Declarations
Wakeup Call
“The Equifax breach was a wakeup call, and with this action, New York is raising the bar for consumer protections that we hope will be replicated across the nation.”
— New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who directed the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) to issue new a regulation making credit reporting agencies register with New York for the first time and comply with the state’s first-in-the-nation cybersecurity standard. This proposed regulation was in response to the recent Equifax cyberattack that exposed the personal private data of nearly 150 million consumers nationwide.
Ready to Investigate
“As our South Florida community recovers from Hurricane Irma, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida and our law enforcement partners stand ready to investigate and prosecute in federal court anyone who seeks to re-victimize, defraud or exploit the individuals and businesses in need.”
— Acting U.S. Attorney Benjamin G. Greenberg for the Southern District of Florida, one of four U.S. Attorneys in Florida and Puerto Rico who have formed a task force with the National Center for Disaster Fraud to monitor and combat any post-storm fraud activity.
He Knew Better But …
“I should have known better. … I did know better, but I agreed to take it.”
— Matt Sorensen, a former McLean County (Illinois) Board chairman and ex-internal consultant for State Farm Insurance Co., who was sentenced to 12 months and a day in federal prison for fraud. Sorensen pleaded guilty to defrauding Chicago consulting firm McKinsey and Co. of nearly $500,000. He was indicted in August 2015 on five counts of wire fraud in connection with his work for State Farm.
Camping Out in Houston
“My primary concerns were it’s Houston at the end of summer and we’re staying in tents. … It’s been a lot better than I expected.”
— Mike Davidson, a catastrophe manager for business insurance for Farmers Insurance. Farmers sent more than 400 catastrophe insurance responders to Texas to assist with Hurricane Harvey-related claims. About 80 of them have quartered at “Farmers Village,” a camp outside of Houston, where newcomers are greeted with maps of their air-conditioned cabanas, the food tavern, fishing area and putting greens.
Watch for Gas
“This strongly reinforces what we and community leaders have said repeatedly, which is that Aliso Canyon will never be safe and needs to be immediately closed.”
— Alexandra Nagy of Food & Water Watch, said it’s evident a shutdown of the largest gas storage facility in the West is required after it was announced that the facility stopped using a third of the wells pumping methane underground at high pressure just weeks after it resumed operations following a blowout that crippled it for nearly two years.