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Vol. 20 No. 40
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oCToBER 1 - 7, 2020
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Indicted for attempted bribe E.M. accountant arrested for trying to pay off IRS agent By BRIAN STIEGlITZ bstieglitz@liherald.com
Courtesy East Meadow School District
ThE REmAINdER of elementary-school students in the East Meadow School District — those in second through fifth grade — will return to their classes full-time starting Monday. Above, students at Bowling Green Elementary have been practicing their spelling in the parking lot.
More students return full time
In first month after reopening, three test positive By BRIAN STIEGlITZ bstieglitz@liherald.com
The first thing David Casamento noticed when he visited the nine buildings in the East Meadow School District during the first week of classes, he said, was the joy and enthusiasm of students who were seeing classmates and teachers in person for the first time since March. “It was heartwarming to see our teachers welcoming kids,” said Casamento, the district’s assistant superintendent of curriculum and
instruction. “They were scared, too, and some of them are probably still scared today, but . . . we’re trying to lower stress and relieve the pressure as much as possible.” One month into the school year, three students across the district have been diagnosed with Covid-19, but, starting Monday, the remainder of elementary school students will be welcomed back to classes fulltime. There was a staggered s t a r t d at e fo r f u l l - t i m e
instruction on the elementary level, with kindergarten through first-grade students returning on Sept. 8 and second- through fifth-graders, who have been on a hybrid schedule, set to return on Monday. Middle and high school students will continue to follow a hybrid schedule until a still to-be-determined date. The explanation for the staggered reopening involves space and resources, district officials said. At Continued on page 3
An East Meadow accountant is under a federal indictment for attempting to bribe an agent of the Internal Revenue Service to overlook his potential tax liabilities, according to documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Mohammad Sayeem, 42, was a r re s t e d o n S e p t . 2 3 a n d charged with bribing a public official with a Michael Kors wristwatch and $1,500, officials said. If convicted, he could face up to 15 years in prison. According to the federal indictment, the IRS agent who was auditing Sayeem met him at his East Meadow home three times between June 2019 and February 2020. On the first visit, Sayeem asked the agent if he could give him a gift, and offered him an envelope. Both the agent and Sayeem a r e M u s l i m , a n d S aye e m claimed that the gift was for the Islamic holiday Eid alAdha, according to the indictment. But the agent refused the gift, and reported Sayeem’s action to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Adminis-
tration. The agent showed up for the second meeting, on Oct. 22, 2019, wearing a wire, and recorded his interaction with Sayeem. Sayeem again asked if he could give the agent a gift for “being a friend,” the indictment states, and added that he would rather his money go to a fellow Muslim than fund the “U.S. gover nment’s foreign entanglements and support for Israel.” During a third and final meeting, on Feb. 19, 2020, Sayeem told the agent that he would give him the Michael Kors wristwatch and $1,500 in exchange for a false claim by the agent that Sayeem had no tax liability, court documents state. The agent pretended to agree to Sayeem’s ter ms, as advised by his supervisors, to further the investigation, and, as part of the ruse, filled out a Report of Income Tax Examination Change, which stated that Sayeem’s tax returns were acceptable and that he had no liability. Sayeem actually owed the IRS $30,000. Sayeem is being represented by the Long Island Federal Defender’s office, which does not comment on pending cases.