who have effectively invited you into their lives by joining Series.' The most relevant person might not even be a Series user, he adds – your AI friend might introduce you to another member of Series, but they could end up recommending someone outside of the network. The idea is to make connections between people offering mutual value – rather than building a network where users strive to attract as many followers or positive affirmations of their content as possible. The concept developed out of a podcast series that Johnson and Hargrow developed, featuring interviews with Yale entrepreneurs. They subsequently launched a web-based chatbot to facilitate curated introductions. Series, launched earlier this year, builds on that. In the first instance, the founders see the network targeting specific communities, consisting of members who are well-placed and disposed to help one another. Series is starting by targeting student entrepreneurs, who will use the platform to reach out to each other and to relevant supporters and advisers. Over time, the founders see potential to target segments such as dating, education and health. 'Our long-term vision is to become the go-to operating system for warm intros across life, not just work,' Johnson adds. The company's new found financial firepower will help move Series forward, funding new hires at the business as well as a nationwide tour of universities aimed at drumming up more student entrepreneur members across the US. There is also the potential to monetise the business through premium memberships, perhaps for corporate members. Today's $3.1 million round is led by Parable, the venture firm led by former a16z investor Anne Lee Skates, with participation from Pear VC, 47th Street, Radicle Impact and Uncommon Projects. Series has also attracted business angel investment, including from Steve Huffman, the CEO of Redditt, and Edward Tian, a founder at GPTZero.
