Weekend Economists Mark D Day, 2014 June 6-8, 2014 [View all]

[Demeter]

Living as I do in a city hosting a major University, I revel in the United Nations aspect of everyday life.

White bread is competing with falafel and pierogi and roti and soba and every other staple known the world over. Our condo community is probably 50% immigrant (we are forbidden by Fair Housing to find out), most of that Asian: India, China, Korea...

This can lead to complications. We really ought to be putting our newsletter out in Mandarin and Hindi versions, so that more residents can feel empowered and able to participate in our little democracy. I had hoped that having diversity on the board (which we do) would encourage more participation by the Asian members....but this takes time. We are too over-stretched just trying to keep the place running to do much in the way of accommodation and assimilation. We need more volunteers! But where to get them....but from this untouched community sector.

Here's the story of one immigrant making a big splash in NYC. (If you can make it there....):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preet_Bharara

Preetinder Singh "Preet" Bharara (born 1968) is an Indian American attorney and the current U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. In 2012, Bharara was named by Time magazine as one of "The 100 Most Influential People in the World," and by India Abroad as its 2011 Person of the Year. Bharara was also featured on a cover of Time Magazine entitled "This Man is Busting Wall Street" for his office's prosecutions of insider trading and other financial fraud on Wall Street. His office has prosecuted several international terrorists, and secured life sentences for many high profile ones like Faisal Shazad, the Times Square Bomber. He has also charged several former and current elected officials in corruption cases, acted against organized crime, and overseen some of the most cutting-edge cybercrime prosecutions in the country. Bharara was included in Bloomberg Markets Magazine’s 2012 “50 Most Influential” list as well as Vanity Fair’s 2012 and 2013 annual “New Establishment” lists. His brother, Vinit Bharara, is the entrepreneur who co-founded Diapers.com, a subsidiary of Amazon.com.

He came to the spotlight again with the prosecution of an Indian diplomat, Devyani Khobragade, which created tensions in India-US relations...

The U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara, explains the charges against the Mirzoyan-Terdjanian organization.

U.S. Authorities Charge Armenian-Americans In $100 Million Fraud Case

http://www.rferl.org/content/US_Charges_44_ArmenianAmericans_In_100_Million_Fraud_Case/2189811.html

U.S. law enforcement authorities have announced charges against 44 members of an Armenian-American criminal syndicate in connection with the operation of more than 100 medical clinics that filed some $100 million in fake claims to a government health insurance program

The lead prosecutor in the case, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara, said the Mirzoyan-Terdjanian organization -- which is named after its two alleged leaders, 35-year-old Davit Mirzoyan and 36-year-old Robert Terdjanian -- employed threats, intimidation, and violence and operated in a classical mafia style:

"The reach of this organization stretches clear across the country and well beyond our shores. And so in terms of profitability, geographic scope, and sheer ambition this emerging international organized crime syndicate would be the envy of any traditional mafia family," Bharara said.

Bharara said that the Armenian-American criminal group operated principally out of Los Angeles and New York but had offshoots in 25 states involved in extortion, credit card fraud, identity theft, immigration fraud, and even distribution of contraband cigarettes and stolen Viagra...

Now THAT'S more like it! I hope this takes the bad taste of Timmeh out of our mouths....